So, almost four months have slipped away since I last wrote. To be fair, school was trying to destroy my will to live and I barely made it out alive, but I survived the last leg of the semester and now I'm free!
...for the summer, that is.
Oh, where to begin? Well, the girls and I all went to the Festival of Colors together. I'd been wanting to go for the last five years, but missed it every single year because I was gone, so I was thrilled.
Next, I decided to go to San Francisco for spring break this year, and had been planning to just go alone since none of my roommates had spring break (they were all BYU students), but at the last minute, my darling bestie Hannah called me up and asked if she could tag along.
Needless to say, we had the time of our lives.
The redwoods
Calle Lily Valley - it's just as stunning as the pictures!
One thing I will throw in by way of explanation, after a long drive along the coast, we stopped to eat dinner on the beach and watch the sunset, and then we finished driving to our hotel, where we got checked in to - surprise! - an executive room with the most heavenly soft bed I have ever lain my body upon before or since.
That bed will haunt me until I die...
The next part of my story, I regret, is not a happy one. On April 30th, my sister Holly - your mother - died of an aneurysm. I got the news the next morning.
My beautiful, brave, strong sister....While I confess that it didn't come as a total shock, it was still very hard to take. All my life, Holly and I always had a special bond. Even when things were bad, I felt like she and I were still on good terms. When she told me her doctor had given her maybe a year to live back in January...well, you can imagine how devastated I was.
On the day I learned of her passing, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't think of any place to go or what to do. At this point, Elizabeth and Bailey were both in California, and I couldn't bear the thought of going home to an empty apartment. But, I had nowhere else to go.
But God was watching over me and sent me an angel: my roommate Madeline. I had told her that morning, and she found me in my room that afternoon. She had made sure to take work off that evening just to be there for me.
It's little things like that that don't seem like much, but mean everything. No one has ever done something like that for me before, and Madeline's kindness touched me more deeply than I can ever express.
The following day was the hardest day. My darling bestie Hannah got me out of the house and we drove up the canyon to Aspen Grove and saw the beautiful view of the back of Timpanogos.
But it was on Sunday that I had an incredible experience that gave me a lot of peace. I was working on the song I was going to sing at Holly's funeral, called "Broken Wings," and needed to take a break for a bit. I decided to listen to some music, and when I put in my headphones a memory of the last time I saw Holly came back to me.
I'd been showing her a song called "On My Father's Wings," and as I lay there, I decided to listen to that song again. I can only describe it as knowing somehow that she was talking to me through the words, and I felt her there beside me as I lay there.
I will fly on my father's wings
To places I have never been
There is so much I've never seen
And I can feel his heartbeat still
And I will do great things
On my father's wings
From that moment on, I haven't had to worry about her anymore. She's finally free, and I know that she's happy and healthy and doing all the things she wasn't able to do in this life.
Gosh, isn't the atonement just amazing?! Ah, I love this gospel, and I know that because of it my family - ALL of us - will be together again someday.
The following Wednesday a good friend of mine, Brody, helped me to record and mix Holly's song so I could put it on the funeral slideshow. I was so grateful to him for being willing to help me, even though the poor guy had had his wisdom teeth out just two days before!
Rockin' the ice pack
Afterward, Brody went with me to pick up Elizabeth from the airport!
I'm SO glad to have her around again; I missed her terribly those two weeks she was gone! And of course, what's the first thing we should do when she get's home, but to play dress-up and have a dance party!
I loveth my darling Lizzy, and part of me is going to die when she leaves me to move back to Cali this month :'(
Our next adventure took us down to Fillmore for the long weekend to visit Lizzy's grandparents and do a little four-wheeling.
Great views of the valley
Then we drove down to St. George to see my sister Michelle, and of course made a quick stop at the St. George temple (which is still my favorite - sorry Payson temple :P)
In the morning, we got up early to go hiking out in Gunlock - an old favorite of mine I haven't been to for almost ten years. The old campground was destroyed in a flood a few years back, but somehow I was still able to find the exact place I always loved to go hiking in.
In a way, these red rocks seem to belong to me, even if it's only memory that makes this place my very own. It's one of those places in the world that's sacred to me, because there aren't any rules or guidelines. There are no trails or paths, no requirements, no expectations - it's just there. It's not going anywhere, and it's not going to change, and I will always find it again when I come back.
Well, I think this post is long enough for today, but I promise to be more diligent with writing again now that I have more time. Until then, I love you, and I'll see you soon.
All my love,
<3 Katie Jo
No comments:
Post a Comment