Here's looking at you kid...

I never knew how much I could miss the way he looked at me.

I sat in a Denny’s late last night, talking with a perfect stranger and allowed myself for the first time in a long time to feel sad. Sadness is a sickness I once frequently succumbed to. There were times I felt that it was inescapable and that no amount of effort could make me feel better, it was one of those time things, in which I would just have to wait it out. I’ve learned this not to be true. As it were, happiness is not some destination or won at the hand of fortunate circumstances, rather it is the ability to find joy in whatever you have at the moment… which is a lot of hard work I’ve realized. It takes tremendous amounts of will power to reshape destructive thoughts into positives ones.

Last night however, I was sad. Not even the kind stranger and all his profound wisdom on life and the experience of it all could help pull my thoughts away from that moment. A single moment that tore through months and months of hard work, will power, and mind over matter.

“Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world…” he walked into mine. I smiled a genuine smile, I was glad to see him, it really had been so long, but I don’t think I could have ever readied myself for him to look at me the way he did. What once were loving blue eyes now wore a dark color of disdain. He even looked away feigning he hadn’t noticed me or recognized me. I should have let him be, that alone should have been enough for me to know that something was wrong, but it all had happened so fast, my mind had little time to make sense of it as it happened. I beckoned him to walk the few steps closer and say hi. Begrudgingly he sauntered over. That warm smile and big hug he would greet everyone with, me especially, was now a thing of the past. He offered me a hand shake. Still oblivious, I pulled him in for a hug… so cold and unwanted was this hug. Before I knew it he had scurried off to some dark corner, his friends lingering behind stared at me, dumbfounded as though they have no recollection of who I was… and that was that.

I don’t think I will ever forget the way he used to look at me… so much love behind his eyes and that half smile. Sipping on my water the stranger asked me, “why would you always go back to him?” I thought for a moment, because there were times that it didn’t make sense even to me why I kept going back. It didn’t even make sense to me why he kept taking me back. I’d never really been in one of those off-again on-again relationships until I met him. Why did I keep going back… then I felt my eyes burning. Two o’clock in the morning at a Denny’s in the middle of no where and I’m about to cry at my answer to his question.

“why would you always go back to him?”

“… because of the way he loved me and the way that I loved him.”

Love isn’t enough. Those sappy romance movies would have me believe that love can conquer anything, reality has taught me otherwise. Sometimes people really are just too different to ever be happy with one another regardless of how much they love one another….

I sat there and could not help but let my memories float back to the times when in the middle of a fight he would look at me, trying so very hard to be angry at me…. then he would smile that smile… and I would smile… and suddenly it was as though we both realized how much we loved one another and whatever the fight was about was insignificant.

The cold stare and so resentful was his hug, I knew in that moment that the love was all gone and in its place was a bitterness, a hatred even… that’s okay, it’s the natural order of things I suppose. I wish it were easier to forget the way he used to look at me, then perhaps I wouldn’t feel such mourning over the loss of it. I just know that I will always have love for him and if ever we should cross paths again I will greet him with a smile, no matter how much his eyes wear that shade of hatred … someday I hope he smiles back.

Bittersweet Christmas

Another Christmas is drawing to a close. Even at my age I still find those last lingering minutes of Christmas to be marked with a touch of sadness. I believe that try as we might to hold onto the magic and peace of Christmas, I feel it so easily slips away the moment the clock strikes midnight on December 26^th. Quickly the decorations come down, the spirit of cheer subsides, people go back to work, and life settles back into normal once more.

I spent this Christmas with my family, my siblings, my parents, and my sweet little nephew who’s enthusiasm for Christmas was nothing short of a breath of fresh air. My maternal grandpa passed away shortly after Thanksgiving, but in his passing I have found there are few words potent enough to describe my renewed gratitude for my family. As misshapen, haphazard and dysfunctional we may be at times, I would never trade them for anything. I truly believe that prior to this mortal life of mine, I sat with them in heaven, joking and laughing about the strange bunch we would be once we made it to earth.

This day today, while filled with lots of love and joy, was also bittersweet for me…

I remember many, many months ago ringing in 2012, the prospect of marriage nipping at my heals and frightening me to the core. At the time I had been in an almost year long relationship, a marriage seemed immanent. I don’t know if it was the idea of marriage itself that scared me. Perhaps it was the thought of being married to the wrong person or maybe it was the sacrifice of letting go of my beloved friends, my social circle. For so much of this past year I spent my time running from the shackles of marriage, and then something changed, as though my heart grew three sizes in one day.

I wont say that every single person we meet, we meet for a reason, but I will say that there are a few hand selected individuals who walk into our lives to serve us at a moment when we most need it. I spent a year and a half in one relationship, shying away at the very inkling of any sort of commitment, then turned around and spent a single solitary month with one person, who unknowingly showed me that marriage might not be so bad.

I say unknowingly because I don’t think it was his intent to teach me anything really. For him I believe it was happenstance, I was merely at the right place at the right time, but for me I felt that a greater cause was at work, because what led me to that very place could hardly be written off as a coincidence. Much like I found the idea of marriage terrifying, I found him to be equally intimidating. Those internal checklists we keep to ourselves, paying them little heed as no one in reality could ever meet such lofty and childlike wishes, I found myself slowly marking checks next to each and every box.

My excitement was muted by fear, if anything it felt like a cruel joke was about to be played on me and it was only a matter of time before the rug would be pulled from underneath my feet. Its hard to smile and breath in the moment when you are waiting to be someone else’s punch line. Now the fact he was gone as hurriedly as he came, means I was right in my foreshadowing. The question still begs however, was my negative prophesy brought to pass by my own doing? Was my strong belief in such a negative outcome the true culprit to our undoing? An answer I will never know, he left me with little to go on, not that I blame him really. It is not often that I have dealt the card of heartache to another, but the few times I have, I have doted out similar ambiguous answers, hoping in some way to spare that soul anymore pain than what is absolutely necessary.

I don’t know that I can pin these new found ideals about marriage all on him, because as I said, I don’t think he had any intentions of teaching me anything. I think what he helped show me is that marriage doesn’t have to be the ending of fun or the ending of all social life as we know it. Really though, I think it was his friends that really taught me this principle, as they were all living it. They were all so light hearted and full of laughter. I have never felt so welcomed by a group of people before. Instantaneously I felt a genuine love coming from each of them. Its funny, I spent even less time with them than I did with him, yet even now though I haven’t seen them, I still feel like they really care. People like that are rare and I wonder if he knows how fortunate he truly is to have them apart of his everyday life.

