Friday, July 11, 2008

Good friends are like good wine- they age well

I can't tell you how much I enjoy keeping in touch with people who have played a significant role in my life. It brings me such joy to meet up with old friends and realize that we're still friends, possibly a small-scale version of what Alma the Younger and the Sons of Mosiah felt when they met up after a fourteen year separation. (Incidentally, "Alma the Younger and the Sons of Mosiah" has always struck me as a good name for a band.)

Today I had the unexpected opportunity to have lunch with a girl that I worked with at BYU a couple of years ago before she graduated. Her name is also Maria, which she got a kick out of. She's a cute, happy, energetic little thing and it was really so good to see her again after almost three years. It was good to catch up and it was good to see what she's doing with her life now. To my sorrow, I discovered that she's going home to Singapore at least semi-permanently at the end of the summer. But being able to meet up with her and spend some time with her made up for a lot of little, annoying things that have happened this week.

Life is a lot better when the focus is on the good, beautiful things. I freely acknowledge that these things are often in the minority- life takes a lot of work and a lot of heartache and a lot of growth, which more often than not is accompanied by a lot of pain. But oftentimes many of us, myself included, are guilty of taking the good things in life for granted and whining that there aren't more of them, rather than being grateful for each one that comes our way.

Things that have happened this week that I am grateful for:
- A wonderful conversation with my good friend Nate that took place when he came over to take out our garbage for us.
-Practicing with Danielle for our upcoming recital
-Talking to Jacob, Danielle's adorable little boy
-Going to a fun and instructive voice lesson
-Trying my hand at counted-cross stitch for the first time in years
-Swimming in my apartment pool at night- so warm, so peaceful
-Playing volleyball with my FHE group
-Being pulled out of my apartment by my good friend Katherine when she insisted that I join her at her place to eat the pitas she had just made (like I would turn down very yummy free food!)
-Having dinner in Salt Lake with my friend Melanie during which she gave me a booklet and some very good advice about job interviewing
-Celebrating my brother Tim's birthday on Sunday with most of my family
-Preparing for our sister trip to California
-Actually seeing some of my great roommates (seriously, no one is every home at my apartment!) (Including me) and having some great conversations with them
-Enjoying the fact that my new roommates are much cleaner than the old ones- and also very much enjoying the fact that there is no TV in our living room right now!
-Accompanying my adviser and another student to my adviser's house and watching him talk baby-talk to his cat

Look at how many great things I have to enjoy!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know, it may sound completely uncharacteristic of me, but that is one of the main reasons why I think that the "Good News Minute" in Relief Society is such a good idea. It helps us to recall, throughout our busy week, what was good and uplifting about it.

And you are right about the band name.

Matt said...

you're still taking voice lessons? from whom?

Matt said...

So, what exactly is it about wine that you prefer as it gets older?