Our Journey Home

I mentioned in my previous post the touching WC devotional on Friday. The girl giving the devotional created a "found poem," a poem made up of quotations from other poems. She wrote a found poem quoting various parts of all of our music and reflecting the theme of our concert. Here it is:

[We are] far from home
In the nighttime of [our] fear
Amid th’encircling gloom
Sick, sad, simple
Weary, weeping, wild
Should we die before our journey’s through?

Lead, kindly Light

Keep the home fires burning
Keep thou [our] feet
One step restores
One step renews
One step rewards
One step enough for me
‘Til we’ve seen this journey through

Sister, surely goodness and mercy shall follow
And the messenger shall say,
“Welcome home”

We’ll find the place which God for us prepared
We’ll find such harmony
We’ll all feel glad
We’ll make the air with music ring

Happy day!
Hurrah!
Lauda!
Hosanna!
All is well!

And in the house of the Lord,
I’m going to live forever.

Not hard to tell why I, along with many other singers and audience members, thought it was a great concert, huh? Don't worry... I will definitely be blogging again when the concert airs on PBS.

I already miss WC. I have thought about trying to rearrange things in order to continue WC. However, sooner or later I have to move on. I know it is my time to move on. It was an amazing opportunity, and I am forever changed.

Home for the Holidays (and reveries of high school days)

I sang at a funeral today.

Coming home is great for my self-esteem. All the adults at church thinks I'm wonderful. It's really nice.
Although there are awkward times... Crazy people and noisy sacrament meetings are still in great abundance. On the other hand, I was reminded today though of all the great people in my home ward--there are quite a lot of people I look up to and admire.

I hung out with old high school friends yesterday and enjoyed every minute of it. I spoke of them in my last entry of them and realized we were losing touch. Sometimes I have a few negative connotations with high school--all the insecurities involved and growing pains. However, seeing them yesterday brought back a lot of good memories. I honestly can't complain--I had a large, close, good group of friends. We meshed in a lot of ways I do not quite click with college friends. We had similar interests--after all, we met because of our similar interests and goals, namely AP and other advanced classes. Some were in choir and other similar extracurricular activities with me too. We are all still nerds who are studious but clever and funny. We just plain click even though we don't all stay in touch. A few of them have different values, but on the whole they are just good people. Being in the Bible belt, most are religious too.
Some stay in touch better than I do though. It is interesting hearing of their college experiences--they are different than mine. On the whole, most (definitely not all) have not made as close, lifelong friends as I have had. The social scenes of other colleges are very different than that of BYU. They are not as conducive to the making of close, lifelong friends. High school friends, thus, have an even closer spot to their heart because they are the closest friends they have ever had.
It is interesting interacting with them though. I have grown up--more social, more mature, and more confident--a me they don't really know. Thus, this me does not really appear. This me is not the me they know nor expect and this me doesn't know how to interact with them. Thus, it is the old, quiet, unsure me that appears to be present. I don't know if that makes sense. It is hard for this more mature me to interact with any group that doesn't know this me because they don't expect it. I hope that doesn't seem shallow because it's not. Perhaps, it is just a sign that I am still learning and growing, and there is definitely more room for growth. :)
However, I realized last night though that I had no reason to ever, ever, ever doubt their friendship. They would have continued to be my friends and will always be my friends. My closest friends won't forget me even if we lose touch.

In sum, I am having a great time, and so my summer plans are still being debated... I was pretty sure I wasn't coming home, but now I'm not. After all, I could save a lot of money, and I have a job waiting for me. However, then I remember that 4 months is a long time and none of my friends would be in town...

In honor of lifelong friends...

And then there were two...

Well, another one of my close friends, Jenn got married on Friday! Woo hoo! I am so excited for her and Aaron!

So, I was at her reception, and as we were leaving, she said something along these lines, "Ya know, we will always be friends." It really started my wheels a spinnin'...

With finals over with, I have plenty of time to think about whatever I want now.

I told Jenn we would all always be friends. After all, we are probably all each other's last close girlfriends before marriage. We've watched each other grow up, and we watched relationships evolve into marriage. I am pretty sure that if we had to choose friends to stay in touch with, we would all be on each other's list. We all have fond memories, and as cheesy as this sounds, they all hold a special spot in my heart. I have learned a lot from them--from recipes to good music, from dating to my relationship with Our Savior. Even if it is just Christmas cards and visits when we are in the area, we will stay in each other's lives. However, in this world of facebook and blogging, I would be willing to bet we stay closer than that.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was honestly the perfect movie for us to watch at Jenn's Bachelorette Party!

