From Here to Eternity

I’ll admit that most of my friends have the same beliefs and values that I have. It’s not that I don’t like diversity, but when you live in Utah County, the majority of people you associate with every day are Latter-day Saints. Since I moved away from Los Angeles, I’ve lost touch with a lot of the friends I had when I was younger, and thus lost a lot of the diversity that I really enjoyed in my friends. I’ve since been finding a lot of these old friends on Facebook, and it has been really neat to see how their lives have evolved and what they’re up to these days.

One thing I have noticed is that even though we’re all very different, essentially, we want the same things in life; however, I have also noticed that they have all mentioned at one time or another that they’re terrified of dying. I am not terrified of it. Do I want to die? Not yet, but I do know that we all have a time, but that death isn’t the end of things. I am grateful for the plan that Heavenly Father has for his children to return to him, and for families to be together forever.

Last week I received the news that an acquaintance of mine had passed away. He was my age, 32, which got me thinking a lot about my own mortality. Did I really believe what I professed to?
My husband and I attended the funeral, which I don’t know if I would have since he was not a close friend, but I know his older brother quite well and I felt that I should go to show my love and support for the family. I can say that I was expecting it to be quite sad. I had never attended a funeral for a young person, so I really expected there to be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. But what I experienced, and what I feel that others experienced, was a sense of peace of also a strengthening of my belief that death isn’t the end.

This young man died unexpectedly, and his sister said that the family still doesn’t know the scientific reason for his death. They did know that he had been experiencing a decreased lung capacity since an accident a few years ago, and that he’d had a cold and strep recently, but that they didn’t know why he passed away. She then said that the family had done a lot of prayer and meditation after his passing to try to understand why someone so young had been taken from this earth. All of his siblings and parents were able to speak at the funeral and they all expressed that they felt peace that it was just Chris’ time to go. His sister and mother read sections from his patriarchal blessing , a special blessing given in my church by a man called a Patriarch, who has been chosen and ordained to this calling. “This blessing enumerates the blessings and promises, some special, others general, to which… the person is entitled; and through his authority seals them upon him, so that they may be his forever through faithfulness” (Boyd K. Packer, October General Conference, 2002). In this young man’s blessing, he was promised that his days on the earth would be long enough for him to accomplish what he needed to do to return to his Heavenly Father with honor. He was also promised that until his work was done on the earth, he would be protected and kept safe, and that his passing from this life to the next would be peaceful. Those words gave his family comfort, and they truly know that Chris’ work on the earth was completed.

I felt, through the promptings of the Holy Ghost, that this was true. I also felt the Holy Ghost remind me that I do actually believe what I profess to. I know that God lives, and that he gave his son, Jesus Christ, to us as a Savior so that we could return to live with him one day. I also know that families can be together forever. Chris will be with his family again because of the sealing powers of the priesthood. I am very grateful to be sealed to my dear husband and that when this life is over, we, along with our children and other family members, will be together.
Not only did I leave the funeral with a peace and comfort that this life is not the end, but I felt comforted in knowing that Heavenly Father is in charge. My life is in his hands and he can and will make of me more than I ever could. I also left with a greater resolve to make every day count - to try to be the best I can be and to live as Christ did.

“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
“And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).

It's What I've Been Sayin' All Along

Remeber when I posted about my nail salon experiences? I saw these pictures on a blog about passive-aggressiveness, and I had to laugh because it's so funny that someone put that on their sign. It's almost like they should all say that, because if I can't get my nails professionally done by Asians, I don't want them done at all.

Influenza: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

When I was single, I thought that holidays would automatically be better once I was married because I'd have someone to spend them with. I'd have someone to kiss me at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, someone who would send me flowers on Valentine's Day, and someone to decorate eggs with at Easter. Boy, was I wrong! Rob fell asleep at 10 pm on New Year's Eve and was sick in bed this entire weekend. And when I say "sick in bed," I mean just that. He slept the entire weekend, only getting up to use the bathroom and eat. So that meant no flowers on Velentine's Day in addition to my lack of kiss on New Year's Eve. I guess I shouldn't care all that much, especially since Valentine's Day has been contrived by greeting card companies and the retail market as a ploy to sell crap between Christmas and Easter. But this morning I checked my google reader and read about everyone's awesome Valentine's Day and started feeling sorry for myself. And even worse than that, the kids I teach in Sunday school asked what I did for Valentine's Day, and when I told them, one of the kids said, "dang, that's super lame!" Yes, thank you for rubbing the super lame salt in my super lame wound. At least I got this consolation prize from one of the kids: "That's almost as bad as my brother taking his girlfriend to the monster truck rally for Valentine's Day. But not as bad."

