It's About the People You Meet

It has been awhile since my words have graced the blog scene, over four and half months to be exact.  Please excuse my hiatus.  Obviously, life does go on without my blog thoughts crowding the Internet, but in a way I have missed it and I am back to remind myself of what wonders life holds.  Just as my journal has often come to a halt, I fell victim to boredom with my blog as well.  My excuses have been the same as before:  tired, bored, lack of excitement for life.  But I made a goal to write and I need to accomplish it.  And accomplish it I will!  Here I am again with high hopes to keep up my writing.  So, welcome back. 

I have the flu.  Maybe that is actually why I found the time to write.  I have nothing better to do.  Lame excuse, perhaps, either way, I am here.  I hate the flu.  And no, I don’t believe in flu shots.  Be disgusted if you must, but the last time someone in this family got a flu shot, everyone came down the flu, including the family that was visiting us.  There were lines at every bathroom door…I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.  Flu shots just don’t seem to go well for this family.  So, once a year, almost like clockwork, I come down with the flu.  I endure it for a few days and then I am as good as new.  This year’s, though, has been a particularly bad case.  I started my new job at the middle school on Friday.  Monday morning my throat was swollen and my head was pounding.  I knew I was sick, but I didn’t want to call in on my second day of work.  I went to take a shower and next thing I knew, I was laying down on the bathroom floor completely disoriented.  I had passed out.  Ugh.  I had to call in sick.  I was so out of it that I had to have my mother call the middle school.  Talk about flash back to the life of embarrassing adolescence!  I am 26 this coming Sunday and I had to have my mom call in sick for me.  Oh life.  Sometimes I feel as if my real life will never begin.  I am trapped in this phase of transition from college life to true adulthood.  I know I am not the only one feeling this.  Am I waiting for something?  Or am I truly pushing forward seeking the fullest of life?  That I cannot tell you. 

Before I take a turn for the worst into dramatic, deep, and thoughtful, I will stop myself and write about my summer.   And yes, it was an amazing summer.  The wonderful blessing about being significantly underemployed and living with my parents is the amount of flexibility I have.  I have been able to travel, travel, travel and visit old friends and family and experience new places and eat delicious food.  Because really, eating delicious food is incredibly important to my life. 

So this is how my summer went:

MAY

I love the month of May.  Growing up, May meant the end of school and the beginning of adventure.  The childhood magic I felt in the month of May has stayed with me since.  Even though I am no longer in school, May still holds a hopeful “Long, Hot, Summer” and fills me with excitement for the months ahead.  This May fulfilled its promise of a wonderful summer and I am sad it is almost to an end.    

Mid-May I drove down to Philadelphia with my mom and explored the city as well as Amish country.  It was beautiful!  While down there I also went to an old friend’s wedding.  I love weddings!  I went to a lot this summer.  I feel like this summer was the summer of weddings.  But of course, ever since I entered my 20’s, every summer has felt that way.  This wedding, though, was a great way to start off my summer.  Before I went to see her, I looked at old messages from years ago that we had written describing boy problems and frustrations with dating.  Then I saw her at the wedding so blissfully happy with life and her new husband.  She told me that night that even though she had a lot of disappointments in dating, she wouldn’t change a thing.  She found her man, and it was worth the wait.  Goodness, her optimism and happiness certainly blessed me with a new perspective on dating.  Wise words right there.  Thanks, Courtney!

Courtney and her Husband

JUNE

June was crazy busy.  My dad, little sister, and I decided to go to Idaho and Utah for ten days.  There were weddings to go to and friends and relatives to see, plus I needed a serious break from my golf course job.  Believe me, I was incredibly grateful to have a job, but standing behind a desk all day selling golf balls for five months straight warrants a break.  So off I went on a grand adventure out west. 

My little sister, Allie has never experienced Idaho and Utah.  She went there once as a baby, and I doubt she remembers much.  She had her eyes opened while in Utah.  We are an LDS family, my dad graduated from BYU, and I was born in Provo, Utah.  Typical of an LDS family.  But as soon as my dad headed off to graduate school when I was five, we haven’t been back since.  While in Utah we went to Temple Square and Allie learned all about the LDS church history.  But it still didn’t connect that Mormons settled Utah.  While at Lagoon (the local theme park, wahoo!)  there was a display about the LDS church settling Utah Valley.  Allie ran over to my dad and I and said, “Look!  There are Mormons here!  They’re talking about our church!”  My dad and I couldn’t help but laugh!  Allie never knew that Utah is FULL of Mormons.   It absolutely amazed her when we told her that Utah is pretty much half Mormon.  She never knew.  Haha!  I suppose that makes sense since she’s only ever lived in Hawaii and Germany. 

On a ride at Lagoon with my Dad and Allie

Allie experiencing her first Icee ever!

I met up with so many wonderful friends in Utah and Idaho.  My friend circle in New York is rather small, so it was such a joy to be around people I love.  I had the chance to do several photography sessions as well.  Lots of love going around and I was so happy to be apart of it.

