My
Personal History
My
name is Cambria Rose Bigler Parks. I was
born on March 11, 1990 in El Paso, Texas to Carl Edward Bigler and Cindy
Marvene Meister Bigler. I have one older
sister, Mariko Celeste Bigler Shumacher, three younger sisters: Allison Lanae
Bigler, Andrea Nicole Bigler and Megan Christine Bigler. I also have one younger brother, Keith Loren
Bigler. My Father’s Parents’ names are
Galen Albert Bigler and Margie Ann Hatchett Bigler. My mother’s parent’s names are Clifford
Joslyn Meister, and Woodeen Rozailia Hayes Meister.
I
was born with problems with my urinary tract system. My mother tells me that I would just cry and
cry all the time, and there was nothing that anybody could do. It was months before they found out that I
was sick and proceeded to fix the problem.
A few months before I turned three, I went in for surgery to have my
ureters re-implanted in Fort Collins, Colorado (we had just moved there a few
months before.) In order to give me the
anesthetics needed for surgery the nurses took me on a ride around the hospital
in a red wagon. While on the wagon ride
they gave me a mask to play with, the mask put me to sleep, and the next thing
I knew I was waking up from surgery in a lot of pain. I wouldn’t go in a red wagon for years after
that.
The
surgery went well and I was soon able to return home. One of the instruments used in the hospital
had bacteria on it and I developed psudonomis poisoning from that
bacteria. We then returned to the
hospital where I hovered between life and death. According to my mother I talked of seeing a
few of my ancestors, and at one point of time I asked her to let me go to be
with “Grandpa”, referring to my Great-Grandfather Hayes. Eventually I was able to get better and return
home. The only thing that I actually
remember of the whole ordeal is when the Young Women from our Ward visited me
in the hospital and read me the book, “Is Your Mama a Llama?” For years that was my favorite book.
As
I mentioned before, we had moved to Colorado just a few months prior to my
surgery. My dad got a job in Denver at
LePrino foods. We lived with my cousins
for awhile when we first moved from Texas to Colorado. I loved living with my cousins. My cousin Jaron and I became the best of
friends and we would often go on a lot of adventures together. My Aunt Coleen and my Uncle Mark own a half
acre of land so there was always a lot of space to go exploring. I remember one time we were all outside playing
and the older kids wouldn’t let us play so I sat down by the sandbox to pout. Pretty soon I started feeling lots of little
stinging pains in my legs. I looked down
and there were hundreds of little red fire ants climbing up and down my legs! I had sat down on an ant hill!
Another
time I remember my cousin Jaron and I found a bag of marshmallow matey’s and
ate all of the marshmallows! My aunt
Coleen caught us and informed us that we weren’t allowed to eat any other kind
of cereal until that was all gone. We
couldn’t believe that she would make us eat all of the yucky part of the cereal
when we had clearly eaten all of the marshmallows for a reason! To this day though, I eat both the
marshmallows and the cereal when I eat marshmallow matey’s.
After
living with my Aunt and Uncle for awhile we moved into an apartment. The apartment was just down the street from
my school, Monroe Elementary. Our mascot
was the Mustang, and my kindergarten teacher was Mrs. Britteen. My favorite part of my kindergarten year was
making stone soup and growing catipillers into butterflies. We got to go out to the playground to release
our butterflies and I thought that was the best thing in the world. My little sister Andrea was born in May of my
kindergarten year.
I
was always a bit of a sassy child, and I was very friendly to others. One day in school we learned about what to do
if we met a stranger. Later that day my
mother took me to the grocery store.
This grocery store had little horse rides that were only a penny! My mother gave me a penny and sent me to ride
the horses while she was checking out and could keep an eye on me. A man passed by and I asked him “Are you a
stranger?” He looked at me and replied,
“Well, you don’t know me, and I don’t know you, so I guess that does make me a
stranger.” I looked at him for a minute,
and then screamed at the top of my lungs, “STRANGER! STRANGER! STRANGER!” My mom came running as well as the security
guard, the store manager, and a local policeman that was in the store. After the man explained the story my mother
explained to me that I can’t yell stranger about everybody that I don’t know.
I
went to first grade with Mrs. Pascal, and it was in first grade that I
developed my love for pigs. We studied a
whole unit on pigs because that was Mrs. Pascal’s favorite animal. I decided it would be my favorite animal too,
and over the years I gathered quite the collection of toy pigs and stuffed
animals. Keith was born just after my
first grade year, and I remember feeling like I was the best big sister ever
because I got to name him Keith! It
wasn’t until years later that my parents had already chosen the name Keith and
I just approved. I also started piano
lessons in my first grade year, and I gained such a love of music that has
helped to sustain me through some of the hard times of life, and provide me
with a lot of joy. It was also in first
grade that I saw my first musical, “Hello Dolly!” I love that musical, and it is still a life
ambition of mine to play Dolly Levi someday in the musical.
