Bathroom Thoughts

When I'm studying, I always find myself playing with my hair. For the last several months, however, I've been messing with one particular spot on my head...I've recently discovered that right smack dab in the middle of the top of my head, I have this one crazy hair that feels very different from the rest. Tonight, I decided to pull it out and examine. Take a look at this comparison:

Seriously? Yes, I have crazy, wavy, hippie hair, but this?! This hair is like 3 times thicker than all the other hairs, it's black, and it's kinky! Speaking of weird hairs:

That was the second gray hair I ever found on my head, but sadly this was from the mission. I have since discovered several more silver beauties to add to the collection. But don't you worry, I'll likely go gray early and never dye my hair so everyone will think I'm way older than I am. At least my husband will match.

And finally, on an unrelated note, while in the bathroom tonight getting ready for bed, I began musing about the fact that even though I haven't been around my husband in a while and it'll be several more months before I see him again, I still find myself freaking out whenever I forget to take one of these:

Funny, isn't it? Anywho, that concludes this session of "Bathroom Thoughts." Until next time.

Boy Howdy

Life these days...boy howdy has it been interesting.

So Tristan and I flew down to Texas a couple weekends ago and Skylar drove from Kansas for Nita's memorial service. We were asked to wear bright colors because that's what Nita always did for these kinds of things. While it's hard to see people go, it really helps to have a solid eternal perspective to brighten things up. It was actually a really good service, rather uplifting. Though it was a short visit home and I would have rather been there under different circumstances, it was still nice to be back.

School started a few weeks ago, and there's not much to say about that. I'm only taking one class right now during this short spring term.  It's Epidemiology and it's really interesting, but it's starting to get into the more difficult, statistic-ridden aspect of it all.  I just hope I can stay afloat and pull off an A.

I was offered several different jobs, but after juggling everything, weighing my options, even attending some orientations, I've decided to go with 2 jobs (here's hoping I can make those 2 work with each other). First, a couple weeks ago I started at Hobby Lobby as one of the customer service managers. It was really interesting how that came about. I worked at Hobby Lobby about 7 years ago in high school, so I went in one day a couple weeks ago to drop off my application. The store manager happened to be up front filling in for the job they were hiring for. He chatted with me for a few minutes and told me he wanted to hire me for that position right then and there. I guess they were pretty desperate to get it filled! A couple days later I started relearning how to be a cashier on a dinosaur system, then a few days ago they threw me to the wolves and I started my actual position. It's been a good learning experience so far.

I also decided to stick with the RISE job (where I'd be working with disabled kids). I thought for a while that I was going to have to tell them I couldn't accept the job because the job description was actually a little different than I thought, but after talking with them, I'm going to be doing something different for them. I'll be working their summer program, which is basically just a really fun camp I get to play at a few days a week. The only trick now is to get the trainings and orientation with RISE to coordinate with Hobby Lobby.  Then everything should settle into place.  Here's hoping I can make it work!

As for Skylar, he's been gone for the better part of 5 weeks now and it's looking like he'll be gone for several months with very few breaks to come home in there.  Things have gone very differently with his company here than we expected, so he's been offered work in Kansas for the next few months training salesmen and selling out there where there's been severe damage due to storms. It should go well for him.  While it's going to stink to have him gone again for so long, we're definitely very used to being apart (perhaps the training we had of being apart for college and missions actually proved to be useful).  Really, this is a huge blessing that he even has this opportunity.  Here's hoping we can get ourselves pulled out of this mess we're in, and in the fall be able to be back together and move on with life.  Wouldn't that be nice?

This is what life feels like sometimes.  So there's the update on these days.  It's busy.  It's hard.  It's really, super stressful sometimes.  But it can all be good for you if you let it.
Now I just need to let it.

One Awesome Lady

A wonderful woman moved on from this life today. Nita Marie Buras was awesome and we'll all miss her so much until we meet again.

I first met Nita when I was 12, but didn't really start getting to know her until I was closer to 15. As a woman who had been surrounded by mostly men her whole life, I'm sure getting called to the Young Women's program in our church was probably cool, but overwhelming for her. I got to spend time with her every Sunday and Wednesday for church and youth activities and I remember thinking that she was a really cool lady (especially when I found out that one of her favorite current music groups was Linkin Park).

One Sunday, she was teaching the lesson about Patriarchal Blessings (a special individual blessing that every worthy member of our church can receive if they choose to. It's kind of like God's special instructions for you personally.) and had mentioned that Skylar's blessing was somewhat specific about the girl he would one day marry. After the lesson, I JOKINGLY told Nita, "I didn't know I was in Skylar's Patriarchal Blessing!" He and I were good friends at that point, but hadn't even considered dating yet. Little did I know that comment I made to Nita was true ;) She got the ball rolling for us and she was always our cheerleader for our relationship through the ups and downs. After I went crazy on Skylar for the eleventy billionth time and stopped talking to him while I was on my mission, he told his mom that he was going to try one more time with me. She told him, "GOOD!" I have no idea why, but she was always on our side. I'm so thankful for that.

She was such an incredible mother-in-law. Probably one of the best you could ask for. I know most girls complain about their husband's moms, but I was SO fortunate to have her. I'm just sad I only got her for 9 months. I still had TONS to learn from her (like genealogy - whoa, she was a pro, and how to have beautiful handwriting and make pretty cards, and how to potty train our kids in one day flat). But, as my dad says, "What's left undone must stay that way." I'm sure she'll have plenty of new things to teach me when I get to see her again.

That's just Nita from my own personal experiences with her. I know she was an amazing mother to way more people than just her 5 boys. Every one of her sons (both biological and otherwise) have the utmost respect and appreciation for her. She was an awesome grandma and I know her granddaughters just adored her. She was a great friend to so many and their lives are far better for it. She was a wonderful wife. She and Larry have such a beautiful relationship and I hope to get where they were after 40 years.

I love Nita and I can't wait until we can all hang out as a family again. Until then, we miss her dearly.