Things I Love

This one is for Betsy. It was a great idea.

So, I set an online stop watch for one minute, and typed anything I could think of that I love.

One minute of things I love:

1. singing in a choir
2. reading British novels
3. reading about history
4. visiting museums
5. taking walks at sunset
6. going to the Temple
   
7. humming/singing as I clean
   
8. whistling when I walk across campus
9. watching the leaves fall
10. building snowmen
11. playing scrabble with Derek
    
12. talk about the future with Derek
    
13. traveling
    
14. making cookies
15. eating with friends
    

Hmmm, nice. Here are a few more things I love:

1. writing in my journal
2. playing with Derek's hair
3. watching movies with my sisters
4. talking to my brother about life
5. watching BYU football
6. going to soccer games
7. horseback riding
   
8. hiking
9. listing to General Conference (especially when I'm there!)
   
10. listening to someone with an accent
    
11. speaking in Spanish
12. running into someone I haven't seen in a long time
13. writing stories
14. taking pictures
15. hot chocolate
16. galaxy chocolate
17. my primary kids in London
18. looking at Better Homes and Gardens magazine
19. America's Next Top Model
20. pink gel pens
21. decorating for holidays
22. Disneyland
23. warm, fuzzy blankets
24. chicken alfredo
25. eating a whole pizza by myself
26. having lunch at the Creamery
27. talking to friends on the phone
28. writing and receiving letters
29. root beer (especially A&W)
30. good roasts on Sundays
31. naps
32. wandering around Wal-Mart
33. visits to Duchesne
34. buying books
35. looking at Christmas lights

There are a million more things...but I kept it at 50. :-) I agree with Betsy though...maybe I should do this more often.

The Broken Road

Rascall Flatts seems to write and sing songs about my life. But I think The Broken Road probably takes the cake. I was thinking today, about boys I dated that finally led me to choosing Derek. The ones I loved, the ones I didn't, the ones that lasted a long time, the ones that were just a first date. Some broke my heart, others, I regret to say, had their hearts broken by me.

People have asked me if I would go back and change things, if I regret getting into so many relationships, especially while Derek was gone. Honestly, I don't regret the time I spent with a single one of them. Of course there are things ABOUT each relationship I regret but overall, I wouldn't go back and erase the time I spent with those men.

Perhaps it will sound cliche, but honestly-I learned a lot from every one of them. I learned how to love. I learned what it means to care more about the other person than yourself. In their own way, they all taught me confidence in myself. They taught me to never give up on myself. Several of them taught me how important it is to communicate, to really explain what's going on inside your head. Am I perfect at any of that yet? No, not yet. But I'm working on it.

I guess the most important thing, is that I learned what I really wanted. Each of them had traits I knew I wanted to emulate, to develop, and find in the person I would eventually marry, whether it was one of them or someone in the future. That's why you date, isn't it? Of course part of dating is having a good time, running around enjoying life together. Having those moments where you think you love that person so much you might burst. And then later, you find out what REAL love is. Not that you didn't love them, of course you did. But that love is just a precursor to a much better, deeper love.

I feel like this is a whole bunch of thoughts crammed into one, but I guess that happens.

Dear Journal

So, I was thinking today, on my break at work, since I am still at work, that I have been putting all of my deeper thoughts on this blog and neglecting my Journal. yes, I still write in my Journal every day, but what happened to those days when I would cart it around everywhere and tell it all of my innermost thoughts and explain the mysteries of the universe that I discovered, my spiritual insights/aha moments, and random moments when I felt so incredibly thankful I thought I might burst? I don't know. Now, I think of splashing those thoughts onto my blog page instead of the pages of my ever faithful and constant friend, Journal.

Then there are the people that will say "just print off your blog posts". NO. a resounding

!!!!!!!!!!NO!!!!!!!!!!

I will not succumb to treating my posterity like they are nothing by printing the pages of this impostor and paste it into my journal! I will not deprive them of my horrific handwriting! I will NOT!

So, I've decided, no matter how heavy my backpack is (and it really isn't that bad), I am going to start carrying my dear Journal around again. And I will fill it with my insights, my worthless pieces of knowledge that don't really mean anything to anyone but myself and Journal. And we shall be dearest friends again, not just ten minutes at night before I go to sleep friends. Yay. I can't wait to be best friends again.

oh, but I won't stop blogging. don't worry.