Cheri, Sydney, and I on our last trip to the beach. I got slammed down by the waves enough times that I don't think I'm going to miss it. I'm ot a very good swimmer, and I'm the first to admit it. No more beach!
Sam and I are back in Utah and we haven't taken a moment to update until... now. A lot has happened in the past two weeks--we packed up our apartment into a fifteen foot moving truck and headed from OC back to Utah on the 30th. We got to Highland on Sunday, Sam started school on Tuesday. I had a couple job interviews with one company and voila! I got the job! My very first full-time job. Pretty big deal, pretty big life change. I'm a writer (who knew writing jobs really existed) for a website building company. I'll be interviewing clients, editing, and writing content for websites.
Sam is back in school for this last year of his information systems management masters. We're still looking for a place to live and are crashing at the Lambson 'rents in the meantime. Busy week. This weekend we went to Sam's cousin's wedding (Brandon and Shannon Peterson) in Park City. Sam is, as usual, lovely. That's the only way I can think to describe him. Lovely. Loveable. Love. We've still got it!--in case you were wondering.
Also, some bad news. Erica Knell, a close family friend of the Lambsons, passed away on Friday in a car accident. She was seventeen. I got to go to Lake Powell with her and her family just a couple months ago and she was so kind to me and was such a ball of energy. Her parents told me she loved my music and listened to my CD every morning since I'd given it to them, and her family asked me to play a song at her funeral this week. We went back up to Park City today to visit with her family and talk about the musical number, and there will be a couple more visits up there this week. The weekend has been a celebration and a time to reflect with the wedding and the passing of a friend all at once. (Erica is on the front left in this picture.)
Tomorrow is my first day of work. I'm not sure what to think of it or expect, so my reaction is to not react at all, not worry, and just show up tomorrow and hope I don't melt down. My first 9-5 job. I guess I'm a real adult. And I was worried I'd be working at McDonald's again. I always have to remind myself that that was an experiment and not my destiny or purpose in life. It was a very real, raw experience. But I got a degree for the precise reason that I don't have to work there, and I feel very blessed to have found a job that really interests me. I'll actually be writing for money. Who knew? Blast that money. "You'd like it a lot more if you didn't have any." That's what Sport says on Harriet the Spy, my fav. movie.
Sam got an intense bloody nose that kept reoccuring today. It was GUSHING tonight and we drove to the emergency room... only it stopped as we arrived there, so we waited it out and went back home. Kinda scary; neither of us had ever seen that much blood pouring out like that in the case of a nosebleed. There was a pretty big panic-hubbub because it didn't look like it was going to stop. If you know of any remedies for nosebleeds, feel free to share! I think it's just so dry here.
I have missed Provo so much. What I love is that friends don't expire. I have missed my friends here so, so much. I was so lonely in Orange County all day while Sam was at work and I couldn't take it much longer. It is so good to be back. On Friday I visited BYU as a legit visitor and saw so many of my friends that I hadn't seen all summer, or even for years for those that went on missions. I love BYU and I miss it. I am most grateful for relationships developed with professors and mentors who I can visit even now and know I am welcome; I totally recommend developing those relationships to anyone just starting school.
There will be a big waffle party at the Lambson's next Sunday and all our friends are invited. If you need any directions, please feel free to call because we want you to come and don't second guess that we might not consider you friends or that you're not invited when I say you are. If you even run across this note and can come we'd really like you to be there.
We can't wait to get together with friends again. We've missed this place. The mountains, the rain, the blue sky, the canyons, the golden fields--these are the elements I love. California was beautiful in it's own way, but the mountains and the plains will always be home to me. I learned that this summer. Colorado and Utah are the only two places I've called home so far. Who knows what it will be after this year.
That's a little update. This looks to be a promising new year back in Utah.