I think the other major thing I learned, and this one comes straight from him, is I should never settle. Its become increasingly difficult for me as of late. I feel like I have been finally bit by that marriage bug, the pangs of hunger ringing through my very core. I’m like a starved animal at this point, I’d take any scrap of meat thrown my way. The fact I recently turned 26 means I’m now on a proverbial downward slope. Jokingly I recite a line from one of my favorite poems, “gather ye rosebuds while ye may,” and yet it haunts me each and every time I return from one more failed first date. While the ticking of the clock grows louder and louder in my ears, I must be as patient as he has been. He taught me that my checklist, as little importance as I give it, really does matter and that there is someone out there that will hit each mark.

He taught me this because in reality he hit most of mine, not sure if he would have hit all of them because we didn’t spend enough time together for me to find out. I’m certain I fell just short of something on his checklist, which is fine, because he deserves to find a girl that knocks it out of the park and I’m no less of a person just because I struck out. Much like his friends he is a rare breed, but for me to believe that he is some sort of mythical creature where only one of which exists, well that’s just downright silly. Its easy to feel defeated when after having gone on so many dates, so little prospects have been yielded. I have to remind myself that it usually takes heaps of unsuccessful attempts before striking gold, sometimes I just have to dig deeper. Besides, you don’t usually strike gold twice in a row. I will not settle, that much I truly do owe him thanks for.

This all comes full circle and why I found the joyous holiday laced with just a hint of sorrow. It is the companionship that comes with marriage I felt myself missing on this day. Someone to wake up to and be the first person I wish a Merry Christmas. Someone to share the love of this holiday with, by returning to our families of origin, one with another, hand in hand. Someone to come home with and enjoy the final, lingering minutes of Christmas night… a husband is what I was missing.

Who knows though, I’ve always had better years when my age was an even number, I’m 26 after all. Maybe next Christmas I will get my wish.

Let your heart be light

To everyone I send a wish
A joyous and happy morn

On this sacred day today,
The day which Christ was born.

May your hearts be filled with joy
Surrounded with lots of love

As we celebrate with one another
That glorious gift from up above.

Let us find through Him charity
And a way to share His grace

Be thankful for His life
Our sins He bore in our place.

I leave you with a final wish
To hold onto Christmas cheer

May we all remember him
Each and every day all year!

----

Merry Christmas everyone, it is my sincerest wish that all those I love know just how much I love them.

Hope for nothing...

“When hope is hungry, everything feeds it.” -Mignon McLauglin, The Neurotic’s Notebook

I’ve been thinking about hope a lot lately. When Adam and Eve bit into the forbidden fruit a knowledge was gained about the world, a world in which evil as well as good could now exist. To every yin there is a yang and it is in opposition we can truly appreciate that which is good, that which comes from our Father in Heaven… but that is what troubles me… where does hope come from?

Hope falls along the same lines as faith, both being a desire to believe in something, but faith is deeper in that it comes with much more confidence and conviction. Hope is much more fleeting, it being belief that something might happen, which still at its core, hope seems to be a righteous and good thing to feel. The opposite of hope is despair, yet all too often I find that it is that very hope that leads us to despair. There is that cliché saying to expect the worst but hope for the best, the theory driving the remark is that by expecting the worst possible outcome one will save themselves the dissatisfaction of getting their hopes up. But hope is an expectation. It is a notion that just maybe for once, that thing we have wished for will become a reality. But where I am stuck is that if hope is righteous, if it is good, then why does it let me down so much?

Hope seems to be a form of trickery designed by the likes of Satan. It only serves as a means to raise my spirits under false pretenses. The higher I go, the further I have to fall. It seems so unfair that he can use a feeling so synonymous with faith against me and lead me down a path of sadness and turmoil.

I think the reason I find hope to be so bewildering is because I struggle with revelation. I know that Heavenly Father has very personal ways in which He speaks to each of us, but in my three years as a member of the church, I feel as though I have yet to fully understand the way in which He speaks to me. There was a saying I heard once in relief society that rings so very true for me. The still small voice of the Holy Ghost was likened to the subtle sweetness of a grape. Sometimes in life there are moments when we experience a much more severe flavor, that of a jalapeño. No matter how we try to taste the grape, the jalapeño is just much too strong to taste anything else…

I have always been one to feel things deeply, often times I have feelings so strong that when I am kneeling and asking for an answer to a question that is plaguing me, I am so very hopeful for a particular response that my heart cannot hear what He is actually telling me. Its hard because in this sense I am my own worst enemy and end up getting in the way of myself. It is from there I begin to find what I think are answers from Heavenly Father all around me. I see insignificant encounters and slighted gestures as fated or signs that something more is happening. He must want me to hold out hope, why else would He let this keep happening?

It is as I said before. I think Satan knows how privy I am to being hopeful and how easily I can make much of something as simple as a coincidence, and so that is exactly what he provides me with. I think he is the one that wants me to feel hopeful, not Heavenly Father. He would have me believe that when my expectations go unrealized, my hopes dashed, that it is Heavenly Father who has let me down.

I think in its simplest nature all I need to remember is that everything good comes from Heavenly Father and everything that is bad comes from Satan. I will not be sad, I will not be let down, I will not be disappointed, because that is what Satan wants, he wants me to feel defeated.

That being said, knowing my weakness for hope, I don’t see myself trying to understand the spirit or ask for any sort of answers anytime soon. At this point I feel that my ability to translate and understand His messages is sub par, I think anything short of a note falling from the sky with explicit directions as to what He would have me do would just fall on my deaf ears, so until that happens, I will hope for nothing…

“I prithee send me back my heart,
Since I cannot have thine;
For if from yours you will not part,
Why, then, shouldst thou have mine?” - John Suckling

Clarity, peace, serenity...

Clarity, peace, serenity…

It’s the most freeing feeling in the world when those three words find their way into your heart. Its so unbelievably true that He will make your burdens light, if you only ask Him.

I was driving home from the tanning salon last week. There’s really nothing special about the trip, I’ve made it several hundred times before. There’s an Arctic Circle, a grocery store, and a few other small businesses smattered about. The only notable difference was the last time I was in that very parking lot I was brazenly given “the talk,” ending in those fateful words, “its just not right.”

For nearly a month I had denied having any grief over the matter. It was a fleeting romance so brief it could hardly be called a relationship, a fling at best. Why pay it any more heed than he had? Yet there on that chilly night in the quiet of my car I sat recalling all the little things. The magic on our first date, all the trouble he went through to just to steal a kiss on our third date, an exciting little vacation where new friends were made, and finally a cold and swift ending there in a silent parking lot.

Suddenly my peaceful ride home was anything but. It was as though all the feelings I had so arduously worked to suppress were colliding within me and bursting forth through unconstrained tears. Confusion, hurt, loss, resentment, betrayal, defeat, helplessness, anger, and sadness… all at once. I was no longer numb and no longer apathetic, which seemed a far greater place to be then riddled and reduced to such a pitiful state once more.

