Treasure

This morning when I was talking to my nephew K, the topic of treasure came up. Now, K is a very typical five-year-old boy in some respects, including the fact that he adores Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and all things relate thereunto (especially if combined with legos- he gave me a sticker of a lego Yoda and a lego Chewbacca this afternoon. I might put them on my research notebook at work . . .). Now, of course, one of the main themes in Indiana Jones is treasure. So my cousin Aly told K that I would take him on a treasure hunt and his eyes lit up. After I raised my eyebrow at Aly (just one, since it does sound pretty fun to make a treasure hunt for a nephew), K began asking me about treasure hunts I'd been on in the past, and then he asked me if I'd ever found any treasure.

After a moment of contemplation, I told him that I had found a lot of treasure in my life, but that I wasn't sure it was the same thing he was talking about. He politely asked me to describe it anyway, and so I began telling him that when I go hiking in the mountains and I find a meadow filled with flowers, I consider that a treasure. When I step outside in the evening and see a beautiful sunset, I consider that a treasure. Spending time with people I love is a treasure.

I wasn't sure if that made any kind of impression on him, because then he told me that he wanted to go hiking with a pickaxe to see if we could dig anything up.

However, later that day, we were eating pizza together on the front porch. K told me how much he loved spending time with his aunts and uncles and then paused for a moment and asked me "I think that is a . . . could that be a treasure for me?"

I was delighted, and explained that anything that brings him joy can be a treasure. He nodded and said, "Okay, it's a treasure, then."

A little while later, the combined effects of the rainy day, the beautiful colors of the flowers and the antics of my nephews made me giggle in delight. When K wanted to know what was so funny, I told him that this kind of day just makes me happy inside. He nodded sagely and said, "so that's a treasure for you, then."

Wow. This kid packs a punch sometimes. Indeed, K, beautiful days with people I love are a treasure for me. Thank you for reminding me that my treasure is all around me, blessed boy. What a treasure my sweet little nephew is.

The amazingnes of life

Sometimes while I'm at work I'll have an idea or insight pop into my mind that I don't want to forget- so I send myself an email. As I was cleaning out my email inbox tonight, I found a couple of gems that I wrote myself in March. This one I especially like tonight:

Life is a really amazing thing- because of the Fall, we have the opportunity to learn all kinds of things that we could never learn if Heavenly Father just kept taking care of us all the time and if we never had the chance to have physical bodies. But also because of the Fall, we have the opportunity to make all kinds of mistakes and do all kinds of things that hurt us and those around us. The amazing part is that because of the Atonement, we can, through the proper attitudes, desires, and actions, have the negative impact of our mistakes removed and healed, while keeping the benefit of the good things we learn- both from good choices and bad. How incredible is that?

How incredible, indeed? May I strive every day to use the power of the atonement to be accountable for what I do, say, think, and feel, and to heal the negative parts of what I create and experience and to exponentially expand the good that I create. What a blessed world.

Beauty

When I wake up in the morning, often the first thing I do is pull back the curtain a crack and peek out at the back yard. I am still in love with the fact that I have a back yard . . . hooray! And every day it grows more beautiful. It was pretty in the winter when it was all covered in snow. It was pretty in an anticipatory kind of way when March rolled around and the snow melted and the expectation of spring was there. It was pretty when the first leaves of the oak tree started peeking out.

And then it suddenly turned a verdant green, with the grass and the periwinkles and the growing leaves. And now it is beautiful. Every morning when I stare out the window I wonder if it was that green the day before or if my eyes are playing tricks on me.

I was sadder than sad when the magnolias stopped blooming for the spring, but I was delightfully surprised when all the flowering cherries suddenly appeared in their pink, frothy splendor. I had forgotten that they bloom so late after the magnolias . . . bless all the people along my drive to work who have flowering cherries in their yards. They make my heart sing.

I am so grateful to live in a world with so much beauty.

It serves me to be conscious of what I'm doing . . .

Heh. I came home tonight for some party time with Michael and Angela. I discovered a while ago that it can be beneficial for me to keep certain items at my parents' house, so just in case I end up spending the night unplanned (which has happened a couple times), I don't end up going without brushed teeth or anything like that. So normally in the main bathroom there's a toothbrush, some face wash, a contact case, contact solution, and mouthwash for me.

Because of this, I often leave my toothbrush etc. in Salt Lake when I know I'll be spending the night in Orem because it's easier to not take them back and forth. Thus, when I threw some things in an overnight bag this morning, it involved pajamas, makeup, hair stuff, and clothes for tomorrow.

What I didn't count on was the bathroom renovation. I knew that Laura had taken it on herself to redo the main bathroom, but I wasn't anticipating somehow the completely dismantled room, with the big mirror taken down, shreds of wallpaper all over the floor, and yellow paint drying merrily on the walls. This is all well and good, I am a fan of progress. Then I realized that my belongings had been mostly placed on a shelf on the wall that was definitely not there any more. After a brief search in which I began strategizing where the nearest place was that I could go to buy a new toothbrush, I found most of what I was after- toothbrush, mouthwash, contact case. After a little more searching, I found a green container that looked a lot like the random facewashes that can be found in my house at times, so I grabbed them all and headed down to the basement bathroom to prepare myself for sleep. Teeth brushed, contacts out. I got my face wet and applied some of the creamy cleanser. It was exceptionally creamy, and felt a little thin for a masque- hadn't I seen the word masque on the front of the tube? Yep, there it was- "volumizing masque?" Why on earth are they advertising a facewash that is volumizing?

At this point, between the texture of the stuff and the word "volumizing" on the front of the tube, I began to get suspicious. Nowhere else on the front of the tube did it advertise exactly what this stuff was, so I turned it over. No major clarification there, either, until I started reading the instructions. "Apply to wet hair . . ."

Ah. It suddenly made sense. Most girls, while not wanting their faces to be voluminized, do desire to see more voluminization in their hair. Apparently the word s"conditioner" and "masque" are interchangeable. After a hearty chuckle, I washed off the conditioner and decided that my face was clean enough. If I wake up tomorrow morning with a voluminous face, I'll be sure to write the company and let them know that their product works. Maybe Angi just keeps choosing voluminizing mascaras, and she's not actually allergic to them after all. Hm.