Service With Smile

First of all, happy Easter!!! I love this time of year where we get to celebrate new beginnings of life in the Springtime and also celebrate Christ’s life!  They both make me really happy, along with a few other delightful things. I am mostly happiest with my family and friends, but there is one thing that makes me truly happy, even if I’m doing it alone.

About six months ago, I was driving down the small town back road, heading home after a long day.  Lining the entire street there are multiple cute houses occupied by little old people.  This one neighbor, a short woman with speckled gray hair, had recently gotten hip surgery and I saw her often enough that I knew her, but we were not close friends by any means.  As I passed her house, I slowed down just enough to see her slowly climb out of her car and begin to struggle with her walker, groceries, and papers from her equally long day.

I tried to justify my circumstance; she was close enough to her house, and she would make it before I even got out to help her. I continued to watch and her struggle just worsened. She dropped some papers and I couldn’t help but jump out of my car and grab her heavy bags and pile of papers.  It was just a few short steps to her door and into her house where I silently put her things on her table.  She repeatedly thanked me and apologized for the “messy” house she had.  As I left, she thanked me over and over.  

I couldn’t figure out what the big deal was.  I did the simplest act to help her out, it took less than five minutes, and yet, she was so grateful.  After I got in my car, I couldn’t help but smile myself. I was grinning all the way home, and thought back on what a great, yet simple, experience I had.

A few weeks later, I saw this sweet old woman again and she placed a card and two bracelets in my hand and whispered, “ I know this was a long time ago but I really wanted you to know how much I appreciate you helping me out that day.” The card was completely written out of a kind and grateful heart. I felt nothing but love as I read her sweet words of gratitude to me. Again, I couldn't believe what great happiness this brought me, and I could tell, had brought her as well.

This experience has made me want to be a happier person, in both giving and getting.  I know there are so many times where I could help someone in need, and a lot of times I don’t.  There are also times I remember where people have helped me and I didn’t thank them enough. My goal for the next week or so, in order to make it habit, is to look for more service opportunities and to act on them. I would hate for my pride and busy schedule to get in the way of someone else’s happiness, and my own. I hope you can do the same to help this world become a happier and better place.

Music Maniac

I thrive on music. There is not one day that passes that I do not indulge on music in some way.  I feel like I have always been this way, but in the last few years, love for music has grown into a magnificent fire that I constantly have to feed.

My freshman year, I had the chance to travel to NAU one weekend to go to the All-State choir with a cool senior that knew I would enjoy the trip.  During their hours of rehearsal, I would sit in the back of the two-hundred person choir and hum along to the beautiful songs. I intently listened to the magical sounds that the choir created. My love for classical music blossomed, and I wanted to part of creating it.

Throughout the next year, I worked my tail off in sight reading and classical music preparing for the audition in the spring.  The audition date came around and I felt confident in my performance, but I didn't know how likely it was that a sophomore would make it, so I didn't expect much.  The next day I was thrilled to find out that I made twenty-fifth chair out of fifty altos in the whole entire state of Arizona! I received and learned my music, struggling here and there, but still did my best to prepare.

FINALLY the time came! I traveled to the valley with my sister, Cierra, and my awesome choir teacher, Mr. Gardner.  The weekend flew by, but somehow, I held on to every amazing moment, no matter how small, and I still look back and I am grateful for all the things I learned in that short amount of time.

A few times during rehearsals, I would just stop and listen to the melodic sounds of the choir I was finally part of.  I found myself smiling, or even laughing, when the words could not have been any more beautiful and the notes were perfectly harmonized.  It was more amazing than I ever imagined.  The concert came too soon, and just as fast as it came, All-State had left me wanting more.

My junior year I was lucky enough to make it again! The only problem was that I got my music about six days before the festival and I felt like there was no way I could learn all the music that fast (especially all the foreign languages!!)  So, sadly, I missed that chance, but it increased my desire to make it my senior year!

Auditions for All-State were last Friday and I spent weeks preparing for the short performance I would give in front of a judge who would decide if I was good enough to make it into such an elite choir.  I felt a lot of stress coming from many sources to make it, and I think I psyched myself out a bit. Long story short, my audition went horribly.  I forgot the words to my solo and I completely missed the notes on the sight-reading.  Monday rolled around and I got the awful text, "Sorry guys.  Nobody from Holbrook made All-State this year."

