17 October - 23 October 2022
Oh what a week! So much to write about... guess I better get right into it!
Monday was supposed to be my last day at work, so I went early into the office and packed away all my personal items and the Halloween decorations I had put up. It was kind of a bittersweet day, and it was ironically super busy. I spoke with Chris about what he wanted from me, and he was super unclear (typical). The message I got was, "If we're busy, we want you here. If you're not, we don't need you." Well, how am I supposed to predict when it's going to be busy or when they are going to want me, especially if I'm not coming in every day and watching the calendar. Chris said to come in on Tuesday to feel out the pace of how things were going since Monday had been so crazy busy. So Tuesday ended up being my last day. After that, I didn't feel a point in coming back because it was super dead and I don't imagine it picking up before next year, when I will start my internship. That night for FHE, Val booked us a racquetball court to play as a family because the YSA ward was planning a movie night with the cheesy Singles Ward 2 movie, which we both didn't want to do (but I guess her more so than me). So I went along and had fun with my family... even though I did get hit by the racquetball a couple of times! I am legit a magnet to that ball.
Tuesday was a little rough for me. I went to work in the morning and then left around noon to pick up my order from JC Penny. When I got home, I had to participate in a meet-and-greet Zoom call for my Track 2 Residency course from 3pm to 4pm, but we'd planned to go horseback riding at Uncle David's house at 4pm, and I couldn't get the audio to work through my ear buds on my phone, so I missed getting to ride with my mom and Lucy and was getting a little frustrated and antsy. Then right after the call ended, I drove madly to Dave's house but got stuck in a dumb detour that added 7 minutes to my trip and I was getting mad. But it all turned out okay because it took them half an hour just to saddle up all the horses! We ended up just riding around in the fenced area and not on a trail ride. But my horse, Wild Fire, was NOT having it. She kept trying to run with me on her, which Dave said would be risky cuz the ground was muddy from all the rain and the horse would stop suddenly and slide in the mud and I'd go flying off. So I had a couple of scares. The second scare ended in my breaking a nail as I yanked on the reigns to slow the horse down. Then I quit riding her after that... hehe. I got to ride Ginger next, and it was hard to get her to WALK, so there was no risk of her trying to run and knock you off.
On Wednesday, I didn't have work, so I was able to get a lot of errands done, like filling up my gas tank and doing laundry. I've been fixing up my new room. It's been kind of nice to have my own room, but I'm still not liking my bed too much. I wake up sore pretty much every morning, though part of that could be from the gym. I overstretched one morning this week and was SOOOO sore! I didn't go to work on Thursday either, since I was waiting to hear back from Jill about whether or not I was needed anymore. I did school work and am working on finalizing things for the upcoming internship due date. Thursday night, I went to institute and ate some yummy snacks after and got to wave at Jasen and everyone else in the institute choir. Jasen asked me if I'd like to go to the play Oklahoma with him and his parents, and I was happy that he asked me and have been looking forward to it... except then Lucy went with her friend Wednesday night and said it was terrible. The only way to improve the play was to bring a sleeping mask and ear plugs... I didn't know how to tell Jasen that the play had been modernized and was going to be inappropriate without it sounding like I didn't want to go with him, so I just decided to go along without saying anything. Aaannnnd... they play was absolutely terrible! But we had a fun time laughing at it and making jokes. So it was still a fun time. The play was on Saturday night... sorry for jumping ahead in the week... :). Here's a pic of us from outside of the bldg next to the sign for the play.
On Friday, I went to the temple, and then we went to Time Out For Women in the evening. We got pretty good seats and it was good, though two hours of devotional turned into a five hour ordeal because we had to leave at 5pm to get there even though it started at 7pm, and then it took us an hour to get home. On Saturday, we had to leave at 8am in the morning and didn't get back home until 5:30pm. It was a long day, and while it was fun to spend all day with my sister Valerie and my mom, it was a LOT of sitting and my bum kept going numb from the hard chairs. But there were so many nuggets of truth and insights that did build my faith and testimony. One of my favorite quotes was from Brooke Romney: be easily and loudly amazed. There is so much light in this world if you just look for it. It was also Brie's bday, and they came over for dinner later that night, but I missed it because Jasen picked me up at 6:15pm for the musical. It was cool getting to know his parents and we played a game while we were waiting for the show to start.
On Sunday, I got to teach Relief Society, and while I'd sort of planned out what to say beforehand, it was during sacrament meeting that some ideas come into my head of things I should say to make it more real and applicable to the sisters. I had this epiphany that being real and genuine and authentic led to deep connection and friendships. However, how can we "be real" when we hate ourselves? When we don't even like or want to be ourselves? This is a major reason why Satan attacks a woman's self-worth and identity so much. He knows that as women embrace themselves and love who they are and wouldn't want to be anyone else, they will be distinct and different in happy ways, which has been prophesied as the way that people will flock to the church in these latter days. I am so glad that I love who I am and can be that example for others and help them love themselves. Three people wrote me a nice-note, which made me feel so good! Come, Follow Me study group that night was a bit weird because it was me and six boys! All the girls cancelled. My own sister ditched me to go to a tamale party, and my younger sister had stake hang-out. It was harder to stay on topic and get people to open up, but everyone did end up talking and sharing something, even the really reserved ones, and they had a fun time chatting afterwards. Jasen was only able to come for a little bit, but he texted me later that something I shared was what he needed to hear.
Also, I have the cutest pictures of Gracelyn to share with you this week!
Also, here is a quote from the week (from me): "I believe that even on their worst day (or especially on their worst day) people are worth loving. It takes the pressure off of trying to be "perfect," you know? We're all just doing our best and some days are harder than others, and if we all just kept loving each other no matter what, we'd have more room to grow to become like Christ."
Best,
Emily Burnham
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