Half Birthday

Happy Half-Birthday to me.

Just thinking.

 I graduate from college in a few months and I'll admit, I'm slightly terrified. I don't know what I'm doing with my life. I have so many things that I want to do but I almost don't know how to get there. 

I'm so used to my life now. Everything is spelled out for me, to an extent. Once I picked my major, it was so simple and it felt like my life was all put in place. I just chose the most interesting classes and life was planned for a few months. 

But "real life" isn't that easy. I may have a list of jobs I want but it's not like I can choose my favorite and boom, life is planned. I don't even know how to go about getting real job. I feel lost without knowing how to even begin getting found. 

I like my life now. It's comfortable and easy. It hasn't always been that way; I had to work my butt off to get to where I am. But starting a new stage is starting over. I don't like big changes. Especially ones that take away the people I've come so close to. 

 I thought coming here would change everything and my life would go as I planned. If there is one thing that I learned throughout college is that life NEVER goes as planned. Nothing ever seems to work out like I think it will. But I also learned that it ALWAYS does work out. 

There is a plan for me and I just have to find it.

Something Simple

I work in a computer lab on my school's campus. I often sit at my desk and do my homework, occasionally being asked if someone can check something out or a rare question like, "How do I print?"  Today was no different. I started out doing my homework and checking out necessary equipment to students who needed it. A girl who I helped on Friday came in again to finish her assignment. She told me she didn't know how to complete the assignment. Me, the knowledgeable lab assistant knew what her requirements were and explained to her how to do them. The girl came back a few times after that because she was having troubles understanding what she needed to do. I helped her until she understood, like I would any other student. (Note: this situation wasn't out of the ordinary. This happened on a weekly basis). I helped her complete everything that she needed to do. I didn't think anything of this situation because it honestly occurred so much. After she finished all she needed to do and printed out her assignment, she came up to me and said, "Is there anywhere that I can recommend that you get a raise?" I laughed and said, "My job is to help you. That's the reason I'm here!" She said, "You don't understand how much I appreciate your help. Most people get annoyed when they're asked questions but I appreciate how patient you were and all you did to help me." I didn't think twice about the help I gave her. It was just like any other day, helping any other student. But this girl saw what I did as something that was special and meant the world to her. Her appreciation made my day at work. It made me want to help more people. It felt good to be appreciated. It really wasn't a big deal to me to help her but she made it seem like I had done something great. It felt good to know I made someone's day today and in return, she made mine.

Love is a Miracle

In my Forming Marital Relationships class, we were talking about relationships and and romantic movies.  We all know that romantic movies give us an unrealistic view of marriage, sex and everything that comes with those.  As true as that is, that doesn't apply to me at this time in my life.  But something that does apply to me is dating.  Movies and TV also give us an unrealistic view of dating.  When I was a pre-teen, I had this idea in my head that I'd go to high school, meet some boy and fall madlessly in love, we'd graduate, he would serve his mission and we'd get married when he got home.  Or I'd meet some older boy and we'd get married right out of high school.  I know, I was weird.  But maybe not really.  This is what we see in movies.  In a lot of movies, you see the boy glance at the girl, the girl glance at the boy and boom love at first sight.  They become friends, date, fall in love and the rest is history.  Perfect right?  But let's be honest here, that is NOT REALISTIC!  The chances of that actually happening, if it ever were to happen, would be slim to none.  It takes more than that.  The timing has to be perfect.  Both people have to be on the same page, at the same time, wanting the same things, and do the right things to make the other person interested.  This my friends, is why love is a miracle.  For two people, out of the billions of people on this planet, to be on the same page at the same time is truly a miracle.  And then for them to be on the same page at the same time for an extended period of time, long enough to get married is even more of a miracle.  Unfortunately, you don't generally see that in the movies; the waiting period.  So we're all stuck with these unrealistic ideas in our brains wondering why things didn't work out.

Some Pics to Enjoy

Pics from the Race!!

Showing off my gymnastics skills

Exchange!

The Chicks

NOT ENOUGH SLEEP

LOOK AT MY LEG

4 Chicks and a Dude!!

Recovery

Finish line!!

Goal Achieved

This past weekend, I accomplished a goal I've had for quite some time.  I've always wanted to run a race but have never trained for it and had a true desire.  Well this past weekend I ran in the Cedar Express Relay Race with 4 of my friends.  I ran 2 legs of the race which was a little over 6 miles.  I still cannot believe I did it without dying!  But it's such a good feeling to be done and to know that I accomplished it!  That's not to say it wasn't hard.  It was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done but since I accomplished this, I know that I can do anything I set my mind to.  The whole time I was praying for strength to finish and that's what I did.  I finished.  Our team didn't get first place and didn't win anything but it didn't matter because all of us went in to the race just wanting to finish and we did.  Who knows, this could be first of many races!  We'll see!  Pictures will be coming soon!

Inspirational

Last weekend, I went to Washington to watch some of my friends run a Ragnar relay race.  It was a 200 mile race with 12 people running.  It was truly inspirational and I'm so impressed with all of the runner's abilities to overcome hard things and finish the race.  Not only did all the runners finish, but they got 11th in their division!  So impressive!  Each runner has inspired me to accomplish something that is hard for me.  K, K, S, B and I are running a mini relay race in about a month.  It's only 30 miles and there are 5 of us running.  The only thing is, I HATE RUNNING.  I'm going to do it though.  It's going to be great!  So, I'll try and keep this blog updated with my progress!