Peaceful Weekend

 Hello dears! I don't know if you noticed the radio silence round these parts over the weekend, but it was due to the fact that I was wrapped up in watching General Conference. As most of you already know I'm a member of the LDS church, and as such I get to gather twice a year to listen to talks from the general authorities of the church. Interested? Click here for more information! Anyway, this weekend was incredible! My spirit was touched in SO many ways, and I was given the comfort and guidance I was looking for. I can't begin to express with words the great joy and serenity being a member of the church gives me, so I'll just leave it at, my spiritual cup is full! Anyway, let's talk about this outfit real quick before we get into the juicy stuff. These shoes? Well, there's just somethin' about 'em that always makes me just feel so strangely thug. Point in case? On the drive to work today an Eminem song came on the radio...and I didn't change it! Gasp! I know, I know, soooo "gangsta" of me. ;) Well, if I'm being completely honest, I'd have to admit that I couldn't exactly listen to it without chortling every few seconds. I mean, his nasal-y voice is just so weird it's funny, and the funky noises in the background of his songs just demand to be chuckled at.

This week one of my mom's best friends from Guatemala came to visit along with her husband, who is best friends with my dad. They where in for business and stayed the whole week so they could attend General Conference. Let me tell you, it was so fun to see my parents interact with best friends from their youth. Seeing them so animated and chatty was like seeing them as the young 23 year olds I never knew. This past week with them was so incredibly fun. Tita, my mom's best friend, is one of the most happy, animated, and kind people I've ever met. On Saturday all of the girls went out after conference to see a movie. When the movie was over we headed over to Coldstone to get some ice-cream. We picked a little table and we all sat down to enjoy our little bowls of frozen sugar and have a nice chat.

Tita began telling us the story of how she first met her husband and their first few couple of years as a married couple. Hearing her tell her stories was just simply amazing. To hear how even, though, in those first couple of years they had very little and yet they were still so happy, was just touching. Now, I won't go into a whole lot of detail for this next bit because it isn't my story to tell, but she shared with us how she and her husband had lost their first baby after only a few hours of life. She shared her experience with this with such a peaceful and serene spirit. I was so impressed by this story because to see her and her happy and excited personality I would have never guessed that she had ever experienced something so difficult. I was moved to tears hearing her story and seeing the peace with which she spoke of it. She continued on, and began to tell us of happier times. Of the times she shared with my mom, of the conversations and laughter the two of them had shared. She didn't cry when she told us of her first few months of marriage, when she and her husband had very little money and went through some tough experiences, in fact she told the tale with a big smile and a lot of laughs. She didn't even cry when she told us of the loss of her baby. What finally moved this happiest of women to tears was glancing at my mom and telling us about the love and friendship they had shared. More than anything, that was the moment that struck me the most, to see the two of them, even after all these years, still as close as ever. Even, though, life had taken them on different paths, paths that would take them countries apart, they still spoke to one another as if not even a single day had passed since those times early in each of their marriages when they lived in the same building and conspired to have their babies get married.

{Old Navy: gray long sleeve top; h&m: army vest similar, shoes, layered necklace similar, earring cuff similar; Aldo's: studded sunnies; Clutch: Guatemala}

Anyway, do you all remember that topic I've been putting off for weeks? Well, I'm finally going to post about it. ;) For some time now, I've been reflecting on the importance of enjoying every stage of life. When I was a kid I used to think, "I love being a kid, I never want to be a teenager". Then, of course, when I inevitably did turn into a teenager I realized how fun it was to be a teenager and I would think, "Man, I love being a teenager, I never want to be a young adult. Yuck". Now of course, I am a young adult and I've realized that it's better to enjoy the stage I'm living in rather than wish I could go back to being younger. I want to enjoy every stage in my life so thoroughly that when I move onto the next one I can look back on the days when I was younger and know that I enjoyed every moment and not look back and think that I wasted it wishing for something different. There are different things that make each stage in life enjoyable. There's something fun in being a kid, teenager, young single adult, married adult, parent, middle aged, and/or a grandparent. Now more than ever, I've been thinking about how important it is for me to enjoy this time in my life that I have to be young and single. I don't want to spend this time so caught up in whining about being single and how much dating can be "difficult", that when I'm not single, all I'll have to look back on will be memories of not being happy with the stage in life I was in. I want to be able to look back at these times and remember them as incredibly fun, and move onto whatever new stage comes along without any regrets. Just like Tita looks back on all of her memories with a happiness that denotes how thoroughly she's enjoyed her life. Of all the advice and all the stories Tita shared with us over this passed week that we spent together, the piece of advice she stressed the most was, marry someone spiritual. Marry someone spiritual and everything else will always work out.

Well, there's you're much awaited cheeseball post! ;)

Much love!

Linking up with: The Pleated Poppy, Because Shanna Said So