Blessed Beyond Measure: Friend Edition

One of the service prompts for the Light the World initiative this year was to post on social media about an influential friend or friends. I'm not on social media very often, but it occurred to me recently that I could post here!

I wouldn't be able to pick just one friend to highlight. I am blessed to have many good friends, several of whom I've known since childhood. I intend to name a few (and hopefully I can keep it to just a few, or this post would go on forever!). :)

I'm grateful for Kiera, who's been one of my best friends since kindergarten. She was and continues to be a powerful spiritual influence on my life -- in addition to being a whole lot of fun! Kiera's example and observations were so influential in helping me start to recognize the voice of the Spirit. I'm grateful for her spiritual sensitivity and also for her bottomless well of forgiveness in the times I wasn't the greatest friend.

I'm grateful for Summer, who became a good friend the first year Kiera and I weren't in the same school class. We became a trio, and I so appreciate her kindness and love.

I'm grateful for Sara, K.T., and Mikayla, who are still some of my best friends! Elementary school wouldn't have been the same without them. I love their creativity, kindness, and genuine goodness. All three of them are the kind of people who just want to do the right thing, and the world is better for it.

I'm grateful for Andrea, Ana, Ashley, Lauren, Mandy, Bree, Jenny, Belle, Aubrey, Joe, Ryan, Connor, and all my other high school friends! We may not be in contact as often as we used to be, but they truly made my high school years happy ones, and I'm better for it. I'm also grateful for Kiera's sister Whitney, who I became much closer to during and after high school (once I started growing out of the "I'm older than you so we can't hang out" phase).

Thank goodness for Jill, Mara, Holly, Lynette, Kelly, Sketti, Ary, and Katelyn. Again, we're not in contact as often as we used to be, but they were the best roommates I could have asked for!

Jennifer deserves her own paragraph. Before Jennifer moved into our apartment, I was surviving on cereal, bagels, croutons, and rice. We bonded over food and Korean dramas and never looked back. To this day, she is my "best California friend"! One of the happiest days of my life was attending her wedding to a great, worthy man. She is such a caring, intelligent, thoughtful person and I'm blessed to know her.

I also have many friends whom I met outside of school. Mission friends, the Draper family in California, Francie, Provo Temple baptistry friends and the Yarwood family in Utah are some examples. I connected with the Drapers through music. I connected with Michelle through food and Primary teaching. I love both their families so much.

There are many other people who have touched my life, and I hope to make many more friends as the journey continues. Friends help make life grand. Especially when you're as lucky in your friendships as I am. I wish everyone could have even just one true friend.

Mara's Bridal Shower (Pictures)

Sara and Jennifer helped me plan and set up for Mara's bridal shower on Saturday, July 28. Judging by the look on Mara's face when she saw the spiedies on the grill, it was a success! (More details on the shower in my previous post- this post will just be a repeat of the photos I posted on Facebook. Reason for repeat: Sara doesn't have FB and thus would be unable to see the photos.)

 Setting up

 Kelly sucking helium

 Setting out the bridal shower Mad Libs

 A little beggar that was interested in the spiedies (chicken shishkebobs) grilling

 Sharing the Mad Libs

 Spiedies. Mmm.

 Sara asks Mara questions about her fiance Josh. For every question Mara got wrong, she had to put another piece of gum in her mouth. She answered 14 of 40 questions incorrectly.

 Mara opening presents!

 Kelly and Holly's gift

 Kelly and Holly's card

 Mara's Memory Book

 Sara posing with a spoonful of homemade vanilla ice cream

Jennifer and Mara

The story behind the story

Tomorrow, I will write a story about a family reunion with 3,000 attendees: the descendants of Henry Grow, who built the roof of the Salt Lake Tabernacle, several bridges, and some other buildings as part of the Public Works program in the mid-1800s after the Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley.

The reunion stretched over two days: Friday and Saturday. I interviewed two of the four main organizers of the reunion Thursday morning, and they were kind enough to invite me to come to some events during the Grow reunion. They set it up so I could join the family on a special tour of the Salt Lake Tabernacle at 10 Saturday morning. I was really excited!

I intended to drive the car up to Sandy and ride TRAX in to Salt Lake City, but when I woke up in the morning it was to an empty house (my parents and siblings had left to go to our family reunion at Snowbird) and no car keys. Mom and Dad left me Skip (the name of our car) as planned, but after calling them on the phone about the key problem we realized I'd inadvertently locked the spare key in the car. Roadside Assistance came to the rescue, unlocking the car for me at about 8:55 a.m. There was no longer time to ride TRAX; I sped all the way to Salt Lake. Luckily, I found parking right off (and it was free!) and walked quickly to Temple Square, where I made it just in time for the tabernacle tour.

The rest of the day was busy. I stayed with the Grows (who were all very gracious and friendly) until 12:30 or so, then sped home to prepare for a bridal shower my friend Sara and I threw for our friend Mara. We ended up leaving for the park later than we meant to, but still had enough time to get everything going. Jennifer was a lifesaver- she drove to the park to meet us at 6, the time we'd wanted to get there, and lay on top of one of the picnic tables so nobody would take it. Good thing, too- that park was busy last night! We saw a wedding, a baby shower, and a birthday all at the same time at the same park.