Upon returning home the only thing I could bring myself to do was pray. It was hard for me to ask for His help in that moment. Not because of my struggles with pride, oh no, I was more than humbled by the situation. I just felt that so many times have I been on my knees asking for a reprieve from the sorrows of another departed relationship. How could I be here asking for His help with this again? I’m the reason I got into this mess in the first place after all, its my own fault I was as sad as I was. It just didn’t seem fair to ask Him to bail me out once more. To make matters worse my grandpa’s passing earlier in the week made me feel as though my relationship woes were silly and insignificant, not worth seeking help over. I could see my mom and her siblings needing far more comfort over the loss of their father than I needing a little help moving on.

Clarity…

Amidst the streaming tears and reservations about seeking His help, my apprehension easily melted away. My Father in Heaven wants me to be happy and by refusing Him the opportunity to ease my burdens, I was refusing Him the joy of helping me find that happiness. Beyond that I realized that I could be of no help or comfort to my loved ones during such a tragic time if I was so preoccupied with my own internal conflicts. I needed to let go of this for my family’s sake and my own. Clarity lead me, so I asked, “help me let go.”

Peace…

Not one more tear fell. My heart felt lighter, the beat slowing, steady and soft. My eyes began to dry while the throbbing in my head ceased. The once inescapable hurt was gone and I was more than okay. Clarity allowed me the courage to ask those four little words that in a matter of seconds changed my whole demeanor from the inside out. With peace comes hope, that night was wonderful, but tomorrow could only be better.

Serenity…

He granted me acceptance. I no longer had to torment myself over the fact that it didn’t workout. Memories can be torturous sometimes, like a field of landmines. You tip toe around because you never know when everything might blow up. Acceptance has a way of transforming those memories from daggers into daisies. I can smile in remembrance for what we had, accept that it is no more, and continue to hope I’ll find something like it or better one day. Serenity is freedom.

No burden, however big or small, is insignificant in His eyes. He wants me to be happy, He wants all His children to be happy. Happiness isn’t something that just happens though, we have to actively pursue it and be it.

He blesses us with things that we ask for and more often, He blesses us with things we fail to ask for but in all respects we actually need. I asked for comfort and received it instantly, but He also blessed me with kind loving people, that even though having only known each of them a short time, each reached out in simple ways. Feeling loved is all anyone really needs. Through them, my new friends, He was comforting me.

Someone asked me today in church, how I as doing. I genuinely smiled, a wave of recent events flashing through me, then I answered, “I am very well.” And I am. I am happy.

Clarity, peace, serenity…

What are you, twelve?

I’ve been feeling like I’m twelve a lot lately. I remember a lot about being twelve. It was the first time I started to play around with make up and fashion. Here I am on fast approach to 26 and all I can think is how I am stuck at age 12. I didn’t know how to do my make up then and I don’t know how to do it now. I often ask my sister to do my make up for me when I’m going out for on a special date. Every once in a while I’ll play around with the stuff, usually I just feel like I make my face look worse. Its funny, make up is supposed to make me feel pretty isn’t it? Instead it just makes me feel like I’m trying to hide from something or like I’m trying too hard.

I’ve never really been a high maintenance girl in that respect. I’ve never put too much thought into an outfit or how my hair should be worn. As far as fashion was concerned I lived in a Hollister bubble for three years. Working as an associate there, as far as I knew or cared, all that I really needed for an outfit was a pair of skinny jeans, a flannel, maybe a cardigan, and some flip flops. It was simple, which I liked. I’ve never been one to fuss over jewelry and ruffles, high heels and the such. I always had a rule of thumb, if I couldn’t wear it in the rain, then I had no business wearing it… kind of a weird rule of thumb now that I think about it.

I think somewhere during my adventures through adolescents I adopted this mentality of ease and comfort. I got this notion in my head that boys liked simple. The idea was to look good but not look like I had to try hard to look good, which translated to the T-shirt and jeans mantra. By all means I would have a few fancy pieces in my arsenal, but I’d only bring the big guns out if the guy earned it. I remember I had a guy tell me once that I was the kind of girl you could take to the demolition derby on a Thursday and the opera on a Friday, I took it as a compliment.

And yet why have I had such a sudden falter in my style? Me thinks its because I recently dated someone who dressed much nicer than I did. I don’t know how much he spent on clothing but it was a great deal more than I did. Suddenly my Hollister jeans and white lacey tank tops weren’t so great anymore, especially whenever I’d go walking around with mister designer jeans.

For a short time I was able to temper my insecurities, and why not, he was looking at me with those baby blues and telling me how pretty he thought I was all the time. I would’ve gone around wearing a paper sack if he’d just kept looking at me like that. It wasn’t until I met his friends and their wives… all the gorgeous, sophisticated, elegant, and poised wives. They all had such a style about them that just screamed grown up, confident, and independent… Suddenly my wardrobe felt so juvenile…

After returning home from a short vacation with he and his friends, I ran off to the mall with my sister, who unlike myself, has her finger on the pulse of what’s in. I spent quite a bit of money trying to make a little revamp in my style, it will likely take years to purge some of the Hollister stuff I have collected over the past three years.

The irony behind it is that even after I bought all these clothes, which in some way or another were supposed to impress my new beau, the exact opposite happened. My new clothes were supposed to make me feel pretty, they were supposed to make me feel like I was good enough to stand by this cool guy who dressed so well, and while he once looked at me with eyes so deep and compliments a-plenty while adorned in my adolescent and ill thought attire, here I was in my new well thought out garb, begging for some sort of sign of approval and I got a lack-luster, “you look nice.” In two short days the budding romance that had so much promise withered into an unforeseen cliché ending, pity.

I think the rejection has me feeling like I’m twelve though. These clothes yielded the exact opposite response that I wanted… do I really know that little about fashion? I am an uncertain twelve year old, trying on clothes every other night, trying to figure out how these girls, excuse me, women put outfits together. How do they carry themselves with such an air of confidence? How in the world am I supposed to be as confident as them when these clothes couldn’t even help me keep a man? Oh well, maybe it’ll make more sense when I’m thirteen…

Folds in my heart

Hobby: as defined by dictionary.com

-noun

1. An activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation.

Hobby: as defined by Noelle

-noun

1. A means to pass the time, easing boredom and keeping the mind preoccupied.

I have recently taken up the hobby of folding origami. Its weird that I have spent hours looking up how to fold small pieces of paper into flowers. Its interesting to think that four years ago the thought of me spending my nights working on such a meaningless task would have floored me, yet here I am, approaching the ripened age of 26 and all I can muster the will to do is fold some paper…

This month started with an ending. In typical Noelle fashion I have failed in yet another relationship. I played it off pretty cool, but truth be told it jolted me. I liked him a lot and it was truly uncanny the circumstances in which he and I met. I wont go into detail but suffice it to say that too many coincidences is no longer a coincidence. That being said there seemed to be so much promise and yet at a time when I was really vulnerable and I needed him, his affections for me had begun to fail. I tried to tell him right from the get-go, I am not without flaw and to treat me as such is to only set us up for disaster. But there were, at an end.