So, yeah, I've been thinking alot about how lucky we are. I don't think everyone leaves the college scene with such close friends. I remember debating who to live with freshmen year--I almost lived with Chelsie, a close friend from home. However, Chelsie and I will always be close, and I wanted to get to know some new friends better. To think I almost missed out on making some of the best friends I've ever had! That's honestly not an exaggeration either.

I had close friends in high school and some fond memories. We formed an exclusive group of girls called the "Yistas," and we were pretty tight. I also made many close friends in my AP classes and choir. I will never forget them. However, I am beginning to kinda lose touch with many of them, which is just as much my fault as theirs. However, our lives are heading different directions, and we have different interests. Also, adolescent insecurities are also associated with this era. And although I had fun, I never opened up as much as I have with my roommates. When you live with friends, you grow much closer and get to know them on a whole new level.

Meagan and I felt on the lonely side this year with Jenn engaged and Monica on a mission. However, Monica comes back in about a year. I am sure we will also have some fun with Jules when she returns in less than a year. And, we are so excited for Jenna and Jenn--they have found wonderful men they will love for time to all eternity.

So, here's to the memories and love of lifelong friends!

Reminiscent

So, I surprisingly don't have anything I HAVE to do at the moment... and don't feel like doing anything ahead of schedule. Naturally, I decided to waste time on facebook (Seriously... i don't know why i don't choose something better to do.) I looked at our old facebook group "the funniest things you wish you never heard" for the first time in months. Brought back a lot of memories. I laughed out loud... in the library nonetheless a couple of times. There were a couple that I was like... and that was funny because???? But yeah... we had some good times... I think we have all grown up a lot... in some ways. (After all, 2 of us are engaged married, 2 are on missions, and 2 are... well... learning more about socializing...) It also reminded me of a point Meagan and I sometimes discuss. We always think we are so funny and cool... and then we realize we aren't. For instance, I used to wonder why I didn't date, especially sophomore year. I thought I was really cute and such, and why wouldn't anyone date me. Looking back now... it's pretty clear... definitely was shy and did not exactly make myself available.
Anyways, I've had good roommate and friends... we've been lucky :)

Another thought... I think sometimes knowing how some people perceive me makes me act in that particular way more so than I normally would. Ever happen to you?

Second of all, I just love people! I love running in to people and saying hi. I enjoy chatting too, but I never know if someone is too busy to chat. That can be potentially awkward. Actually, I normally think that I am too busy to chat too. Sometimes I need to slow down and smell the roses, make someone's day. Talking to people brighten my day. It's like, "Hello! Other people in this world exist!"

Well, what do you know... I blogged again! Now it is off to sing Disney songs. I need to be productive... it's driving me nuts. Although, this is semi-productive, but not on my list of things to do. Speaking of productivity, I need to learn another aspect of time management... staying sane at the same time. Different dynamics in my apartment now, and this year I haven't figured out quite what I need to do to stay sane. Last week was rough. It's a balance... play, church, and school... Anyways, I'm gonna be late. Ciao!

Sleep and Babies

So, 6 hours of sleep is just not enough.
In high school I lived off of like 5 hours of sleep because of early morning seminary. Actually, quite often it was only 3 or 4 hours... like when I procrastinated projects or large homework assignments. (It didn't help that I would be on the phone with a friend, and naturally we would get sidetracked...) My parents made a rule that I had to have 6 hours of sleep at night in order to drive the next day... I couldn't drive 1/2 the time!
I can't live like that anymore! Sad... I really could use the extra hours in the day. Now, I need like 7 hours to function well, which rarely happens, especially when I have 7:30am class. dangit...

At work, I only go in and give people their lunch breaks because of my school schedule. So, I gave the infant teacher (among others) her break today ... holy cow! 4 babies (The max amt. of infants per teacher is 4) is a handful! they all need something at like the same time! They want to be held, fed, entertained, changed, etc. Naturally, at least someone is always crying. This was my first time in the infant room, and it was a handful. I think I prefer older children... even though they can choose not to listen to you. They are more entertaining and don't need quite as much attention. However... I wouldn't mind doing it again... Babies are cute :)
I better not have quadruplets when I'm a mother though...

One more note about work... I always give the kindergarten teacher a break. The two biggest troublemakers are gone! HALLELUJAH! Okay... so they can be cute but they NEVER listened. One child, Aiden, would be so apologetic and agree to make better choices, but he never stuck to his word. As soon as you turned your back he was doing something else. The other child, Cameron, was just flat out disobedient (although sometimes he could be bribed). It was twice as hard for me because I am not their normal teacher... You know what how kids sometimes treat substitutes... Plus, I am not really trained... actually I was never trained this summer when I taught the 3 year-old class either. I almost quit.. but that it another story for another day.