Holly and Kelly came to the shower too. We had a blast doing Mad Libs (Sara, Jennifer and I made them up specially about Mara and Josh), grilling spiedies (chicken shishkebobs), making homemade ice cream and feeding Mara more and more sticks of gum for every question she answered wrong about Josh. (Sara and I wrote a list of 40 questions and sent them to Josh to answer beforehand. Mara answered 14 of 40 incorrectly. It was very amusing for those of us watching.)

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Note the important edit made August 1: Mara answered 14 of 40 questions INcorrectly, as pointed out in the comments.

The Ward Dance- pictures

I had a great time with Jeremy last Saturday at the ward date dance. He's a great dancer and taught me a few steps of waltz, swing(?) and cha cha. Photos taken by K.T.

Me- kudos to Kelly and Holly for doing my hair and makeup. Kudos to Sara for forbidding me to wear my black boots. Kudos to Jennifer and Mara for not making fun of me while they watched fascinatedly as Holly painted my face with what she called "hardly any makeup- it looks totally natural."

Me and Jeremy

My beautiful roommates- Fun fact: all of us went with roommates. Jeremy is Josh's roommate; James and Eric are roommates, and John and Bible are roommates.

James and Holly

Eric and Jennifer

John and Kelly

"Bible" Jon and Sara

Not Pictured: Mara and Josh

Immortalizing my roommates as dogs

Sara: hyperactive as usual
Holly and Kelly: best buds, telling one another stuff about their lives
Jen: off in her own little world (probably thinking about Lee Min Ho :) )
Jess: "Play with me!"
Mara: "Zzzzzzzz..."
Josh (the honorary roommate): sort of in his own world (because Mara's asleep), sort of looking for attention (because Mara's asleep)

Snow falls, and Jennifer talks to the wall

The world sure was white when I woke up this morning. It was hail at first, the kind of little pellets that are almost snow but not quite, but now looking out my window I'm wondering if the snowflakes are finally falling.

A truth came out last night about the newest roommate from California: Jennifer talks to walls. And electric guitars (belonging to Mara) leaning against the walls. And dark, empty corners of rooms.

Or so Mara thought.

Last night I was reading a novel, as I tend to do in the evenings after a long day at school. I started out sprawled on the couch, then moved to half the couch (so Holly could sit down), then ended up sprawled out again, on the floor in the corner between the two couches and halfway underneath the puzzle table. I changed places when everybody was preoccupied elsewhere; Holly was in the shower, Jennifer was getting something from her room, Sara was showing off her super special spiffy blue dress, Mara was doing stuff on her computer, and Kelly was hemming a dress. A few minutes later Jennifer entered the living room to return to her homework nook on the love seat and paused, confused.

"Where did Jessica go?"

Although engrossed in my book, the question still made me giggle, and Jennifer laughed when she spotted me half-hidden under the table and between the sofas. "There you are!"

Nobody paid any attention as Jennifer sat on the love seat (next to my head) and started her physics reading. She didn't get very far. The ward dance has been on most of my roommates' minds lately, since Sara and Kelly found out who the computer "matched" them with on Sunday and Monday, respectively. (Hence the reason Sara was showing off her special dress.) About two paragraphs into her reading (and a page and half further in mine), she blurted out randomly,

"You should do your hair for the dance."

I was not in the mood to be pushed around. I pretended not to hear, but Jennifer persisted. "You can do mine and then I'll do yours."

This required a hasty disclaimer. "I don't think you want me to do your hair."

"It's not hard!" Jennifer protested. "You'll see." She continued trying to get me to think about fancy hairdos for the dance. I continued trying to ignore her.

Mara walked in, passing Kelly sewing at the kitchen table, and asked, "Jennifer, who are you talking to?"

Jennifer paused for a moment and then laughed. "Oh, you know, the guitar. 'You should really do your hair for the dance!' No; Jessica is in the corner. You probably can't see her from there."

A weekend of parties

It started with a French toast party on Friday night. Mara and Josh started planning it two weeks ago. (Mara is pretty much the only truly spontaneous person in the entire ward, so she had to plan in advance.) "I thought if I invited thirty people, fifteen would show up," Mara said afterward, but that ratio is only true with her usual 'Hey, want to have a party tonight?' routine.

At least forty people came. We went through a lot of French toast, whipped cream, and syrup.

There was a ward activity Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, it was not as well attended as French Toast with Mara. Part of that was confusion about what time the thing really started and part of it was nobody wanted to drive to the church. Saturday afternoons are notorious for being lazy.

The weekend culminated in a giant birthday celebration for Heather, the Relief Society president. She invited the entire ward to a 1920s party in the lounge Saturday night. The place was really decked out to look like a club, jazz music and all. A lot of people came dressed up; Kelly and Holly spent a long time perfecting their looks. :) Sara spent some time teaching me basic swing dance steps, I spent some time devouring the homemade root beer, and Jennifer and I spent a lot of time playing Crack the Case. (A thinking game that's very similar to our Mind-whatever-it's-called game that Graig has memorized at home.) We liked it so much I even begged Heather to let us borrow it so we could play it again last night.