As I mentioned, I am nearly 26. I feel as though I have grown passed the fretful nights of crying over some boy who has rejected me. I don’t want to let myself feel that bad over someone who never really cared for me to begin with. I don’t owe him my tears. He got a piece of my heart but I have come much too far and survived far too many heartbreaks to let one more guy just wreak havoc on my life. There could be a touch of denial in those sentiments but I’ve no mind to pay it at this point. I don’t feel like crying every day, and that is a much welcomed feeling.

What is unwelcome is this apathy I have settled into. I have little to no motivation to get back out there and start looking for someone new. I could honestly care less, I don’t even have social niceties in me anymore. A week or so ago I drove 45 minutes away to attend a party a friend of mine was hosting. I more or less forced myself to go, thinking it would be just the thing I needed to lift me out of this funk. Instead I felt completely alone and uncomfortable around all the new people. What I wouldn’t give for a nice night in, just watching tv with someone. I was there for less than half the time it took me to drive there, not including the drive back. From there I decided that this whole dating thing is not happening for me, at least not in 2012.

In all honesty I have no business going out with someone. If there is one thing I can’t fake. it is interest in someone. I think even in my current state, if my mister perfect were to happen upon me, my heaven picked eternal companion, I would frighten him away. I feel numb. I feel insecure. I feel like a broken mess that no one should have to deal with. So I have opted out of throwing myself at anyone willing and able to take me out, because at this point it just wouldn’t be fair to them.

I don’t know that I have ever felt like I was ready for marriage. There were times before when I had dated guys and it was a fun notion to dream about every once in a while, but in all reality the thought of it frightened me. I was so busy for so long being young, fun, and single. I was free to go where ever and whenever, without so much as a single person to answer to. There was so much freedom in it. And now? Now I just feel like I am craving some stability and some certainty. I don’t want new and different, I just want something or someone I can always rely on.

I wouldn’t say I am desperate to be married, although on days like today it would seem that way. My grandpa was in a serious car accident… I said my goodbyes to him earlier at the hospital, when I left they were giving him pain medication just to keep him comfortable and doing what they could to keep him alive so that everyone near by would have time to make it there and say goodbyes… to say the afternoon was traumatic would be coloring it lightly. I’m grateful I was able to see him and at the same time I wish I didn’t have to see him that way. I sat there with all my aunts and my uncle, my cousins and my sister, all crying and hugging… something about this whole ordeal has me feeling rather needy… Its even harder when I quietly and subtly ask for help, just a little comfort, and am still denied it… I know that there is someone out there for me. Just like my grandpa in his old age, long divorced from my grandma, was able to rekindle a romance with a high school sweetheart, there has to be hope for me. Hope that like the comfort he found from that sweet woman, I will have from a loving husband. I will have a hand to hold mine when I am afraid or shaking from the burdening sorrows of loss. I will someday have those arms to wrap around me and hold me, and a soft voice telling me that it will be okay… I will have a priesthood holder, that can give me a blessing of comfort when troubling times befall me. I am hopeful that it will happen, I’m just impatient, and how I wish I had such a blessing already.

Until he comes along and finds me, I will continue to spend my quiet weekends here in my room, watching cartoons and folding small pieces of colored paper into flowers.

Its a Jeep thing

I think a lot of my blogs are melancholy. Actually I KNOW that most of them air on the side of angst. I know how dreary it can be as a reader for an author to whine as much as I do. That being said I am striking up a new policy, for every dank and depressing piece I feel compelled to write about, I have to write something a little more cheery. I figure a 2 to 1 ratio aint too bad, besides, by my count currently I’m long overdue for something nice to write, here goes nothing!

I decided somewhat recently that my dear sweet Jeep Wrangler is preparing me for the most important job I will have for the rest of my life and all eternity… yes, marriage. Sounds weird that driving around a rust bucket like that could be likened to something as sacred and blissful as marriage, but roll with me here.

I bought into my Jeep for many reasons, I signed up for those moments of complete happiness when all is right with the world. There is a moment when owning a Jeep is the most glorious feeling in which I feel as though I am one with the universe. It happens often in mid summer after a long run up in the mountains as the sun slowly sets. A warmth is trapped in the atmosphere heating my skin, while winds dance furiously with my hair the faster I speed down the highway. I’m listening to Fleetwood Mac, “Go Your Own Way.” I watch as the colors change in the sky, sun setting ever slowly into a summer night… this is when driving my Jeep is perfect, everything is right, this is why I bought this thing.

Much like the good times in my Jeep, in marriage we buy into the good times. We buy into those blissful moments that seem to never end. The way he looks at me just before he is going to kiss me. The way she squeezes my hand tightly. The way I feel inside when he tells me how pretty he thinks I am. The way she needs me. How could anyone desire anything but this heaven sent peace. This is why I got married.

I took really good care of my Jeep at first, naturally. My Jeep is hardly new, I affectionately refer to her as vintage as she was created in ‘94. She might not have been new, but my Jeep was new to me. My shiny, new toy. I washed her once every two weeks or so, sometimes sooner if it rained. I put money into fixing her up, had her oil changed regularly, and did all I could to make her pur like a kitten, after all, this thing was worth investing a little into.

In the very early stages of courtship that precursor to ’I do’, we do everything we can to get the oil changed regularly so to speak. Date nights are lavish, each counterpart giving everything they have to put their best food forward. She buys a new outfit, something to impress him. He cleans out his car and opens every door, he wants her to know he’s a gentlemen. She is polite, gracious. He is charming, witty. Both are working equally hard to prove to the other that they are a worthwhile person, worth investing a little into.

After settling into my Jeep I soon realized that I most likely didn’t need to wash her every other week and I probably didn’t need to put the more expensive gas in her, that regular old unleaded stuff would suffice, especially since my little monster was guzzling gas like it was her day job. I would get the oil changed but I can probably stretch it just a little longer between changes. My Jeep was loud, but that was fine… right?

There is a point during marriage, sometimes even during dating, when each person gets a little too comfortable. There is a sense of security that comes along with that unrequited love you worked so hard to earn from one another. This is the point that its easy to become reckless and careless. She knows I love her, I don’t have to take her out to dinner all the time, it was getting expensive anyway, she understands that. He already knows how handsome I think he is, I’ve told him a thousand times. We both love each other and we’re doing fine… right?

Everything was fine with the little monster, we had a couple hiccups, but nothing too major. Then it happened, the grand daddy of fix-its. Furiously I pressed the peddle down, the Jeepster roared, from the sound of the engine we should be cruising and yet we only moved inches… my dear sweet transmission, may it rest in pieces. After paying for a tow truck to haul her off to the nearest mechanic and then hearing the diagnosis from the man in coveralls, I sobbed and sobbed, it was going to cost me an arm and a leg to fix that hunk of junk. I’m stuck though, she’s mine. At this point I can’t really afford not to fix her. I gave the man the go ahead. As I drove home in my mom’s car I settled into resentment. That stupid Jeep, I just needed to fix it and get rid of it. Let that vehicle be someone else’s problem. I need to get something newer, something better.

