good day sunshine

With piles of snow on the ground, I thought it would be a good time to remember my trip to Hawaii. Warmth and sunshine sound good right about now, but maybe a day skiing down a mountain will cure me of my winter blues.

The waterfall where scenes from Lost were filmed

 

be good to yourself

I have a tendency to bottle up all my emotion. I let all the little disappointments and difficulties along with some big things build until I have an emotion explosion and it all comes out is one big, wet mess. The strange part is some little thing that on a normal day is not a big deal triggers the explosion. It’s like the little pebble that starts the rockslide. Why it has to happen in the middle of church I do not know.

I tell myself to stop crying you big baby, but it doesn’t help at all. It also doesn’t help when someone tries to comfort me; it actually increases the tear flow exponentially. Luckily, there wasn’t any sobbing, just quiet tears. The good thing is it doesn’t last very long. I’m fully recovered within a half hour, 45 minutes tops (at least from the tears).

The saying “don’t cry over spilled milk” is generally good advice. Letting all the little disappointments and a few big difficulties build and build and build until I explode at the most inopportune times isn’t good advice either.

life is good, but sometimes it's amazing

Yesterday I looked into the mirror and smiled. I’m not sure exactly why, but I felt joyful. For the past few months I have been happy, but there has been something keeping me a little down. At that moment, everything felt different. I knew that I had a family who loves me, friends who care about me, and the gospel in my life. At that moment, everything else didn’t seem to matter. At that moment, I realized life is not only good, it's amazing.

my pain may have been a good thing

I usually only wear high heels on Sunday for church or the rare occasions I drive to work. Friday night, however, I was trying out the heels with jeans thing that I have been told some guys really like. The roommates and I were going to SLC for dinner. I was walking to the car when all of a sudden I found myself falling down the concrete stairs toward the front of my car. I can’t be certain, but I think I tried to catch my balance and ended doing a 180 which saved my butt from a big bruise. My left leg, just below the knee, wasn’t so lucky. Of course the roommates didn’t get to see my graceful fall; just me sprawled on the garage floor. I got up and immediately knew I had to change my shoes. I took off the heels, quickly limbed upstairs to my room, and grabbed my much more sensible, but still fashionable boots.

As we were cruising down I-15 nearing the Farmington interchange area (I know they have a name for it but I can’t remember because it hasn’t caught on like the “Spaghetti Bowl”) we saw one of those UDOT signs that said the left lanes were blocked due to an accident and lots of break lights. We came upon a multiple-car-pile-up that had occurred maybe a minute or two before we got there. It seemed to be caused by the slowing of traffic following a previous multiple-car-pile-up.

All three of us rubbernecked as we slowly drove passed the two scenes and couldn’t help but wonder if we had been on the road just a few minutes earlier if we would have been one of the cars with the smashed-in front end. So if my tumble down the stairs and the resulting changing of the footwear saved us from a wreck, then I’m glad my pain resulted in something good.

good reason not to go to wal-mart

I have many reasons I do not go to wal-mart, but I gained an additional one on last Saturday night. I only had a half hour in order to pick up some printer ink, chips, and salsa before I needed to be to my friends' birthday party. I needed the printer ink to be able to print my lesson for the next day and the chips and salsa were for the party. I usually go to target for said purchases, but wal-mart happens to be closer to my house and my friend's house. So, despite my better judgment I found myself in a harshly lit aisle staring at the salsa when someone approached from my left and said "you don't want any of those."

I turned and looked at a late 40-something man and gave him a confused look. He then proceeded to tell me that he was making fresh peach salsa with peaches from his garden and that I should come over to his house and get some. I just gave a creeped-out courtesy laugh and turned back to making my salsa selection. He then crossed behind me to my right and told me that he was making watermelon salsa the next day and I could go to his house and get some of that too. Another courtesy laugh followed and he was gone.

There is my newest reason: Getting hit on by creepy old men in the salsa aisle.

Some additional reason for not going to wal-mart were observed during this latest trip: A larger woman in a v-neck tank top that was 3 sizes too small with lurpy boyfriend in a wife-beater and baggy pants. Long lines with slow checkers. Security devices on everything over $20 that can easily be concealed in a purse or down someone's pants.

good timing

I went to Washington D.C. with my extended family for a week in June. At one point we had 40 people wandering around the Mall, getting on and off the Metro, and taking over PF Chang’s.

The timing of our trip couldn’t have been better. We narrowly missed two tragic events. The shooting at the Holocaust Museum took place less than a week before we arrived and the worst accident in the D.C. Metro’s history took place only two days after we left downtown. These two events are incredibly sad and I’m sorry for the families that are affected, but I’m grateful my family had a safe vacation.

Because of this I’m reminded that bad things can happen at anytime and we need to be grateful every time we arrive to our intended destination safely, every time we go a public area and return home again, every time we go to work and return to our families.

the reason it's all good

My brother-in-law passed away on January 30, 2009 after a ten-month battle with cancer. I don’t have an older brother, so he took on that responsibility when he married my sister. He was always willing to help me work through my concerns and problems. He would give me advice on anything from guys, dating, skiing, fashion, education, money, and the gospel. He had a remarkable outlook on life and he expressed his zeal through the phrase “It’s all good.”

As one way keep his memory alive, I’m going to integrate this phrase into life. I’m going to look past the bad to see the good. Life is better when we remember that it’s all good.