The Best Days of My Life

Dear Grace,

I know, what cosmic force of the universe has altered my daily activities to bring about another post a mere two days from the last one?! Truth be told, an old friend has come to visit me: boredom. I started classes for my last year of school this week, and because I am permitted to use my magical type-box in class...let's just say that I've mastered the art of pretending to pay attention over the years ;)

So, adventure time! I have news; some good, some sad, but all of it gloriously chaotic.

I lieu of the fact that I'm getting into photography and video production at work, I got meself a fancy-pants canon camera, and to commemorate the occasion, the roomies and I all went on one last photo-shoot adventure together.

I know. Where are the flattering closeups? The portraits? The sultry "come hither" lip biting glamour shots? Well, you don't need to see those ones, because we can be dead sexy without those techniques, dangit!

In truth, I love these pictures of us because they capture a small moment of the friendship and fun we have all shared together this year. Last week I moved to a new apartment complex and said goodbye to #56 with a heart full of love and gratitude for all of the good times, bad times, and people who were sent to me there. Incredibly, transcending even my time in London, these have truly been the best days of my life.

But on to the exciting stuff! After all these months I finally hopped aboard a plane to San Diego, California to visit these two south cal babes!

The volume and pitch of our reunion in the airport pickup zone certainly made a few people smile haha. Immediately, we commenced our journey by driving directly to this glorious masterpiece of architecture: Hotel Del Coronado.

I was especially excited about seeing this hotel because it was the film location of one of my favorite old-time movies Some Like It Hot. If you haven't seen this show, stop whatever you're doing, including reading this post and get thee to amazon.com and watch it RIGHT NOW, you uncultured heathen swine! Seriously, it's got jazz music, Marilyn Monroe, Chicago gangsters, and two cross-dressing men hiding out in a girl band to escape said gangsters - what more could you want!?

Okay, moving on. We went down to the beach to watch the sunset, and Bailey noted that the land I could see through the mist in the distance was in fact, Mexico.

"I can see Mexico from here!!!"

Day two of our road trip docked us in the port of Catalina Island.

Not gonna lie, when I first saw the island peaking out through the mist as our ferry approached, I kind of couldn't get Phil Collins and scenes from Tarzan out of my head for a while.

"Lovin' Catalina so much you just want to hold it in your arms..."

It was so much fun to spend a day running free as the wind in the salty air and sunshine, snorkeling, getting hit on by drunk guys, and indulging on pineapple floats with two of my favorite girls...

On day three, Bailey and I left Elizabeth with her family and after exploring Hollywood briefly, we headed up  the coast to take a tour of the famous Hearst Castle.

Freaking. Awesome. Seriously, if you ever find yourself driving up Highway 1, this place is a MUST SEE. I've never been to Spain, but I imagine that the landscaping and architecture of this palatial masterpiece must be similar.

Day four, Bails and I continued our drive up the coast to see places such as this waterfall:

...as well as stop to play and take pictures on the beach...

At last, we landed ourselves in Santa Cruz to see the Mystery Spot - a place that supposedly defies the laws of physics.

I know Santa Cruz is famous for the magic green leaves of Mary Jane, but I started to wonder if there was something in the air while I was there for how weird I felt on the tour...

Anyway, day four marked the last day of our road trip (or so I thought at the time), and we spent the day in San Francisco. 

We had a bugger of a time finding the singles ward, but for some reason I had the feeling that we needed to go to that ward, even if we missed it. When we got there I learned why when we ran into an old friend of Bailey's who hadn't planned to be there that day either. DIVINE INTERVENTION!

Afterward we drove out to the headlands to get Bails checked into her hotel room, and then stopped below the Golden Gate bridge to get some glamour shots.

I'd picked up the dress in Santa Cruz, but our attempts to go to a fancy restaurant dressed to the nines had been continuously foiled, thanks to time and circumstances, so I demanded that I get to wear the dress at least once before I went home :)

Bails is such an amazing girl. It has been such a joy, honor and privilege to have lived with her and shared so many once-in-a-lifetime experiences together this year, and the conversations about God and life we were able to have on this road trip were no exception. I feel so blessed to have been given the time I had with this radiant, powerful, wise, and loving soul in my life. I'm really gonna miss that girl.