When the newness wears off those blissful moments are that, just moments, often falling few and far between the other. It seems that the never ending pleasantries have ended and Eden has fallen, nothing is as it was. She’s constantly complaining that I don’t love her, that I don’t do enough to show her that I love her, sometimes I wonder. All she ever does is nit pick and get after me for things that aren’t that important. He seems so cold, its like he no longer cares. He used to be so willing to help me out and do anything to make me happy, now its like pulling teeth. I don’t think he even likes to be around me anymore. Sometimes a marriage or a relationship can feel like a trap, like a broken down Jeep you can’t get out from under. What once was new and exciting has now become a burden, an obligation to take care of because there isn’t any other option. Each looking at the other with a need to find someone newer, someone better.

While my little monster was in the shop I drove my mom’s car around, a Hyundai Sonata. It’s a smooth little ride, gas mileage is phenomenal, its nice and quiet on the freeway, and it gets up to speed. Can’t say that I minded one bit driving that little guy around. I began to wonder how much money I could sell my Jeep for and what kind of new car I could get into. The dreams of better things quickly ended when it snowed, and snowed, and snowed some more. I found myself timidly driving around in that little burgundy machine. Each turn of the wheel I had a prayer in my heart that I would live to see tomorrow. Is my mom’s car that bad at handling in the snow? Probably not, but I missed my big 4-wheel driving mini monster nonetheless.

I got my Jeepster back this week and in every sense it felt like home. The resentment I had towards her for breaking down in such a costly way had simmered. I will be making payments to my daddy-dearest for the next while until that rebuilt tranny is paid off, but that was manageable, I just felt at peace once more nestled in the driver’s seat of my wrangler. This is where I belonged.

I think sometimes in relationships it is easy to become complacent and lazy. Furthermore it is easy to forget the very things that drew us to that person in the fist place. It was easy for me to stop putting the kind of effort and money into my Jeep to help it run smoothly, much like it is easy for lovers to become lax with one another and do the same. Relationships take work. A smooth relationship does not exist without a constant effort to improve and be the best person you can be for the other and towards the other. When I focus on how much it costs to fix my Jeep or how often I’m needing to fill up the gas tank, I quickly forget those long summer drives and how happy this material thing can make me. Now my car is just a car, in all reality I could just go buy another one and after all I’ve put up with her I probably should. But marriage isn’t about trading in for a bigger better deal. Its about taking the good with the bad. Its about remembering that just because there is bad, doesn’t mean that good no longer exists. Its about reveling in those blissful moments and taking the struggles in stride. Its like my Jeep: sometimes costly, not always the smoothest ride, but in the end its worth it because not every car can make it to the top of a mountain.

The thing about pride

The following blog is going to get really churchy. So deal with it.

Glean: to learn, discover, or find out, usually little by little, or slowly.

Today I gleaned that my pride will always be my downfall. At its core, pride was the very thing that kept me from getting baptized for 22 years. In my mind the idea of conceding to the very religion that had coached all these people into making my life harder, would make me not only foolish but down right stupid. In some respects I didn’t know how to let go of the hurt that a few misguided people had caused me. I didn’t want them to be right about being LDS because in some way my surrendering would mean they were right and in a way that would pardon their behavior.

Heavenly Father knew that I needed a lot of humbling to soften my very, VERY hardened heart. My kryptonite has always been a seemingly sweet, good looking guy. Literally gets me every time. So he sent me not one, not two, but three, three boys that came in just as quickly as they left, each one teaching me just a little bit more about this religion I had so arduously tried to ignore. Seeing as I am admittedly a prideful person, each rejection hit me just a little harder than the last, cutting into my ego, and down right wreaking havoc on my self esteem. Through each of these boys I sought approval, an indication of my adequacy, and instead I was dealt a sour reminder that I was almost good enough, but not quite.

I was heartsick for a very long time that year, but I’m grateful for each and every heartbreak those boys put me through because they were integral pieces in God’s puzzle that helped soften my heart enough to hear Him. But my story of pride does not end with my baptism.

I needed to purchase a car last year as mine had come to rest in the middle of trying to make a left hand turn. I had always wanted a Jeep Wrangler. This obviously isn’t the most practical of vehicles, which was something my dad lectured me on frequently. I insisted that since I was the one buying the car, I would get what I wanted, instead of what he wanted for me. The search was tiresome, test drive after test drive, I never knew that car shopping could be so exhausting. Why did I have to have a Jeep? Something about them was so alluring to me. And there it is… the pride. I wanted to look cool. I wanted a car that guys would find me attractive in, owning a Jeep says a few things about a girl. She likes to have fun and she’s not super high maintenance, that is MY kind of vehicle. Finally after over a month of searching, I found the one, and she was good to me for a while.

Next thing I know I’m dropping $600.00 to fix the manifold and another $800.00 in random repairs. Today my transmission quit, just outright quit on me and the mechanic quoted me anywhere between $1,500-$1,800 to rebuild it. And now a new battle with pride comes… it was pride, the need to look cool and feel wanted that lead me to buy that car, and now pride has me here, trying to figure out what I’m going to do next. I don’t have that kind of cushion on my credit card to pay for it, nor do I have that kind of cash in my savings account. I have no more savings bonds to cash in or CD accounts to withdraw from. My only options are to try and sell the car as is, take a loss on my loan, and try to buy whatever junker I can that can get me from point A to point B… or the option that seems much more painful and much more likely to happen… asking my dad, the very one who advised me against buying this car, for help. Oh pride, how stupid we are about to look…

I must have needed something to humble me. I believe that. I believe that things happen for a reason and I think right now Heavenly Father is doing me a really big favor, its just really hard to see it right now. At the very least I think He helped me realize something pretty big today. Thinking back on some of my failed relationships, many of the heartbreaks I have endured can be chalked up to pride. For so long I had prided my self (go figure) on being loyal to a fault. I’ve often thought that I was too loyal to leave anyone, which is what lead to each and every guy leaving me. I think the problem was never that I was too loyal… its that I’ve been too prideful to leave. I am too prideful to let go even when the guy is outright telling me he no longer cares for me. Failed relationships… that’s what I think of it as. The relationship didn’t work out, I failed and I am a failure. Tenacity is a good thing, but knowing when to let go and not being too prideful to do so, might be just a trifle better.

I have a lot of things to be humble about today. I don’t have near enough money to fix a car that didn’t make me look that cool to begin with, my dad was right and I may have to beg for his help to fix this car, and I like a guy that doesn’t like me back.