At
one point of time we moved back into my Aunt Coleen and my Uncle Marks’ house,
and lived with them for a few years.
During that time I went to second grade at Monroe. My teacher was Mrs. Shook, and honestly don’t
remember very much about that time. I do
remember one time when we went to shop at garage sales with my mom, my aunt and
all of my cousins. I was actively
perusing the merchandise at a certain garage sale when I looked up and my
aunt’s car with all of my family was driving away! I quickly took off after them and ran as fast
as I could. I followed quite well until
I finally came to a corner and remembered that my mother had told me never to
cross the street without an adult. I
wished as hard as I could that I was Pocahontas and leap across the street just
like she leaps across the mountain in the movie. I took a breath, leaped as far as I could,
and didn’t even make it a whole two feet.
That was when I started to cry and returned back to the garage sale. It wasn’t much later that my Aunt came back
to get me and everything was made right.
We
moved out of my Aunt and Uncle’s house again into a trailer park down the
street. My sisters and I shared a room
in the end of the house. We thought it
was the greatest thing ever because we had a great big window in our room that
let us look outside. The trailer we
owned was purple, and we lived there for a few years. My mom transferred us schools to CottonWood
Elementary, and I started school there.
My third grade teacher was Mrs. Sudbeck. In March of my third grade year I turned
eight and on March, 14, 1998 I was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints. I was
confirmed on March 15, 1998. I remember being so proud that I was now a member
of the church, and I knew it was true with my whole heart. I loved going to primary and singing about
Jesus. To this day I have a very strong
love for the primary songs. I am very
glad that I made the decision when I was eight to get baptized. That has been one of the most important
decisions of my life and being a member of the LDS church has shaped who I
am.
As
well as being baptized in my third grade year, my father lost his job at
LePrino foods. I loved that my Dad
worked there because he would bring us home string cheese, sometimes even in
different colors! Sometimes if we were
lucky he would bring us home pizza too!
My dad soon found a job in Gooding, Idaho, and at the end of my third
grade year we packed up to move to Idaho.
The
night before we moved my cousin Rachel and I cried and cried, but then we got to
go on a great road trip, just my dad and his girls. My Grandpa drove up from Arizona to help my
dad drive the moving truck to Idaho.
We
arrived in Gooding after hours of driving, and I remember thinking we had just
come to the tiniest little town on the planet!
I soon made some friends and in September I started 4th
grade. My teacher was Mrs. Lamm, who was also the
ward organist in our ward.
Living
in Idaho was a lot of fun, and my parents bought a house with twelve
acres. We often would raise calves, and
chickens, and one time we even had a pet pygmy goat! In the summer we would ride our bikes all
around town and play outside a lot. I
think it was also in Idaho that I really developed my love for reading. My mom had always read to us growing up, but
it wasn’t until about fourth grade that I found that you can escape your world
and become somebody else in a book. I
read the first Harry Potter book at the end of that year, and books really came
alive for me.
In
fifth grade I was in Ms. Rosenberg’s class, and the highlight of the year was
getting to be a dancer for the “Jingle Bell Rock” in that year’s Christmas
concert. We also learned about the
Revolutionary War, and my love for history was sparked.
I
started sixth grade with such an excitement to be in Middle School. I decided to play the clarinet in band, and
my love for music was only strengthened.
It was in middle school that I started to realize that not everybody has
a desire to do what is right like I did.
I started to see other kids in my grade make choices that I knew were
wrong and I had to make the decision to join them or not. I am very grateful to my parents who were
there in those situations to help me learn what was right and wrong, and how to
make my own decisions despite what others are doing.
I
decided to try out for the cheerleading team in seventh grade, and much to my
surprise I made it! While I have never
been the stereotypical cheerleader, it really did help to shape my life. It helped me to gain a strong sense of
leadership and how to be comfortable in front of people in public. Cheerleading helped me to start to understand
the importance of physical health, and of creating relationship and honoring
commitments. I joined choir in seventh
grade and discovered that I loved something more than playing the piano, I
loved singing. I had enjoyed it
previously, but it was in choir that year that I realized how much I loved
it! My band and choir teacher, Mr.
Randall taught me a great deal about music and inspired me to pursue it as
something more than a hobby. He
encouraged me to continue with music and to audition for things that I never
would have.
In
eight grade I was made the head cheerleader and I turned 14. Part of turning fourteen was the fact that I
was now allowed to go to church dances!
My parents dropped me off at my first dance, and I remember being so
excited. The Twin Falls area has holds
dances every second and fourth Saturday of the month for all the youth in the
seven surrounding stakes. I discovered
many friendships that I still have today through those dances, and I also
discovered that there were people like me, working hard to follow God’s
will.
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