Goodbye 25

I turned 26 Thursday. Some people lament growing older, but I was pretty happy to get away from 25. Don't get me wrong--great things happened all year.

Starting with marrying Jeff Labor Day weekend of last year. Starting CrossFit together and changing our way of life. Losing some LBS. Coming into my own more as a music teacher. Having the receiver of my dreams so our vinyl records finally sound like the should (AMAZING!). Going to Costa Rica and Mexico City. Buying my little car (his name is Franklin). Another niece and nephew entered our families. Lots of great things happened. Many precedents were set. Marriage keeps getting better and better.

Because part of me still lives in junior high, sometimes I catch myself thinking what life would be like if Jeff suddenly wasn't in it. When we were first married and marriage really hadn't set in, I would think, "Wow, yeah, that would really suck. I would miss him a lot." But now it usually brings me to tears to think about it at all. I don't know how women deal with that. Losing their husbands. My Jeff means absolutely everything to me. He is my best friend. Only the Savior and gospel have done more than he has to help me be a better person and reach my goals. He even helped me dye my hair yesterday so I wouldn't have to spend $$$ at my salon to have it done. I mean, what a sweetheart!! Not to mention the trip to Utah next weekend. It is SOOOOO HOT here right now, and there's no sign of getting out of the hundreds anytime soon. What a selfless man. My trip won't be nearly as fun without him there with me, and I will miss him terribly the whole time. But I am so happy I get to go see Mo get married. She is my best friend, my favorite companion from my mission. We had so many fun times, right from the get-go.

It's a rather funny story. There was another sister in our mission who REALLY didn't like me, to the point she spread falsities about me to missionaries and members alike. I am still not sure what her motive was, but I didn't care. There will always be people like that in life. I was sad she happened to be my fellow sister mish! Anyway, Mo was serving with this girl before she came to Waterloo Branch, where I was training Andie. I didn't know Mo too well at the time, so when I first saw her at transfer meeting, I thought I might be in for a long haul. Training Andie AND this new companion who looked SOOO nervous, in a tri-panionship. President had really gone crazy this time. Mo looked on the verge of tears that whole meeting. She was so flustered, wouldn't really make eye contact with me, hung by one of the senior sisters in our mission talking in low voices. Something serious was happening, obviously. I just hoped she left it behind so we could get back to Waterloo and WORK!

Fast forward a few days, and Mo and I were the best of friends. That's when she opened up to me about why she'd been so nervous that first day. Apparently this other sister who didn't like me had told Mo a bunch of mean and nasty things about me. Mo wasn't sure she should believe them, and she said after just a day of being with me and Andie she could tell none of them were true. Of course she told me all the things the other sister had said, and of course none of them were true. We had a good laugh and became the best of friends. We saw so many miracles in working together. Who'd have thought this city girl and that country bumpkin would get along like we did. I can't wait to see her next week! I'll be sure to actually take pics.

This Hurricane Irene thing has opened my eyes to something--how many Latter-day Saints still don't have food storage or any emergency preparedness items. I've been puzzled by the many Facebook status updates I've seen from my LDS friends, where they say they went to the store to buy food and water and there was nothing left! YEAH DUH!! That's why we are counseled to have it already on hand. You can try any excuse (don't have the money to buy extra food, don't have the space for it, I won't ever really need it, etc.), but I feel so strongly of the importance of food storage. Just don't do like I did this last time and buy water in that milk jug type of plastic. I checked on our water supply yesterday (hidden behind our TV table), only to find that our two 2.5-gal. container were completely drained! WHAT?!?! So that's where the leak was coming from when the tenant directly downstairs complained of leaking a few months ago...OOPS! Our gallon jugs were all still intact. Nevertheless, I bought water in better bottles yesterday and we will start drinking these gallon jugs. Make sure you buy water in plastic bottles that say "1 - PETE" on the bottom!!

Today church isn't until 4 pm, and we are only having Sacrament meeting and a LINGER LONGER!! Oh yeah. Hopefully it will be inside because if it is outside we are leaving.