Daydream

“I won’t talk over intercom. We will talk in person or not at all!” Mad Dog snapped.

Admiral Djurich frowned at the pirate warlord. The DSS Magellan was in a dangerous position. Mad Dog had five warships surrounding the station, including his flagship, the Dragon. It was an imperial-class Romulan warbird, and Romulans didn’t skimp on their weapons.

“Admiral,” Captain Springer said, a warning note in his tone.

“Ensign Hills, turn off the audio feed for a moment,” Djurich ordered.

“Yes, Admiral.”

She turned to Captain Springer, who looked intense and serious in his red captain’s uniform. “Admiral, you can’t go over there,” he said immediately.

“I agree.” Lieutenant Badger, the executive officer, took a step forward to join the conversation. “Mad Dog will only use you to get the dilithium shipment.”

“Mad Dog shouldn’t know about the dilithium.”

“That doesn’t mean he doesn’t,” Springer said. “Lieutenant Badger is right. If Mad Dog wants to talk, he’ll have to come to us.”

“That will give him an opportunity to discover what we’re carrying,” Djurich argued. “Captain, those crystals have to make it to Earth. You have standing orders to fight your way out of here and leave me if the negotiations fail.”

Captain Springer was silent for a moment. “Lieutenant Commander K. Springer and I will accompany you if you insist on going over to the Dragon.”

“I will not allow-”

“I am the captain of this station, and I have a duty to protect you,” the captain interrupted smoothly. “That is final.”

Djurich was quiet for a moment. “We are surrounded by five ships. The only way out of this is to negotiate.”

“Agreed,” Captain Springer said. He raised his voice. “Ensign Hills, restore audio!”

“Wait-” Djurich broke off as Mad Dog’s impatient voice resounded through the ship’s speakers.

“Enough stalling, Admiral. Are you prepared to negotiate?”

Djurich opened her mouth to reply.

“We are,” said Captain Springer. “But the negotiations must take place on our vessel.”

“Impossible,” Mad Dog growled. “The admiral will come over here or I will order my ships to attack."

Djurich shot Springer a dirty look before addressing the pirate. “I require an honor guard to accompany me to your ship.”

“Naturally,” Mad Dog said. “You may bring one guard.”

“Two."

The pirate blew out a long-suffering sigh. “Fine. Two. Prepare to beam aboard. Dragon out.”

Djurich took a deep breath as Mad Dog’s face was replaced by an array of stars and two enemy ships. “Let’s go."

“Commander Badger, you have the bridge,” Captain Springer said. “Lieutenant Commander Springer! Let’s go.”

“Stay on your toes, Junior Grade Lieutenant Garner,” the deep space station’s chief of security warned her deputy. Then she fell into step behind the admiral and captain.

“Three to beam to the Dragon, Lieutenant Colledge,” Djurich said when they were in the transporters. She gave the next order quickly, before she lost her nerve and jumped out. “Energize.”

It's been a good week for publication

A thought from atop the proverbial soap box

There's a definite sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when you see your name in print under a paper, article or even blog post and you know it's destined for the eyes of somebody besides you, who wrote it. I don't think I'll ever tire of it. I was so excited about getting published in the Deseret News on Saturday that I've been showing practically everybody who's set foot in our apartment since then - Kelly, Holly, Lynette, Sara, Mara, my visiting teachers... Not to mention announcing the accomplishment on Facebook. It feels really nice to work hard on something and have somebody notice what you did. Like when Kelly won a Kindle from a blogging contest a few weeks ago (she writes really well; check out her blog - it'll be well worth your time). Or when Sara was in the newspaper because she was a Sterling Scholar. Or when Graig and Tyson advanced to the national history fair and both families got to visit Washington, D.C. for a couple days.

With journalism, I am keenly aware of the added responsibility I have to publish the truth and its relevance to people within the typical "readership" of the publication as well as all over the world (thanks, Internet). I take that challenge seriously. It takes a lot of hard work and effort to gather enough information for each story that you can write it in context, with minimal dramatization, representing each voice the best you can. I don't expect to please everyone, but I do expect to please myself. If I can satisfy my journalistic conscience that I portrayed the story the best I could, I can withstand any reasonable criticism.

Even though sometimes it's hard to live with that responsibility, I love what I am doing. And honestly, what kind of job doesn't have some degree of responsibility? Each worker bee is important - the trick is recognizing the good that can come from your contribution.

Heat like unto a dryer

I didn't have enough quarters to put my clean clothes in the dryer on Saturday, so I hung them up wet all over Mara's and my room to air dry. The last time I resorted to this, it took a full 24 hours for most of the items to dry, and I went to sleep expecting the same result this time.

BUT! (if you buy three completos...)

Apparently my Arizona roommates keep the heat on high, because by the time I woke up Sunday morning everything was dry - even my jeans. (Or maybe my upstate New York roommate who repeatedly walks through snowdrifts in flip-flops is the one who keeps it so toasty warm inside.) I think the temperature feels nice. It did save me 75 cents.