Flying

Most of the people I know go to college with someone from home they know well and stay friends with forever. Others become best friends with people from all over.

Me, I become friends with people from home that I've known forever but never really known.

Case in point: Emily, Jack, and Corey.

I've at least known who these three were for years. But it wasn't until recently that I really got to know them. 

Emily is Haley's roommate (and my roommate next year!) so we had no choice but to be friends starting this fall. We're so similar in so many ways that we hit it off instantly and have become great friends.

Jack started hanging out with us occasionally this fall. That hanging out time has increased greatly as of late. Which is fine by us because he's wonderful and can make anyone laugh with one of his stories.

Corey is the newest addition to the crew as he didn't move down to Provo until January. But he has been an integral part of our group ever since.

Yesterday, Emily texted me and asked if I wanted to go flying with her, Jack, and Corey. See, Corey's dad flies planes and was planning on taking them up. Obviously I said yes! Like I could pass up that opportunity!

It honestly was one of the coolest things I've ever done. It is kind of a surreal feeling, flying through the air like that. We were low enough that we could see everything below us. He took us to fly over our houses, chase some ducks, see downtown Salt Lake, and to the Bountiful temple, with a gorgeous sunset as the backdrop for the entirety of the trip. I don't think I stopped smiling the entire time. Everything looked so tiny, just like little toys. I had never realized how many planes and helicopters are constantly flying over our heads. Seriously, there were so many people communicating over the radio it was nuts!

 It was also just fun to see how much Jack and Corey know about planes. They have spent a lot of time helping Corey's dad fix planes and flying with him, so they know a lot. After we landed they showed us around the hangars a little and told us about the projects Corey's dad is working on.

Such a fun night and cool, once-in-a-lifetime experience!

I Am Here

I should be doing any number of things right now (like studying for my Floral Design test, figuring out code for my Stats class, reading over a paper on marital conflict for research, or reading about the trial of Joseph Smith's murders for D&C), but I don't want to do any of those things at the moment. Right now, I want to write about life.

The other day I was packing up my stuff at the end of my sociology class. As I was putting my notebook in my backpack I had the thought, "I'm in college."

Since I started college over two and a half years ago, I have no idea why that thought came into my mind right then. Obviously I'm in college. Have been for a while now. But for some reason, in that moment, it all became real to me all over again. 

Maybe it was the ordinariness of the moment that made it so extraordinary. When I started at BYU, I was so busy trying to figure out how to handle this new life that I never really took the time to marvel at it. Now, not only am I in college, but being in college is not new. Being in college is normal for me now.

College was something I had looked forward to all my life. I saw my older siblings and their friends go to college and thought everyone seemed so old and mature. Now, that is me. (And let me tell you, I'm definitely not old and mature.) I had also almost always wanted to go to BYU. Still, it was a hard a decision for me to make and a harder one to adjust to.

Because of this, I never really got to celebrate the fact that I had done it. I had gotten where I wanted to go. Everyday, I walk to campus, attend class, study, and work at a place that for years seemed like a dream land. I take classes that provide me with knowledge in all aspects of life. I write papers, do homework, and read books that I never would have imagined I could. I have relationships with my professors and have earned their respect.

I have done things that I had never even known to dream about without even realizing I was doing it. All I was trying to do was survive each day; trying to make the challenges of life easy enough to seem ordinary.

Suddenly, I am here. Doing what I love, in a place that I love. And thank goodness for that.

Random Connection

"It is a curious thing, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well."

-Dumbledore

"We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. Hence many are called, but few are chosen."

-Doctrine and Covenants 121:39-40