So, to all of my single friends: the grass only looks greener on the other side. You might still end up watching Dick Clark by yourself on New Year's Eve and having Valentine's Day be just like any other day. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, right? And when it get's really bad, just remind yourself that it's not as bad as a monster truck rally.

But all kidding aside - my husband and I might not have scrapbook, blog-worthy holiday celebrations, which is OK since I don't do the scrapbook thing, because every regular day is just as momentous, even more so, than I ever thought it could be. I'm so grateful to have a husband who shows me the kind of love and respect every day that some women only see on holidays. That's one of the reasons I let him stick around. That and his Grossness Tolerance Level is much greater than mine. He's my go-to guy when there's grossness that needs to be gotten rid of. I love you, sweetheart! Get well.

Remember When His Name Was "Leaf"?

I love me some Joaquin Phoenix! Walk the Line, anyone? So I was terribly disappointed to see his appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. It's awkward, painful and downright disappointing.

States I Don't Want to Live in: Flori-don't

I'm starting a series called "States I Don't Want to Live In," and Florida is my first entry. I went to Jacksonville, Florida once and I thought it was one of the nastiest places I've ever been to. My cousin lives there, and I like my cousin, but I don't care too much for Florida. I tell people this and they tell me I should go to Orlando and I will feel differently. And then today I was reading an article about a child abduction that happened in Florida, and I thought to myself, "self, it seems like most child abductions happen in Florida." So I did a little Google to see what I could find to support my theory. This is what I found. Apparently Jeb Bush noticed, too.

Anyway, frequent child abductions isn't the only reason I don't want to live in Florida. Have you ever watched COPS? Every episode was in Broward County, Florida.

Alligator attacks? Florida.

Hurricanes? Florida.

Key Lime Pie? Florida (I like Key Lime Pie, it just gives me wicked bad heartburn).

Nuff said.

I won the golden ticket!

Congratulations to the first 5 peeps to comment on my super awesome home-made present giveaway post! The lucky ladies are:

Super cool SIL Becca

Fashion forward Holly

Sassy Southern Stormy

"Just Janet" Robyn

"Rhinestone Baby" Heather

I'm working on your super awesome home-made stuff and hope to have it finished in about a week. Just sos you all know, I once went to a scrapbook store and I got to do a free page. The woman who was working there told me that there were enough supplies for me to start over if I wanted to. So what I'm sayin' is that I'm not that crafty. Your present may or may not be made with puffy paints. It may or may not be Bedazzled. It may or may not be a boondoggle. I may or may not use the cat hair I collect around my house to knit you a purse. OK - that last one really happened. Not by me, but I saw a lady on TV who worked as a pet groomer and started collecting the cat hairs to knit things out of. Now she takes the hair of deceased cats and dogs and knits them into purses, hats, scarves, etc. for the owners to memorialize their pets. Gross nasty is all I have to say about that.

Thanks for playin', friends!

I Like the Wizard of Oz!

Credit for this one goes to Word to Your Mother.

Lemming!

Is it considered plagiarizing if you snag it from someone else's blog? I'm gonna give proper credit JIC. I got this from my friend Heather's blog, but since it's private and you're not invited (unless you are) then you wouldn't be able to check up on the validity of my source. OK, here goes.

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog. The first 5 people to do so, and leave a comment telling me they did, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

Hoff a Nice Day!

I'm a sucker for anything David Hasselhoff related. Not in a weird way, I just get such a kick out of all of the Hoff jokes. Like "Don't Hassle the Hoff," "Hoff a Nice Day," "Wax On Wax Hoff." So hilarious! I was inspired by Word to Your Mother to share some of the Hoffness with my loyal readers. Just make sure you're careful when Googleing David Hasselhoff. If you have no stomach for massive amounts of chest hair, stay away.

S.A.D.

Is anyone else ready for spring? I have been in a mid-winter funk ever since New Years, and I cannot seem to snap out of it. And it's not like I feel sad or depressed or anything, I just would rather sleep over anything else that is going on. I have an especially hard time getting up in the morning, and have boycotted Sunday morning choir practice because it is at 9:30 and church doesn't even start until 11. I haven't been to work on time in ages. At first I was blaming it on my underactive thyroid and anemia, but I realized today that it has to be the weather. It is bitterly cold, smoggy, and dark in the morning. And who wants to go out into that kind of weather?

Maybe I have the SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder. Maybe I need a vacation to somewhere warm and sunny that also does not have smog. Maybe I need a Sleep Number mattress. Maybe I need a better alarm clock. Come to think of it, I felt this way last winter, too, but once March rolled around I was back to my old self. It's a good thing that February is a short month.