this small, small world we live in

The other day I was walking along through campus (tra-la-la) and I saw this guy and I did a double take and thought, "that looks a lot like--nah, couldn't be." I thus carried on my merry way.

Well today I was driving to school and I saw him again! This time I knew my eyes weren't deceiving me. I yelled at him, and he yelled back, but he was crossing the street and I was in my car so the conversation didn't go much further. 

But alas, I walked out of my first class and lo and behold there he was again. Mind you, this is a school of 30,000 students.  This time I got to talk to him briefly, yet long enough to exchange numbers. 

So here's the kicker, I got in my car to leave for the day 3 hours later and guess who I see walkin' down the street. Yep. 

So who is the character, you ask? My first boyfriend from 7th grade. 

Why am I telling this story? First of all, I mean, what are the chances really? Last time I checked he was in Lubbock and I was in Utah. 

Second of all, while I was laughing about the comedy of events, and recollecting the foibles of pubescent romance, I had the horrific realization that 7th grade was ten years ago. TEN! 1-0. How is this possible? 

Growing up is the weirdest thing ever.

Rain, rain, come my way

I walked out of class the other day to find a bunch of people huddled under an awning, on their cell phones cursing the rain they weren't prepared for. I looked over to see a light drizzle falling from the sky. Only wielding my favorite navy, zip-up hoodie, I smiled, popped my hood and walked out into the drizzle of doom. About half way to my destination I took my hood off and just let the rain fall. It was wonderful. I couldn't stop smiling. 

Yesterday on my way to the temple, I stopped by LDS Books to peruse a little bit. I walked out with two wonderful CDs and again the rain was falling. It didn't even bother me that I had straightened my hair or that I had nothing to cover my church clothes with. My first reaction was to stick my arms straight out to the side and let it fall. 

For most people, their love for the rain stems from the fact that we've been in a drought pretty much all summer. For me it stems from 18 months of walking around rain or shine, getting splashed by cars, with soaked shoes, looking like drowned rats, all to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ that "perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some." Alma 26:30    

I'll admit that before my mission I probably would have cursed the rain just like everyone else, especially if I had actually done my hair that day. Now, however, the rain is a sweet reminder of more important things.

It's official, I'm allergic to Texas

If not Texas at large, for sure Denton. I've been itching like crazy ever since I moved here!

The result of my scratching is these lovely little spots, mostly on my back. They are burning as I type.

So, I've begun planning my escape route outta here. The details are still a little fuzzy, but may include EFY, a December graduation, and a foreign country or two. In the meantime, feel free to send a back scratch-er my way!

The cure for the ouch

So here's the thing: life involves pain, and lots of it, and everybody's always looking for the cure. Well here it is.

For the past little while I've been dealing with a lot of pain, and/or numbness, which is sometimes more painful than pain in its own little way.  ANYWAY (I have a point, I promise) tonight I went to an Old Testament class at the Institute. Towards the end of class the teacher showed a slideshow/movie about the life and mission of Jesus Christ, and as soon as it started I was flooded with a familiar warmness, and for the first time since I've been home, I felt...at home. I knew at that moment that no matter how big this "ouch" is, or any other will be, Jesus Christ can cure it because He's conquered all of the "ouch"es there ever were or ever will be.

I know that Jesus Christ lives and can heal any wound, and I am so grateful for that.

Honey, I'm hoooome!

Well hello again blogging world.

I have returned home from my mission, and I can't say enough about how wonderful it was. I'm not one to cry, but that is one subject that really tingles my tear ducts. Usually if I bounce my right leg enough I can keep from actually crying though. Seriously though, I loved it. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done until I came home. Being home the last 7 weeks has become the hardest thing. Not a day goes by that I don't think about it and miss it dearly.

Me with one of the families I taught on my mission <3

Since then I have been to Utah and back, New Hampshire and back, and now I've moved to Denton and started school at the University of North Texas.

Soooo why on earth did I title my blog The Daily Ouch? Well it just so happens that "ouch" is one of my most commonly used words. If you could digitize and enter my daily vocabulary into a database, and put it in descending order of the most commonly used (not counting articles and basic parts of speech), I'm pretty sure "ouch" would be in the Top 10. So one day the title "The Daily Ouch" came to me and I thought it'd be a great blog topic. Although, the other thought that came to me was that I'm horrible at staying on one topic in my blogs. So be forewarned that while I'll try to focus, I can't make any promises.

And just for clarification this blog isn't meant to be negative or whiny. The idea here is to find humor in the foibles of life. I think our "daily 'ouches'" make up a big part of who we are and they are worth embracing. Plus, I honestly find them funny.

So  today's "daily 'ouch'" is going to be combined with yesterday's "daily 'ouch'":

Yesterday I went wake boarding for the first time with my awesome new roommate and her awesome family. For those of you that have been wake boarding I could probably just leave it at that and you'd know what I mean. But for those of you who haven't been introduced to the sport, let me just tell you it was a blast. Interesting fact #207 about me, however, is that I have essentially no upper body strength. So my arms are killing me today. I mean I could barely twist open my nail polish cap this morning, THAT sore. And I also acquired a bruise on my left knee somewhere along the way. OUCH!

Despite being sore though it was worth it. I'm a firm believer that we should take every opportunity to do something that scares us.  Wake boarding scared me, but I did it anyway (I can't resist a new adventure). And even though I'll never be a pro-wake boarder, it still felt so good to just give it a go and keep trying after every miserable fail.

p.s. Not every entry will be this long.