I've been home, in Utah, I mean, for a month now. More than! A month and 2 days. Time has flown, and it makes me sad to think that I'm 25% of the way done with my summer break.
Break. It's really the best word for it. Working at Orange Leaf is significantly easier than college 1,000 miles away, and working gives me money instead of taking it away. Good thing I like college, otherwise I think I'd work at Orange Leaf forever.
Member when my hair was so short that I laughed at the thought of hair elastics? I sure do. Well, life sure has changed since July 17th, 2013 when my hair covered the floor of the little salon in downtown Pleasant Grove! July 17th. Makes me chuckle to think about. The boy I had a crush on left on his mission on July 16th. I knew he wouldn't like my hair short, so I had to wait till he was out of the country to chop it. Don't worry, Elder. It'll be reallllly long by the time you get home!! Anyway, sometimes I measure my life by the length of my hair because my hair is a significantly different length every couple weeks. "Back when I had a boy cut..." "When I could finally fit pigtails in..." "The first time I wore curls again..." It certainly has made this past year's journey a little more exciting.
A year ago I was waiting in line for my cap and gown so that I could graduate high school with a thousand other kids in oversized red curtains and hats that won't stay on. Seriously though, those hats were so annoying. Every time I had to move my head, my tassel fell in my face. The nerve. A year ago I was standing in front of a high school choir and orchestra waving my hands in the beat of "Come Thou Fount" and praying that we wouldn't go more than a half step flat by the end. A year ago my sister was still unmarried, and now I can't imagine AbigailandSteven without the andSteven part. A year ago I got pulled over for the first time and cried my way out of a what-should-have-been-a-really-big-ticket. A year ago Nashville was still just a dream and just a place I had spent 13 hours in one time. A year ago I didn't even now who Melissa Gramling was, let alone know that we'd be known as Emilissily just a few short months later. A year ago my "Utah friends" still lived in Utah, and not New Zealand, South Carolina, Germany, North Carolina, Mexico, Peru, and Chicago.
A year ago, I didn't know about half of the people I know now, and therefore was half of the person I am today. A year ago, I couldn't ride elevators without counting to 100 and I couldn't take the step from the tunnel to the airplane itself without closing my eyes. Now, I ride elevators like I was born in one, and I get a little sad when the captain gets on the intercom to tell us we're about to land.
Today I told a friend who is graduating from high school this weekend that his life is starting on Friday. His response? "Good. Cause I'm ready for this pre-mortal stuff to be over." Hashtag Mormon jokes. Also, after I mentioned that "Math is NOT my forte.", he said, "Your'e right, Emily. It's your fortissimo." "No, no, no, more like my pianissimo!!" Hashtag musician jokes.
You know those roller coasters that go reallllly slow at the beginning and then all of the sudden shoot you out going 100 miles per hour? That's how I feel. Pre-college stuff was that slow, preparatory part. The part that makes you all anxious to just get going. The part where you can still talk to the person next to you in a normal speaking voice. Then all of the sudden, they read your name to a million people in the BYU Marriott Center, and 100 miles per hour is the new norm, it's what you get for the rest of the ride.
Life is good, you know? It's crazy. It's unexpected, and sometimes it's hard. But it's good. It's so, so good.
Love my Ems!!
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