I often question my adequacy in this world, whether I’m good enough to deserve anything. The salvation to my sanity is that I know I am good enough for my Father in Heaven. He loves me no matter how foolish I am, or how prideful I am. He will continue to give me humbling lessons to remind me that I am fortunate, that I don’t have all the answers, and most of all that I don’t always know what’s best…

Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?

Warning: what you are about to read falls into the categories of “poor little rich girl” or “oh woe is me.” If either of these genres are found to be bothersome, then discontinue reading right… now.

I am rich, not in the literal sense, but more of a metaphoric sense. I don’t have a lot of money, which is probably a good thing because I would likely spend it on frivolous things. No, I am wealthy in another way. I am pretty. Yup, I said it out loud. To quietly acknowledge a realization such as this is one thing, but to vocalize it? I am aware I am dancing a fine line of vanity and conceit. Let’s face it, I am not standing on a mountain top proclaiming to be the fairest of the land, because I know I am not. I am simply stating that I believe my physical appearance is pretty.

Whether I think I’m pretty or not can be somewhat irrelevant, especially in the context of being young and single. In most cases it is more so whether or not the opposite sex finds me to be attractive that is of real importance. In this instance I have been rather fortunate. This isn’t to say that all men find me attractive, because no such woman exists. This is to say, however, that according to my location and my age, the general population of young single men might likely find me attractive. In the words of a friend of mine, the odds are in my favor and therefore I get my pick of the litter.

At this point it seems pretty silly, why would anyone complain about being found attractive? And why should I? I am rarely left dateless on a weekend, I have my pick of almost whoever I want to start a relationship with, and should a relationship end, I only have to stay single for as long as I feel like it because there is always someone waiting in the wings… so when does being beautiful become a double edged sword?

I know that beauty is but a temporary state. I do not want to be this vain person that gets free rides because of her looks, because when it all ends, I will be left with nothing. I don’t want to be one of those ladies that is bitter and struggling in her older adulthood, grasping at years that have passed and clinging to her youth. I want to accept each and every year as it comes. Accordingly I have taken time in my life to acquire skills that maintain much more longevity than that of fleeting beauty. I want things to fall back on and be proud of when I am older, I need other areas for which to gain self worth and feel good about myself. I am not the smartest person, but I have put in a lot of effort to learn things about the world. I am no specialist nor am I an expert on any one particular thing, but it feels nice to know a little bit about a vast number of things.

But my fear runs deeper than becoming a bitter old hag… there is a sense of satisfaction whenever I meet a new boy and he goes on and on about how pretty he thinks I am. It feels good, it feeds my ego, my self esteem, and my sense of self worth… but much like the realization that my looks wont last forever, how long will his affections last for me when I am no longer youthful and pretty? I am aware of how ungrateful I sound, but there is a point in a relationship when I start to cringe every time I am told I am beautiful… Perhaps it is my own insecurities in the other aspects of my life, but this anxiety exists that he only wants me because he thinks I’m pretty. If that is the basis and foundation of all my relationships, I fear I will never settle down with anyone.

So deep rooted in me is this need to be loved and needed for much more than the genetics my parents and the Lord have blessed me with. I find myself seeking the answer, “do you love me because I am beautiful, or am I beautiful because you love me?” I am always begging for the latter, so much so in fact I feel as though I unconsciously dress myself down in an attempt to ugly myself up, just hoping he will still find me attractive.

I think I just want what every girl wants. I don’t want to have to worry about always being in tip-top shape just to keep someone interested in me, I want to be accepted as I am. I want to be loved for all I that I am and all that I am not. Its times like this when I think those girls who don’t think they are very pretty have it easy, at least they know with certainty that when a man says he loves her, its because he loves who she is, not what she looks like.

I hope he reads it

What’s this? Another blog about how broken my heart is? Yup.

I could try and be creative, I usually try to add some majestic twist to the pains my heart is feeling. I could also try to incorporate some sort of life lesson into my writing, then I could make it worth everyone’s while. I could try and write about all the good things in my life and why I really have no reason to complain because hey, someone’s got it worse than I do for sure… but instead of doing any of those things, I just want to talk about how stupid I feel, how lonely I feel, and how much my heart hurts.

The demise of another relationship has befallen me, but this one has effected me far greater than relationships from my past, probably has something to do with the fact that collectively he and I were together for more than a year, but I believe there are other reasons that I feel so devastated and desperate.

I believe it also has to do with the fact that he knows my family but more so that my family loves him… I don’t know that I’ve ever brought a guy home and had him fit in with my strange family so well. There was a time when I felt so concerned that he wouldn’t mesh with my friends, in fact, I down right believed that my friends didn’t like him, which felt like a problem to me, at least at the time it did. Its kind of funny, I was so concerned about that that there were times I felt myself holding back from him because of it, and now? I have this sickening feeling that I wont find anyone who can fill those shoe in regards to my family. Friends are great, but my dad liked him, which even if my entire family didn’t like him, something about my dad liking him is what made him so special. Recently I sat and watched my dad sitting in a room full of women as my relatives from out of town were visiting, and my dad spoke of genuine gratitude that my special guy was there. Sure, my dad was glad to have another rooster in the room so he wouldn’t feel so outnumbered with all the hens clucking, but my dad was really grateful that specifically it was him…

He knows me better than anyone. There were times I would find him giving me what I need without my even having to ask. I look at the dynamic of my parents and often worry about ending up like them. I am grateful for them and I think each of them balance the other out, heck they’re still married after 31 years, they must be doing something right… but I still worry. My mom is rather high strung and my dad is the mellow and quiet one. To some degree, my dad quietly endures my mom spouting off about some such meaningless thing or another. Try as I might to be more like my dad, cool, calm, collected, the fact of the matter is I am my mother’s daughter, and more often then not I have my feathers all ruffled about something insignificant… This one was special though, there were times when he would let it slide. He would let me go on and on and on about something that really didn’t matter, he would just let me be upset. But there were other times when he would call me out on my bull crap, even though in the moment I would react unfavorably, its now when I’m able to really be grateful for that, and cherish it… I want it back. I want that person who wont just roll over like my dad and let me get away with being a nit-picking brat for years on end. I’m fearful I wont find that again.

He loved me when I was fluffy. That statement sounds completely idiotic, but it carries a lot of weight, metaphorically and literally. I’ve been working hard the past few months to trim my body down and its been great, I’m leaner than I’ve been in years. This isn’t to say that I wasn’t happy with my body before, but let’s face it, it was a cold winter and since I was unable to exercise through most of it, I packed on some pounds. Now maybe this isn’t the most important thing, but something about the way he would look at me and the way he could see me even though I couldn’t see myself that way… again, I’m terrified I wont be able to find that… here I’ve lost all this weight and all I can think is that I’m only getting this attention because of how I look now, and that it will all go away if I gain the weight back (which is a real possibility). I loved the way he loved me when I didn’t look so perfect, I’d give anything to have that back.

