Fifty-one things BYU/Provo taught me

51 things I learned from BYU/Provo, in no particular order:

1. An apartment with roof access is always preferred
2. One should always possess a Non-judging Kitchen Table
3. Best idea is to not have a netflix account.  Or access to someone else's (Thanks Mel for being so kind :) )
4. Friends can be family
5. God has His own timeline
6. I can do hard things
7. First impressions are most always wrong.  Assumptions are most always wrong.  Give people the benefit of the doubt
8. Running is a great stress relief
9. Sometimes waking in the middle of the night is a great time to read.
10. Heavenly Father cares about life's intricacies
11. Coworkers are best when not merely coworkers
12. Never underestimate how much someone cares about you
13. Onesie Pajama parties are the best!
14. "Insulin resistance is the Whore of the Earth"  Dr. Ben Bikman
15. Mothers are hands-down the greatest
16. No matter how big something seems, it will pass.
17. Blessings come and answers come
18.  Never underestimate the difficulty of a French class
19. The dollar theater is the best way to spend an evening
20.  Classical music is the best!--Thanks Cailey Gallacher Barton!
21. A deep conversation is never to be passed up
22. People should always know how great you think they are
23. Sonic Cherry Limeades are always a yes
24. No matter how much Night Morgan thinks "oh I'll just go to bed now and wake up early to finish," it will never ever ever happen!  Don't even try!
25. The library's "open till 2 am during finals week" policy is always to be taken advantage of
26. I'm a great goal-setter; my goal-accomplishing could use some work
27. Memorizing scriptures, quotes, and hymns is a great thing to do
28. Men who serenade you in Spanish are always to be cherished
29. Road trips=fantastic.  Never say no to a road trip.
30. You don't use it, you lose it: writing, French, singing, dancing
31. It is physically possible for me to keep my room clean for several weeks at a time!
32. Always plan things out.  So it doesn't take you five years to get your undergrad
33. Get to know your professors!  Go to their office hours.
34. I love old people.  They are funny and kind.  And usually not according to the stereotype
35.  Gardens, ahhhh  I will have my own luscious garden someday!  I will, I will!
36. Where their health is concerned, everyone should weight-lift
37. Best memories of college are at the apartment with the roommates and friends
38. The last two weeks of a semester are a beast.  Smattering of despair, despondency, lack of sleep, etc.  Don't expect less.
39. If you meet a good-looking guy that is smart and has his head on straight, he's married. He's always married.
40. You think you're going to walk through the WILK without getting a flier?  haha no you won't
41. God is an artist and has quite the sense of humor
42. Most nights in your freshman dorm room will be spent talking till 3 am
43. Don't cut your roommate's bangs
44. Anatomy gloves have got to be black. Shadows all the way, baby!
45. Pinesol is great
46. I hate garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and balsamic vinegar.
47. Jane Holbein Selman really can boast the best cookies in the world
48. As scary as it is to make new friends, you will never regret it
49. Chem labs are a lot more fun if you imagine you're Severus Snape  aka the Half-blood Prince
50.  One should always sleep with the window open.
51. Sometimes life is too good to go to bed on time

L'amour jeune

J’ai trouvé cette petite pensée dans un vieux essai et j’ai décidé de la partager.  Voilà, mes pensées sur le premier amour:

L’amour jeune. C’est obligatoire de l'éprouver avant la maturité vraie peut venir. Grâce au premier amour, l’esprit regarde le cœur pour la première fois. L’esprit réalise qu’il ne peut demeurer le seul décisionnaire plus longtemps ; il n’est pas enfant unique. Le cœur commence à se définir. Il reçoit soit sa première égratignure ou sa première ride : une égratignure qui va, un jour, faire partie des cicatrices qui défigurent des cœurs vieux ; ou une ride qui va faire partie des nombreuses rides de la sagesse.

A journal

As a blogger--intermittent as I may be--you must expect that I am an avid journaler.  Provided that is your expectation, you are right.  And yes, I know journaler is not a word.  But journalers can make up their own words.

I relish finishing a journal and starting a new one.  For several reasons.  First off, I love choosing a new journal.  Thick, heavy-duty paper (what can I say, I'm my father's daughter); quite particular size; blank pages, but I'll do small lines if I have to.  And something about the journal that reminds me of me.  It also must make me feel artsy and creative, so I am encouraged to experiment with my thoughts and my writing. (I used to overestimate the creativity those journals endowed me with; I drew pictures.  Fortunate for my pride, I stopped).
Also, there's the simple concept of a fresh, clean, brilliant beginning.  What events will be recorded in this next journal?  What will I learn?  And, most importantly, where will I be when it's been filled?

That's all about starting a journal.  What of finishing it?

That is my favorite part.  As my last entry, I flip through the journal and rewrite key events.  If I'm lucky, I'll find some goals that have been accomplished, or some prayers that have been answered.  I also note the simple entries.  The occasional eloquences or poetic turns of language (in my journals: rare).  I also love to see how something that was once so big has become so small--so small that I no longer remember it.  Or to see traits I once had that have been chipped away by trials or time or maybe even my own awareness and determination.

Documenting our happenings, our musings, our concerns, our epiphanies, our triumphs, our blessings, our minds and hearts, our histories is something that can not be overstated. I need to be better!  Good thing I have a brand new journal to start with.

I don't know why I decided to journal about my journal.  There wasn't really a point.  I guess just a musing

First Impressions and Assumptions: Two things I've learned this year

There is a principal that has been resurfacing constantly in my life this year. It is that first impressions are most always deceiving. What person can be summed up in one action?

FACT: I do not always have a negative impression upon first meeting someone. In fact, it's quite rare. I try not to.

However, throughout the course of this year, I have thought several people were kind of odd or weird or unmotivated or unintelligent or.. whatever. And every time I got to know that person better, I grew to love and appreciate them and was ashamed for having thought said thought.

I have also found that it is best to give people the benefit of the doubt. In all things. I now try to assume the best of people. That perhaps so-and-so had something catastrophic this week, which is why they didn't follow through on something. Or that the person that cut me off was in fact rushing a dying loved one to the hospital. You can see these scenarios can get ridiculous, but they help me refrain from judging.

Well these were some findings of mine throughout the past year or so. Findings that are universal but that I never really paid much attention to. I'm sure these things are already practiced by people like you, but I am happy to make the change, no matter how late.

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting

I love this Wordsworth poem:

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:

The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,

Hath had elsewhere its setting,

And cometh from afar:

Not in entire forgetfulness,

And not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come

From God, who is our home:

Heaven lies about us in our infancy!

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: beautiful.

Book Suggestion

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Go read it. So good.