#2: Forget Me Nots

Forget Me Not Flowers represent True Love and Memories.

I remember my aunt Mai coming home from the Relief Society Conference gushing about President Utchdorf's talk on the Forget Me Not flowers. I love President Utchdorf, he is my favorite general authority, so of course I went online and watched the talk.

I fell in love.

I felt so loved, even though he didn't know me individually.

The talk had five points, each for the petal on the flower, they are:

1. Forget not to be patient with yourself
2. Forget not the differences between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice
3. Forget not to be happy now
4. Forget not the "why" of the gospel
5. Forget not that the Lord loves you

The third one touched home with me because it is the very reason I'm doing this blog now.

Often times we feel everything is weighing down on us in a moment. Many people tell us that it will be alright that this moment will pass. That this is only a small part and insignificant.

But we can't see it. We can only see the moment because . . . all we know is now. We can't read the future.

I am guilty of both. I tell everyone it's alright but I . . . sometimes live in the moment.

But it's part of being a youth. Part of being young. Our minds can't comprehend a future because we have lived very short lives.

So this flower makes me all better. It reminds me of Life's purpose.

It helps me remember, forget not, that, in Sarah Kay's words: "Life will hit you, hard, in the face, wait for you to get back up so it can kick you in the stomach, but getting the wind knocked out of you is
the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air."

She could not have put it more perfectly. 

I love the taste of air. I love how in the winter time, you can see your breath makes it's presence known. I love how in the summer time, you can taste the hot sun when you breathe. 

This little flower reminds me of all of this. It tells me not to forget. That I have so much to hold on too and even though it seems impossible. Even more room to hold more.


P.S. I have an empty vase sitting in my room. I think I remember my vase telling me it likes to hold Forget Me Not flowers :)

#1: Letters

Whenever I find myself in a very nasty mood I open my box full of papers. These papers, whether a simple, tiny piece or a five-page anthem, bring breath back into my soul.

Call me conceited, but I love reading the notes of praise and compliments offered to me.

I can always count on the people who have engrained their thoughts and feelings onto the pieces of paper they took time to write. Their messages lift my soul and remind me why it is I deal with people everyday.

I would go through a million lifetimes facing the most horrendous people in order to find those special individuals who have blessed my life.

I smile at the memories each note brings with it. Some spiritual and some just . . . embarrassingly funny.

These special moments aren't captured on a camera but they are captured in our soul. They don't need scrapbooks for they can't be described. Those moments have emotions of a special happiness that they bring you when you read the letters.


I think that is why I enjoy reading scriptures so much. Some may think it's weird but I love it. I think of the scriptures as letters from God. We go to pray to him often about our problems then when we flip open the scriptures, there it is. The perfect verse that comforts our fears.

That's what letters do. They give advice. They remind you. They heal your soul. They make you smile. They tell jokes.

And most importantly: They are timeless.

They have been around for generations. A way of communicating that is getting lost amidst the texting generation.

It is for that reason, the loss of this special communication, that when I recieve a letter, my favorite way to communicate, that I smile.

A simple note that says thank-you or a letter that is just letting you catch up with their lives.

They all are special to me.

Let Happiness and Smiles run free . . .

I was in one of my silent moods of melancholy today. I didn't feel like making people happy, nor did I feel like smiling. I find that I have less to smile about these days and that thought scares me. Smiles are the key factor in this world that I believe is holding everyone back from eating each other's throats each day. A smile can cure a sad mood and ignite mischief in the soul.


A smile from a person I see that day makes me happy.

I want to smile and be happy everyday.


Even if it's for one thing and one thing only.


At least I can look back on that day and say that I lived that day.


So here is my challenge.


I want to post everyday.


Yes everyday.


Of everything that makes me smile.


And to make this more fun, it can be only one thing a day. My goal to make it to 365 days.

Also to make it harder, I want to spread it to everyone else. So each post comes with challenge for me to try to make someone else happy with that item or thing.

Let the happiness run free . . .