President Uchtdorf gave this talk last night as part of the General Relief Society meeting (a yearly meeting for all adult female members of our Church.) All of the speakers gave amazing talks, but this one particularly spoke to me. I especially like his "Golden Ticket" story. :)
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Decoration Dilemmas
I am not a decorator.
This became apparent at a fairly young age, when I was given a locker in middle school. Other kids personalized theirs with posters, family photos, mirrors, wrapping paper...
Me? I never put up anything. Oh, I always meant to. Just about everyday when I opened the dang thing or when I looked at my friends' snazzy decorative lockers, I'd think, "I really should decorate my locker. That'd be fun." But I was always too busy and too poorly motivated to do anything.
One of my friends went off on a rant once about people who didn't take time to decorate their lockers. "That's the only thing we can make our own in this place. Why wouldn't people take advantage of it???" Well... As I got older I tried harder. I did put up things in my locker occasionally, and when I got a lockermate, she helped improve things.
Then I came off to college. Over the years I have been blessed with many talented roomies who love to decorate. I watch them arrange things and drool over Crate and Barrel magazines and I've pondered how one day I need to be more into that. You know, when I have my own place and more disposable income, or something. Hopefully when I get to that point, I will be more into things.
For now, I've been trying slowly to build up my talents. Like today, when I went to the poster sale at the Bookstore. I have a lovely large blank wall in my room, I figured some posters would be just the thing to brighten it up! Except there was only one poster that really appealed to me, and it was pretty small.
Pretty epic, right? I love it! I was excited to come and set it up in my room. But... there was an awful lot of space on that blank wall, and I've never been particularly good at knowing where to place things so they look good...
So basically I think what I've done is highlight all the empty space that I have left, instead of making it seem like there's less of it. Clearly some rearranging is in order. I'm thinking I should probably have put it lower down, maybe just above the bookcase or something. We'll see. I'll play around with it! I also feel like I need to get more posters to help that wall, but I don't want it to end up cluttered either. Also... my days as a college kid are numbered. Posters are fun for a college kid's apartment, but once I'm a real grown-up out there, they probably shouldn't be my main decorating tool.
Oh well. For now I have gone ahead and purchased another poster to add to my collection. Is this adorable or what? And so appropriate for BYU! :)
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Never Forget
Ten years ago today I was a thirteen year old girl in the 8th grade. I was already in school when the attacks happened. I think admin must have asked our teachers to keep the unfolding events under wraps, because none of my teachers mentioned anything. Not one of them turned on a TV. Throughout the day, though, more and more parents arrived to take their kids home early. We knew that something must be going on, but we weren't sure what. Rumors came of an airplane hitting a skyscraper... but no one really seemed to understand the devastation (at least no one that I talked to). I was confused. In my mind I pictured a tiny two person plane, a Cessna or something, hitting a skyscraper and maybe destroying a room or two. Certainly such an accident would have killed a few people, but I couldn't understand why it was such a big deal. Why were people so afraid?
After school, both of my parents were waiting to walk home with me, which was unusual. They explained to me that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center-not little planes, but huge airline jets. At that time I had no clue what the WTC was. My dad described it as a huge building with over 100 floors. He said that on any given day, somewhere between 20,000 to 100,000 people were in the twin towers. (Or at least that's what I remember). He also said that the Pentagon had been hit, and that a fourth plane had been hijacked, but the people on board had overthrown the attackers and then crashed.
When we got home, the television was on. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I don't believe the towers had fallen yet. At least one of them was still standing. I do remember watching a news reporter prepare to interview a woman on the streets of New York, a woman clutching a baby in her arms. Just as the interview started, the tower came down (or something to that effect. Again, my memory is fuzzy). A cloud of debris swept towards the camera. The interview stalled as everyone turned to look. The news reporter called for the woman to protect her baby. Everyone ran for cover.
I couldn't pull myself away from the TV. It felt traitorous somehow not to watch, to try to block out the suffering.
The next day school was canceled because one of the schools in our district was located on a military base, and the base was on total lockdown. For days after, armored planes patrolled the skies above us, protecting us. I couldn't see them, but I could hear them. It was comforting but at the same time terrifying that they had to be there at all.
As a 13 year old, I couldn't fully process what had happened. I remember asking my father if he thought this one would make the history books. "Yes! Of course!" At that time I viewed history as something that had happened long ago; this was the first time that it really hit me that history is made as we go along. History is something we are all a part of.
Looking back now, ten years later, it's amazing how many of the frightened emotions come flooding back. We didn't understand what was happening or if we should expect further attacks. All we knew is that our country was in danger. We were united in a way I hadn't ever experienced before.
Let's all take a moment today to stop and remember those who passed ten years ago. We should never forget. We can never forget.
After school, both of my parents were waiting to walk home with me, which was unusual. They explained to me that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center-not little planes, but huge airline jets. At that time I had no clue what the WTC was. My dad described it as a huge building with over 100 floors. He said that on any given day, somewhere between 20,000 to 100,000 people were in the twin towers. (Or at least that's what I remember). He also said that the Pentagon had been hit, and that a fourth plane had been hijacked, but the people on board had overthrown the attackers and then crashed.
When we got home, the television was on. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I don't believe the towers had fallen yet. At least one of them was still standing. I do remember watching a news reporter prepare to interview a woman on the streets of New York, a woman clutching a baby in her arms. Just as the interview started, the tower came down (or something to that effect. Again, my memory is fuzzy). A cloud of debris swept towards the camera. The interview stalled as everyone turned to look. The news reporter called for the woman to protect her baby. Everyone ran for cover.
I couldn't pull myself away from the TV. It felt traitorous somehow not to watch, to try to block out the suffering.
The next day school was canceled because one of the schools in our district was located on a military base, and the base was on total lockdown. For days after, armored planes patrolled the skies above us, protecting us. I couldn't see them, but I could hear them. It was comforting but at the same time terrifying that they had to be there at all.
As a 13 year old, I couldn't fully process what had happened. I remember asking my father if he thought this one would make the history books. "Yes! Of course!" At that time I viewed history as something that had happened long ago; this was the first time that it really hit me that history is made as we go along. History is something we are all a part of.
Looking back now, ten years later, it's amazing how many of the frightened emotions come flooding back. We didn't understand what was happening or if we should expect further attacks. All we knew is that our country was in danger. We were united in a way I hadn't ever experienced before.
Let's all take a moment today to stop and remember those who passed ten years ago. We should never forget. We can never forget.
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