I was crushed! I had been looking forward to this for years, and now my dreams were smashed.  I can’t adequately describe the feelings I had and the thoughts rushing through my head.  I wanted to make it so badly, but after a short time, I felt a kind of relief.  Already, I have been preparing music for Mary Poppins, my EAC music scholarship audition, and a church performance I have, all coming up in the next few weeks. I still have to learn to fly!

During Spring Break I became truly grateful that the load on my plate had become lighter.  Don't get me wrong, it was very hard at first, but after taking a step back, and broadening my view, I realized this honestly will not matter in a few years and it is such a simple problem compared to things others are experiencing right now.  I know that everything happens for a reason and because of all I am involved in right now, I would have been so stressed out that I probably would not have been able to function!

Sometimes things don't go the way we planned or the the way we thought they would, but it is important to remember to take a step back and recognize the blessings because of the way things turn out.

Small Town Probs

Wind.  Dirt.  Weeds. Bare branches. Same people. Same town. Small town probs.

Right now, I am at a point in my life where I am on the last stretch to graduating and moving on from the only life I have ever known.  I can not wait any longer to leave. I am so sick of the wind and dirt.  I am so sick of the flat land.  I am so sick of the same people I’ve known for eighteen years.  I am so sick of school and working my butt off for good grades.  I am sick of all of it, and I want to leave it behind and forget.  

I have these thoughts frequently. Just the other day, I was grumpy and wanting time to skip ahead a few months so I could leave all of the things I am so sick of and start a new life.  While having these thoughts, I drove past the house I lived in until I was nine years old.  As I passed my childhood home, a flood of memories came into my mind, making me appreciate my time growing up in a little town, on a really little ranch.

My backyard was an unbelievable forest of life and magic all thrown together with a little concrete. Our playground included a trampoline, a hammock, a rope swing, and a few cages for chickens, dogs, and crows.  We had green grass that seemed to grow all year round.  The trees were as tall as skyscrapers and we often were brave enough to climb them (my mom usually had to come get me down because I was not, however, brave enough to climb down).  

Each summer, we would bring in a cow trough, a circular tub that you fill up for the cows to drink out of. After a few minutes of patiently waiting for the hose to fill up the homemade pool, we would jump in the whole two inches of water to start splashing around. We would play for a few hours while it was filling up and finally the real fun would begin.  We would use our arms to pull ourselves around and around the edge of the “pool” to create a whirlpool.  After a few minutes of tiring swimming/army crawling, the water and our imaginations would carry us ‘out to sea’.  As far as I’m concerned, we were the best mermaids and we had the clearest and coldest ocean water anyone would ever see. Summers would fade into fall as we would become pruny from eating, reading, and swimming all the time away in our mermaid pool.

My neighbors frequently changed, except for one.  Our dear friend, Ginnie, lived in a log cabin and was such an amazing neighbor.  We knew if we wanted a treat that Mom and Dad wouldn’t give us, we could hop the fence and jump right into Ginnie’s back yard.  Skipping into her house was somehow never a surprise to her. She would reach up to the top of her fridge and grab the basket of cookies and give each of us a few.  With a cold pop and cookies in hand we would return home.  Along with the treats, she always provided us with a good story or a fun lesson.  I still love the kindness and love she showed us crazy kids.

Looking back on a few wonderful experiences, I realized that this small town was not so bad. In fact, it is a wonderful place to grow up.  I am truly grateful to have grown up in a small town! I love the beautiful people that I have known for so long, and I am grateful to know how much they care about me.  I love the desert and the red dirt.  Some days, I even love the wind.  As I am getting closer and closer to graduation, I am becoming more and more grateful for each little thing that I will soon leave.  Although I still am really excited to graduate, I can say that I will miss good old Holbrook.  

If you ever feel unhappy with life's circumstances, take my experience and learn to step back and reflect. It's easy to focus on the hard or the bad in situations, but if we change our perspective and recognize the opportunities we have to learn and grow, our life will be full of happy memories and fewer regrets.  Somehow the small probs are replaced with gratitude for where we come from, even if it is a small town.