Charity.

Charity...

is love.

is redeeming.

is relieving the oppressed.

is pleading for others.

is giving to the poor.

is giving what you have.

is motivation.

is caring.

is loving even your enemies.

is kind

edifieth.

suffereth long.

is persuasion.

can be put on.

is pure religion.

is undefiled.

comes with a pure heart.

abideth with faith and hope.

is brotherly kindness.

is something all me should have.

is succoring those in need.

needs to be remembered.

is everlasting.

is filling.

saves.

is helping others.

is lifting other's burdens.

is righteousness.

come from the Holy Ghost.

is humility.

is temperance.

is meekness.

is gentleness.

is genuine.

is the pure love of Christ.

small world

They say it's a small world.

But you'd think that on a campus of over 30,000 students, it would be easier to avoid someone.

Moments.

Life is best expressed in moments. I couldn't even begin to tell you about the last few weeks, but here are a few of my favorite moments.

So in busy intersections in New York City they have police officers directing traffic and pedestrians. At one point this woman starts crossing the street at the wrong time and the cop yells, "LADY DO YOU WANNA BE A HOOD ORNAMENT?!" She quickly turned around and the whole corner started laughing.

"World Peace" cookies.

I was at my Gramma's house early one Sunday morning to pick her up for Church. I walk into her house just after my mother and hear my Gramma saying, "and I fried him an egg for breakfast..." I'm assuming here that she's talking about my older brother, who should also be up and getting ready, until I hear my Gramma continue, "and then I thought that he probably doesn't like his dog food, so I made him some toast too, out of that bread that I made yesterday". My bad, she was referring to our dog. That is one spoiled puppy, friend eggs and home made toast for breakfast!

I went up to see the Christmas lights in South Royalton with a friend. We stood on the doorstep of the house where Joseph Smith was born, and took a moment to marvel at the incredible thing that started in that very spot.

I was working on a bouldering problem at the climbing gym and I kept falling off. This guy calls over, "hey, you're suppose to grab that next hold!" and winks. thanks...

Again, my Gramma coddling my spoiled puppy, "I bet he's hungry, he hasn't eaten anything since his Wheaties this morning"

I was curled up on the couch, wrapped up in a huge comforter and sitting in front of a little space heater reading. My cat crawls over my open book, squeezes onto my lap, flips the book closed, pushes it off my lap, and then begins to purr.

I saw voids where buildings used to be, foundations that were gone, walls collapsed, trees dismantled and toppled, roads cracked, a lot of bits of my old life washed away.

Zappos does free, overnight shipping.

While staying with family, I turned into the guest bedroom for the night. The first thing I noticed was a framed picture of me, holding my two little cousins.

I got up really early one morning to bring my mom to work, and I enjoyed the beautiful orange sunrise all along Rt. 4.

Overheard at a family dinner, "I know it smells like bacon, but don't eat it. it's dog food". I love bacon.

I finished Jesus the Christ.

I went for a run along the Long Island Sound with my Uncle. (to make up for the bacon)

Christmas morning my mom dragged me out of my bed and into her room. Still half asleep I curl up on her bed, but she shakes me awake and says look! look outside, it's a storybook Christmas morning. Big fluffy snowflakes were slowly fluttering around. She was all excited, "that's nice mom, but I don't have my glasses on, I can't see anything".

Sliding along the deck under a dusting of snow. more fun than socks on the kitchen floor.

My Gramma bought my dog a new type of dog food (to see if he likes that better, although of course the dog doesn't eat dog food when he's served fried eggs for breakfast!) "it's organic!" she exclaimed, as if the dog cared about eating organic food. She turned to my mom, "Well wait until Herschel comes up, he likes organic things." I had to intervene, "Okay Gram, you can't feed my mom's boyfriend dog food."

For Christmas Eve dinner we had tacos. Nothing says love like tacos. and family. It was just me, my mom and two of my big brothers. We played Boggle, opened presents and I got one quick picture with the boys in front of the Christmas tree. That might not sound like much to you, but that's my whole world.

Ben and Jerry's posted on Facebook, "Need a date for New Years?"

I went out with a few old friends, dinner and bowling. It's embarrassing how bad I am at bowling, but we had two minutes left on our paid hour, and two more frames to bowl. Just as I was about to go, my friends made me laugh so hard I dropped my bowling ball. Uncontrollably laughing, and barely managed to push my ball down the ally. STRIKE! haha It was one of those, you had to be there moments.

My Gramma's ultimate reason for going and doing anything is, "you never know! you might meet the man of your dreams there!" (girl, if she's talking to my brother). I can't count the number of times she's used this on me, and I've tried an array of rebuttals, but she'll never have it. Finally, she used that line on me, "you never know! you might meet the man of your dreams there!" and I quickly countered, "Gram, what if I've already met the man of my dreams??" She was speechless, "well..." and had nothing left to say.

My mom reprimanded me, "so what?! a little glitter makes the world sparklier!"

That all equals "home for the holidays"

Here's to 2011

It wouldn't be New Years without a little past-year reflection. 2011 was quite a year, maybe not the best year of my life thus far, but a pretty good one nonetheless. How could I sum up such a year in a mere blog post. Well I'm a Vermonter, and Vermonters are survivors, of darkness, long winters, and one devastating hurricane. and 2011 was a year of survival.

I survived a long wait.

I survived year-round school.

I survived two bitter-sweet goodbyes.

I survived the worst break up. ever.

I survived asking for and receiving help.

I survived rejection.

I survived political science 200

I survived sharing my deepest secret.

I survived growth and change.

I survived healing.

I survived a new beginning.

and I came out on the other side, better, stronger, wiser because of it all.

Getting Ready

I don't like packing. Mostly because it's time consuming, and because it makes you very aware of everything you have and everything you didn't actually need.

BESTfriends

People say that I throw around the label "best friend" too casually. Some people only have one best friend, some people have too many. It all depends on how you define the term.

Sometimes your best friend is the person that you call when you are in tears, and they hang on the other line and wait for the sobs to subside so you can tell them what is wrong.

Sometimes your best friend is the person you see everyday, tell all your ordinary stories too, the person you delight with the littlest moments of your existence.

Sometimes your best friend is the person you trust, the person who you tell all your secrets to, knowing that they will listen, unjudgingly, and still love you.

Sometimes your best friend is fuzzy, and spotted, and gives you the most enthusiastic greeting you've ever received.

Sometimes your best friend is the person that has always been there, no matter where you are.

Sometimes your best friend is someone who you share something special with, something that no one else understands.

Sometimes your best friend is the person who never changes, the person with whom it seems, no matter how long it's been since you've seen or talked to each other, you are capable of picking right back up where you left off like not a day has gone by.

Sometimes your best friend doesn't consider you their best friend.

Look at all the ways I define best friends, of course I have more than one best friend. Having more than one "best" friend doesn't devalue the honor. Consider yourself lucky to be one of my best friends. It means I respect you, admire you, trust you, love you, more than I could ever tell you, and that's why I add a "best" to our friendship.

But here's the thing. Sometimes, your best friend is the person that breaks your heart to lose.