Emily and baby girl Kailyn, Me, and Mariah

My friend Enea, pretending to be taller than me.

Camping and Canoeing in Idaho

JULY

I had to go back to work.  So, I endured another month of the golf course and picked up more work at the Arts and Crafts Center.  I started teaching sewing classes on top of my photography classes.  Let me tell you a little secret….I am not much of a sewer.  In fact, I despised it most of my life.  My mother is a BRILLIANT quilter and seamstress.  She does wonders with a needle and thread.  She tried for years to get me interested in sewing.  She finally was able to convince me to start a quilt this year.  That’s when it all started.  I have been working on a quilt for months using my basic sewing skills.  When I took the job working part time at the Arts and Crafts center they asked me if I sew. “Uh.  Yes.  I mean, well, I know basic sewing.  I mean, yeah, I’m good.”  That was my answer, “basic” being the keyword.  When I found out I had the job, I ran home and told my mom that she needed to teach me how to sew! I have sewed skirts and pajama pants in the past, but I wasn’t ever any good.  I got that job in April, and luckily I had a whole month to prepare for my first sewing class.  It went well.  And then we hit a dry spell (THANKFULLY) and I had time to practice sewing.  In July we went full steam ahead with sewing projects and we haven’t slowed down since.  Really, it has been a wonderful experience for me.  I am learning and growing every day and I love it!  Just don’t tell anyone at Arts and Crafts.

On top of work I had the chance to get away for a weekend to Maine with my family and see where my mom lived as a little girl.  It smelled like fish and beans.  But it was gorgoues!  I also had my first real lobstah.  Allie had to close her eyes while I pried apart the little beast.  She kept yelling, “You are so cruel!” And cruel it was!  But delicious, too.  Yum. 

My dad and I eating delicious lobster.

And with another stroke of luck (or divine intervention, whichever way you’d like to look at it) I was able to go to Palmyra for a few days and see one of my old mission companions, Christina.  She lives in Canada just north of the border of New York.   When I found out she was going to be in Palmyra I knew I couldn’t miss the chance to see her.  So, I drove through the New York boonies (boonies do exist in New York) and met up with her in Palmyra.  It was a wonderful visit as we explored the area together.  Too many wonderful emotions to share here, but let me just say, it was quite the experience.  I know there are people we are meant to meet in this life who will change us for the better.  And she is one of them.

Christina and I in Palmyra

AUGUST

I quit the golf course and left for Arizona, Utah, and Idaho.  Yes, I went back out west.  I had no plans to go out west again for the rest of the year, but then my best friend got engaged.  And what’s a girl to do?!  Miss her best friend’s wedding? Noooooo.  I wasn’t going to miss it for the world!  So, I went to Arizona for ten days and enjoyed all of the last minute wedding plans and parties and amazing food.  The wedding was absolutely beautiful.  I cried.  A lot.  When I am overwhelmed with happiness, I can’t hold back the tears!  I think I did a pretty good job of concealing them from public view, though.  I was also her wedding photographer and I did her hair (the hair part made me more nervous than the photography part!) and it all turned out wonderfully.  She is so happy.  And I am so happy for her. 

Clarice and Spencer on their Wedding Day

My brother drove down from Idaho to attend the wedding as well and to pick me up and take me back to Idaho.  On his way through the Utah desert, his car broke down.  Oh my gosh.  Never, ever, ever do I want that to happen to me!  He handled it like a man though.  He was able to get his car towed to a mechanic and rent another car to come down and get me.  The only car available though was a brand new hot red beetle!  Oh we were a sight zooming around the west with the little red-hot beetle.   More strangers talked to me than ever because of that car!  It was an adventure, that’s for sure.  We zipped through Utah and spent a week in Idaho zooming around the countryside and up and down mountains.  By the end, I grew attached to that little beauty and it will forever remain in my heart.   No joke. 

Parker with our Beetle in Arizona

While out west, I was once again able to push forward with photography. When I wasn’t zipping around in a beetle, I filled my time with family and engagement portrait sessions.  What a joy it is for me to photograph.  I love it more than anything and to have so many people trusting me with their pictures makes me feel so blessed.   Thanks to all of you who have given me those wonderful opportunities!

NOW

I am back in New York.  I am still taking life one day at a time, but so far, it seems to be working out for me.  Looking back on this wonderful summer that I have had I am so grateful for the people I have met, the friends I have made, and the old friendships that I have been able to rekindle.   I worry a lot about my future and panic over big decisions I have had to make.  I don’t know where I am headed and I don’t know what’s next for me, but a friend just reminded me that life is more about the people you meet.  Like I mentioned earlier, there are people I know we are meant to meet.  And I have seen in my own life that many of the big decisions I have made were based just on that.  Often I do not know why I need to take a particular job or move to a particular place or even go to a particular school.  But in every circumstance it has turned out that there was someone there I was supposed to meet.  I truly believe that. 

Now, I am off to work on photography since I have fallen behind due to this ridiculous illness.  Wish me luck!  And I will be back again soon….though I am sure the next blog post will not be as long.  (Relief, right?!)