An Everyday Hero

Every morning I get up in the freezing cold to go to school. I drive the same way and listen to the same radio stations. I park in one of the farthest lots and take a shuttle into Main Campus (yes, we're almost as cool as Disneyland). Getting on the shuttle can sometimes be a problem because it fills so quickly. If you're there at about 7:45 you can probably get a seat, but when we pull out at 7:50 all seating and standing room is taken, and we pull out of the parking lot.

My purpose in writing this is not to bore you out of your mind with the trivial affairs of my life, rather, it is to set the background for An Everyday Hero.

I've only seen him twice on the shuttle when I ride it. Maybe he gets there earlier and takes the previous shuttle. The first time I saw him he climbed on the bus and took a seat. As the shuttle began to fill he looked around anxiously and then settled back in. A girl took one of the last seats and a couple of guys walked on and stood holding the bars above their heads. Just then, a young lady stepped up the stairs and looked around for a seat. When she couldn't find one she simply stood where she was and reached up for the bar above her head. It didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary to me, just a normal day on the shuttle.

Suddenly, the young man next to me stood up and graciously offered the young lady his seat.

What happened next surprised me even more than him offering his seat. I saw other young men on the bus getting our of their seats, offering them to the nearest young lady. He had started a chain reaction.

What a man. I don't think I've meet one in such a long time (with the exception of a few of my very gentlmanly friends). I was pleasantly surprised. I don't think he'll ever know it, but to me, that day he was a hero.

It doesn't end there. This morning I woke up, ran through freezing temperatures to my freezing car, which I then drove to the school. I ran to the shuttle and sat down, eager to be out of the cold. The bus filled and he got on just before we pulled out. There were a lot of girls standing, but he was standing as well, so he couldn't do anything about it. At our first stop we dropped off quite a few people and a seat cleared next to me. He sat down, but only after he had checked to make sure no girl was standing. Just then, just as he had sat down, another passenger boarded the shuttle. It was a young lady. And what did our friend do? He could have easily sat back thinking, "Well, I just sat down and we really aren't going that far". But he didn't. Up he popped, out of his seat offering it to her.

Even if no one else noticed, he was a hero to me.

Box of Chocolates

Life is like a box of chocolates.....before you know it, it's all gone!

Life is like a box of chocolates....always full of surprises!
Life is like a box of chocolates...you never know what you're gonna get!

People are like a box of chocolates....there's always a surprise inside!
People are like a box of chocolates....NUTS!

Candles!!!

Today I discovered a new way to have fun. It's outrageously old fashioned, but that fits me! Missy and I took a couple of candles to the back porch and started breaking them apart-using hammers! We smashed those candles into bits. I collected the bits and put them in a couple of tin cans. Then I took a glass jar, and my candle warmer-plate, stuck the jar on the plate and dropped in chunks of candles! It's melting as we speak. I'm going to layer the different colored waxes in the jar I think. Who knows, maybe I could sell candles eventually??? It is great fun though.

I think I can trace my candle fetish back to the days when I was a pioneer. Haha. I'm not THAT old! I used to volunteer at a living history museum/historical park. We would go once a week to a certain house all decked out from head to toe in pioneer costume and do different kinds of pioneer chores, while visitors watched and asked us if we were really pioneers (giggle). One of those "chores" was to make candles! We would melt the wax then dip the wick into the wax...one layer at a time! It could take 30-45 min to make a decent candle and patience was required!

I loved it though. And I love candles. And I'm excited to making them again!

The Best Semester of My Life

This semester has been the best ever!!! My classes are all PERFECT and my professors are so nice! My schedule isn't overloaded (I'm only taking 12 credits) and I'm interested in all of the classes I'm taking!

Here's my classes:

Astronomy-To start out with, my professor is a great-grandpa! He makes jokes about being old and talks about Copernicus and Galileo as if he grew up with them! On top of all of that, we meet in the Planetarium....which has reclining seats! So, we get to sit back, relax and listen to our professor joke around! It's the best!

Health for Elementary Teachers-At first I thought that this class might be a bit boring, you know, because it's about health. I was completely wrong! Our class room is 10' by 20' ! You can't help but get to know each other and smile in a room that small! We spend a lot of time talking about how to present health topics to our classes. Way too much fun. The class consists of mostly girls, with one exception, our man, Brad. I think he enjoys that class just a bit too much. ;)

Public Speaking-My professor is a Theatre Major who served as an officer in the army! You can only imagine how awesome that is...I've already gotten into a clump of people...we're working together on a project and enjoying every moment of it, though we tend to talk more about relationships than the actual project :S

Math 1010-Math. Oh boy. Not my favorite subject, but I'm beginning to understand it better! On the first day of class, everyone filed in and took their seats quietly. I looked around the room and noticed that most of my class mates look like teenagers. Which they are. Exciting. I watched a couple of other people come in, a woman who looks about 50 and a younger man in a funny winter hat. He came in out of breath...and was late by like 5 min or so. At that point I was getting impatient. Where was our professor??? He was late. My attention got pulled back into the classroom when the man in the hat leaned over to another student and asked "This is Math 1010, right?" A common question for the first week of school. After a nod from the other student prompted him to ask another question: "Is this professor good?". "Well, I've heard good things about him..." the other student trailed off. "That's good.." the man in the funny hat rose from his seat "because I'm your professor!". Laughter erupted from my mouth while other students sat there stunned, others simply stared. It was a good joke.

That's just a little peek into....The Best Semester of My Life!

Standards...

Being Mormon can be pretty tough at times. You are a strict observer of your faith, which I hope, is true for most Mormons.

We don't drink alcoholic beverages, coffee, or tea. We do not use tobacco, whether that's for chewing or smoking. We have been counseled by our church leaders to not date until 16 years of age. We are counseled never to watch, read or participate in anything that can harm our spirits, including (but not limited to) reading/watching violent or pornographic media (We have been counseled to never watch R-rated movies, and to be wary of most PG-13). We dress modestly (knees, shoulders, backsides, and chests covered) and cleanly.

Everyday we not only represent our church, but we represent our Savior. We took His name upon us at baptism, and try to act as He would in our situation. We believe that lowering our standards will cause the influence of the Holy Ghost to withdraw from our lives and we are left without light in a darkened room.

But keeping our standards is not the toughest part about being Mormon. It's the ridicule (and hurt) that we face when other members of our faith choose not to uphold the standards that they profess in. I can take any other kind of ridicule/persecution/call it what you will. Anything but that.

It hurts me that those members choose to take so lightly the counsel that they profess to believe in. I guess every religion has its hypocrites, but I had hoped that ours was different.

I just don't understand why people won't live what they say they believe. If you don't believe in it, great, take yourself somewhere else and do what you want with your life. But if you believe that Joseph Smith is a prophet, then you believe that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. If you believe the Book of Mormon is true, you believe that they are prophets and that all the counsel they give is truly from God. If you believe this, then you know it is wrong to disobey any of the commandments and that it is wrong to lower your standards! Don't you get it? You have promised to keep the commandments! One of those commandments is to listen to the warning voice of the prophet!!!

I plead with you to not just talk Mormon, but to live Mormon. If you believe it, then DO IT!