Now I can’t say that everything was perfect, because it wasn’t. From what I have learned about love is just that, it isn’t perfect nor do I believe its meant to be. It is the trials that strengthen us and bring us closer together. There was a moment when I thought he and I were done, we’d had some really nasty fights leading up to that point and an ending seemed immanent. All the signs were there, it kind of seemed like we both wanted out, after all this wasn’t the first time we had gone through this sort of thing, this breaking up process. I remember it, we hadn’t spoken for a whole two days and I hadn’t felt like crying, I felt like maybe I would be okay, maybe this was going to be the for-real time that we actually broke up for good… and then my dad sat the whole family down during this Sunday dinner and dropped a bomb shell: cancer. He played it off cool, because that’s my dad, that’s how he does things, and in hindsight I guess it really wasn’t that big of a deal because everything is as good as gold now… but that day I was not okay… Even though we were supposed to be done, I text him and I told him I needed him and like we hadn’t been fighting at all, like we hadn’t made the motion to break up with one another, he was there right there for me, holding me and telling me that it was going to be okay… I don’t have that kind of safety with anyone or that kind of security. Even just now I came home from work sobbing about this whole mess I am in and yet I held my breath and snuck up to my room so as not to burden my mom or my sister with my broken heart. He and I have a lot of songs, a years worth will do that to ya, but there is one song that likely doesn’t resonate with him, but for me it will always remind me of him and its by Lady Antebellum, I Run To You. A short blip from the chorus wouldn’t hurt. “This world keeps spinning faster to a new disaster I run to you, I run to you baby. When it all starts coming undone, baby you’re the only one a run to. I run to you.” Such is the truth. When my life is in shambles, I always turn to him and it’s the most uncanny and indescribable loss I am feeling knowing that I can’t turn to him now.

It would seem that most of the anguish I’m feeling is as a result of a foreboding fear that I wont be able to replace him, that there isn’t anyone out there who could fill his shoes and be all those things that he was for me… but for me this fear feels more realized. I know he doesn’t have as much experience with all this relationship junk as I do, I’ve been in and out of love and had my heart broken more times than I’d like to admit, but the big kicker is that all those things I listed about why I love him so much are things that no other guy before him was able to accomplish. I mean my dad really likes him and not just because I love him, I know he genuinely likes him… I feel like I couldn’t even breath when my dad turned to me at dinner the other night and asked if he was going to be able to make it on our four wheeling trip, I smiled and said, “we’ll see.” God kill me now and spare me this nightmare.

The saddest thing is that I’m posting this in hopes that he’ll read it and that it will make a difference. Sometimes its nice for a moment to live in a world where lives can change and great loves can be reborn all at the posting of a single blog, but I don’t think an entire years worth of blogs could save this love of mine or bring him back to me. No amount of shameful begging or pleading could bring the sunshine back into my life, nor is there an apology great enough for me to give to reverse any of the things I have done that have pushed him so far away. My deepest desire is that he love me as I love him, that we forget about all the rest and be with one another as it seems we were meant to be… but like I said, I don't know that one blog will change all that... I love you.

　
　
　

lessons learned from 'Hey Arnold!'

So there I was winding down after a long days work and what better to relax me then some good old cartoons from the 90’s. At no point in time did I think, “I might have an epiphany tonight,” but who really anticipates these sort of things, especially when watching something as simple as ‘Hey Arnold.’

Let me preface the beginnings of the episode so that the epiphany will make sense, I will not however diagram the entire show. If you aren’t familiar with the show then shame on you because it’s one of my top 10 favorite cartoons of all time and you’re missing out. Plus I don’t have the patience to get into that much detail.

Anyway, Arnold is sitting next to Lila (his crush) at an assembly, she goes on to tell him about how she has fallen in love with ballet ever since she started taking lessons a few weeks prior. Arnold goes on to compliment Lila on being so ‘sophisticated’. This exchange is all overheard by Helga, a tough as nails girl who has a secret crush on Arnold. Before the end of the assembly Helga’s name is called because she has won a certificate for herself and 3 friends to a fancy French restaurant. She devises a plan to get Arnold and some other kids to come to her fancy dinner, with the mind of proving to Arnold just how sophisticated she can be, maybe even more so than Lila.

I can identify with Helga a lot, I mean, not with the whole unibrow thing, my brows are well kempt. But other aspects of her personality I find to mirror that of my own. She is afraid of showing her vulnerabilities so she constantly plays the roll of tough girl, nothing gets to her and she is afraid of no one. She continuously picks on Arnold, its almost as though she is afraid that if for a second she let her guard down and is nice to him, he will reject her. At least if he is rejecting her because she is teasing him its still on her terms and in her control.

Now onto my epiphany. Helga was going to a lot of trouble to try and be sophisticated because she wanted to impress Arnold, she wanted him to like her. Sitting there on my bed watching Helga watch a video tape on how to be sophisticated, I thought back to all the times I tried to be something I wasn’t, or act more like someone I wasn’t, in order to gain the affections of someone I liked. How often do we ourselves do this? Now I’m not talking about exaggerating attributes or anything like that, I am talking about outright doing something that is totally opposite to ones personality.

Helga is not sophisticated, in fact she is far from it. She is brash, crude, and blunt. She likes sports and isn’t afraid to get dirty. She throws her weight around and can almost be described as a bully. Like I said, she is not sophisticated. But what really struck me as interesting and where this epiphany really derives from, is not that Helga has gone to such great lengths to be someone she is not. Oh no, it is more so the fact that had Lila mentioned something else aside from Ballet, say a newfound love for baseball or soccer, its likely that Arnold would have complimented her on that. The fact of the matter is, Arnold likes Lila. Does he like her because she is nice, sweet, polite and sophisticated? Or does he simply like those things about her because he likes her? It reminds me of that age old question, “do I love you because you’re beautiful, or are you beautiful because I love you?”

I would say that for the sake of argument, that even if Lila had spoken of her love for something like football, a sport, which Helga would undoubtedly be much better at than Lila, Arnold would still favor Lila. This epiphany at first left me feeling bad for Helga, in that all her efforts to win the heart of Arnold would forever be in vain (because trust me, this would not be her first nor last attempt at wooing him). This also left me feeling sad about some of my own fruitless endeavors and romantic antics of the past. It means there is no control over who likes me and who doesn’t. At the end of the day all we are all left with to do is beg for some mercy from cupids arrow and hope to all hope that the stars are aligned, and if not? Then tough cookies and better luck next time.

Now this epiphany of mine I’m certain wouldn’t fall into the category of a ‘new discovery’, more just like some information that hadn’t really crossed my mind until I witnessed it in the form of a cartoon love triangle. Its also not as bleak as I previously painted it. The silver lining to all of this is that the next time you find yourself asking, “what does he/she have that I don’t have?” The answer is simply this… absolutely nothing. You could go about possessing all the same qualities and attributes as this seemingly enchanted person that has stolen your beloved’s attention and affection, and it wouldn’t amount to a thing. Maybe that’s not the nicest silver lining, but hey, helps me sleep better at night.