That night, I ended up missing my flight, and the soonest flight I could book wasn't until the next night. So, I spent the next day wandering around San Francisco by myself.

Perhaps it was simply because I'd already seen all of the places I went to and had nothing new and exciting to discover or explore there, but if I'm being honest, it was a pretty lonely day.

Father mine who travels for work and hates it, I understand you now.

All the same, I did my best to make the most of the day. Having not eaten since noon the day before, I went to breakfast at my favorite little Italian Cafe, and I also finally got to get a picture in front of the Painted Ladies:

It's amazing to me how fearless I feel these days....Even though I was completely on my own there (with the exception of a few sketchy streets I accidentally stumbled onto), I barely thought about it. There were no worried "what ifs?" on my mind. I'm not sure if I've grown so much that it's confidence, or if it's just naivety or stupidity, but I know that 2-years-ago-me would never have dared to even leave the airport.

I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to learn and grow so much these last few years from both the good and the bad. I have come to feel secure enough within myself that come the hard knocks, I know I'm going to be okay.

I love you, Gracie, and I hope you're doing well!

All my love,

<3 Katie Jo

Be Made Whole

Dear Grace,

I've had some thoughts on my mind of late that I want to share with you, whatever they may be worth. Going through all the turmoil of the last year threw me into a state of confusion more than once, but I hope that I have been learning the lessons God has been trying to teach me, and I'd like to share those with you.

First lesson: be receptive.

Not just to presents on your birthday or to compliments, but to things that too often I brush aside. Whisperings from the still small voice of things I may not want to do, help and support from other people, and the most surprising one of all, love.

When my sister Brooke died back in October, I held on to the belief that because I didn't have a husband to be my support that it was my job to be a support to everyone else in the family. I felt like I had to get through that loss on my own. But God put Bailey, Elizabeth, and Sidney in my life back then to ease me into opening myself to love and support from people.

Then in April my sister Holly died and other trials on top of that came. I remember feeling so overwhelmed and alone in the world - hurting so much that it felt like even God couldn't heal my heart anymore. The weight became so heavy that I knew I couldn't do it on my own. And that's when He brought Madeline and my best friend Hannah to me.

Through Madeline, I learned to accept that someone loved and cared for me enough to be my rock in my lowest and ugliest hour.

Through Hannah, I was on the receiving end of the most overwhelming Christlike love one friend can ever show to another. Time after time she patiently listened to me when I needed to talk, offered words of comfort, support, and advice, took me on drives, made me laugh, prayed with me, prayed for me, shared scriptures, conference talks, and her own life experiences, and in every way acted as a disciple of Christ. It was because of her that I was able to make it through and be healed.

Second lesson: hang on and keep going.

I confess that there were a couple of days when I didn't know how God expected me to live through another day. I truly believed that I couldn't possibly keep going. Yet somehow the end of the day would arrive, and I would find I had kept going. I was still hanging on. There were days when I would talk to God and say, "This is way too much. There's no way I can handle all of this. I'm not strong enough." Yet amazingly, looking back, I WAS strong enough, and I can tell you this now: You can keep going. You're not alone. You are strong enough. You will get through it.

Third lesson: "be made whole"

This is something I'm working on within myself right now. While it's important to be receptive to love and help, it's equally important not to let it turn you into a drain. The path to healing should be to 1) ask for help 2) receive help, and 3) accept that you've been healed, and move forward.

Part of healing is not only having faith to be healed, but to also accept when you are healed. One thing I was amazed to realize today is that nowhere in any scripture does Jesus ever say "be thou healed." Most often he uses the words "clean" or "whole." I think the reason for this is that when Christ heals us He doesn't just close up our wounds and take away our pain, but also restores our ability to give and serve others - essentially making us "whole."

I would even go so far as to say that by receiving healing, it becomes our responsibility to pay it forward. Have you ever noticed how every time Jesus heals someone He often tells them "go"? "Go and sin no more" "Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house" "See thou tell no man; but go thy way" "Go shew yourselves unto the priest" "Thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace." What I imagine he's saying is "I've healed you. Now go and do the same."

This post is long enough for today, but know how much I love you Gracie, and I hope you keep Christ in your heart always.

All my love,

Katie Jo <3