Worth It

I’ve been laying in bed since 8:30, trying to convince myself that falling asleep is a good thing, that if I just sleep this off I’m going to feel better. I’ve been laying in darkness for the past two hours, its almost 2 am and still I am awake. My mind is far too ravaged to let me sleep as I ponder the demise of yet another failed relationship.

He asked me to give up… Its funny, I had someone point out to me that the reason I have been dumped so many times is because I am just too damn loyal and tenacious to ever walk away. I’m certain it’s a curse that was placed upon me as an infant by some wretched witch because this nightmare of a character flaw could only exist in a fairytale…

He had to ask me to give up hope, let go, and move on. Yet here I am, wide awake in the middle of the night, too afraid that if I go to sleep then everything will be final and complete, the last period dotted at the end of the sentence and the ending of yet another chapter in my sorry excuse for a love life.

I suffer from a sickness that is to say I suffer from an incurable hope. A hope that maybe, just maybe its not over. That any second my phone is going to resound with a text message from him reading that we aren’t really through, that he loves me to the end of the earth and that there is nothing that could come between us. No amount of fighting could ever come between a love as strong and powerful as ours. This hope fuels me to jump out of bed at the sound of any cars passing by and rush to my window, because it could be him parking out front and here to save me from the fit of tears stained pillows I’ve been drowning myself in. This disgusting and pitiful hope helps me hold on to a fantasy world that doesn’t exist. I thought he was my knight in shining armor, but if this were true, wouldn’t he be here now to rescue me?

There have been times I have gotten after myself for such illusions. It was once my belief that if the poor guy couldn’t just sense how upset I was then he wasn’t the right guy for me, but those thoughts were juvenile, I know better now. There needs to be a correspondence or dialog, if he knows I am sad and he comes to save me then he is wonderful and undoubtedly a knight in shining armor… but what’s to say of a the man who claims to love me, knows of my anguish and refuses to aid in my relief?… I begged. I am not a begger and I downright begged for hours for a different answer, for a second chance, for a change of heart… and nothing. No budging. He only asked me to give up.

I’ve played it over and over in my head. Let me have learned something. What was I supposed to learn from all this? If I take nothing away then I have only wasted my time. At this moment the only thing I can muster up is that I am a spoiled brat and this is the ultimate lesson for me to learn that I can’t always get my way, because if I had my way he and I would be working on our differences, and we would be trying little by little to make our love work. At some point I stopped being worth it… I want more than anything to be worth it.

Welcome 2012

I’ve read somewhere that writing down your goals will exponentially increase the likelihood of you achieving them. After surviving another year in my crazy life I’m looking forward to another one here in 2012. I’ve got some resolutions for this next year as well as some goals and things I would like to accomplish be they silly or serious, so here they go and in no particular order.

1. Graduate from college. This has been a long time coming. After failing miscellaneous and probably useless general education courses (and retaking them) taking a semester or two off and changing my major, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. My sincerest hope is to be able to graduate in the spring and if all goes according to plan I will but after some complications from this last semester I’m beginning to think I’m most likely going to walk in the spring time, but I wont technically finish my final class until the summer time… which is annoying. But I still have hope that I can get whatever I need to worked out so I can graduate in the spring. Either way, I’m going to get my degree in 2012!

2. Lose weight. This one had to be on there somewhere didn’t it? Not that I’ve put on that much weight, 5 lbs of Christmas candy and love isn’t really all that much on a 5’8” frame but all the same, I am miserable with these five extra pounds. I quite drinking soda pop back in October, so at least I don’t have to worry about trying to cut that out. If anything I just need to quit being so lazy and get back in the gym where I belong. I know that dropping the holiday weight will be no big deal, but I’d really like to go beyond that. I’ve been able to maintain a certain weight for a long time, but I’d really like to get just a little bit smaller… so I guess I am looking for some serious self discipline in 2012.

3. Be a better member… of church that is. I was at my best right after I was baptized. Its interesting that as far as my gospel knowledge goes, I know more now then I did then, but my testimony is weakened from my own laziness. I know that in order to get back to having such a strong testimony and connection with my Heavenly Father I need to do those simple things and basic things every single day, and those are praying morning and night, and regular scripture study. I miss how I felt right after I was baptized. I know I can get that feeling back, I just have to put forth the effort.

4. Get some new boobies. Yup. I want a boob job. I’ve actually wanted one since I was probably 17 or 18. For the past two years I’ve talked about getting them, and for the past 4 months I have begun the process of saving up money, every little bit that I can in order to get those new puppies. I am well aware of how frivolous it is and I know that this is something that a lot of people might frown upon me for doing… but I say poo on them! I want them and can’t wait to fill out a shirt for the first time in my life WITHOUT having to wear an extra padded-push up bra!

5. Get a handle on my crazy love life. If I were to map out the ups and downs and ins and outs of my relationships over the past year, let’s just say it would be a wild ride. I feel like I can be really indecisive when it comes to my relationships, I feel one way one day, and completely different another day. I’m with this guy, I’m with that guy, we’re together, we’re not. I feel like the anxiety I’ve felt as a result of all this uncertainty is what got me into so much trouble last semester, and I definitely don’t want that to happen to me again, especially going into what could be my final semester at good old J-dub. I am going to stop spectating and watching my love life happen in front of me and I’m going to take action and make some decisions for myself.

6. I’m going to become a hugger. I’m not a hugger. I don’t come from a family of huggers, so I’ve never been a hugger… what does that mean exactly? I guess I’m greedy with my hugs? I don’t feel entirely comfortable hugging strangers or people I’ve just barely met. I shake hands when I meet people, I don’t hug them. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable hugging distant relatives… all the same, I feel like if we were to take a look at the American culture or perhaps more specifically the Utahan culture, I would find myself in the minority category for being an anti-hugger. This means that all those people who I am denying hugs, are probably huggers, and I could be hurting their feelings. And really, what’s the big deal? Its just a hug… so why be so selfish with my hugs??? Its time to share the love!… unless the person might look like they have lice… then I’m still denying a hug.

7. I’m going to Lake Powell. I don’t know when or how, but I am going. Lake Powell is my happy place, so I am going there at least once.

8. Time management. I think I’ve written this down somewhere else in my blog before, but I guess it bares repeating. I’m late nearly everywhere I go. I make others late, I let people down. I mean, sure sometimes people adapt to my tardiness but I’m looking to be getting a much better job here in 2012, what I like to call a “big-girl’s job”. I don’t want to be late anymore. I’ve put my mind to things and seen the results before, showing up on time to work and school can surely be something I can accomplish this next year.

For some reason I thought my list would be a lot longer, but an even eight seemed like a good number. I am 25 years old now. I feel old but I know in the grand scheme of things I’m still pretty young and I have a lot of learning left to do.