Blessings in the quiet

Last night I went to the Jordan River Temple at 10:30 pm and didn’t leave until 1:00 in the morning. No, I wasn’t just camping out hoping that they would just allow me to stay (although I know that I may or may not have said that I wanted to do so in the past). My Ward along with the Spanish Branch, had the Temple cleaning assignment. For some spectacular reason I was given the assignment to vacuum out the Endowment rooms and the Celestial Room.

Being left in those scared rooms all by myself for those two and a half hours provided the perfect setting for some contemplative thinking. Amazing things happen when this equation is put into place:

Temple + alone + lots of time = Peace

I don’t remember a time in my life that I have ever been this confused and yet . . .

Retraining body and mind

I am very excited to report that at the Ogden 5K on Saturday, I took almost another full minute off my time. I somehow managed to complete this 3.1 miles in 34:35. By the end of this summer I am hoping that I will get it down to under the 30 minute mark. Who says that I need to breath?! I have found that the best way to accomplish this task is to find someone running that pushes my comfortable pace just slightly. The woman that I found at this race looked slightly younger than me and we actually took turns pacing the other. It was a competition thing where she wasn’t going to let me beat her and I wasn’t going to let her beat me. We traded back and forth the entire run. At the end, she ran up from behind me and said, “Well we have run this entire race together we might as well go in together.” We talked as we were catching our breath for the last leg of the race and then we sprinted to the finish line together. My next 5K is in California and I am very excited for the change in scenery for a million different reasons.

At the beginning of the month of June I am also starting a new exercise program that I am hoping is going to tone my body in marvelous ways. It is extremely intensive, but that which doesn’t require sacrifice and some pain doesn’t usually end up working in the end.

Running for my mom

For the fourth year in a row, I ran in the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Awareness 5K. I participate in several different 5Ks every year, but this is the one that I run in celebration of my mom. With her name on placed on my back, I ran my fastest ever 5K! Given it wasn’t a world record by any means, but I was extremely excited when I crossed the finish line and looked up at the clock at read 35:24. My knee has been fussy for the last month and it didn’t give me any troubles at all during the run or after.

Thanks Mom for being one of my heroes for more than one reason! I love you!

Unexpected anxiety

For the most part, I deal with change and transition in my life fairly well. My attitude has always been that the only thing that ever remains constant is change and so although it may not be something that I would have chosen or even that I want to change, the best thing that I can do is accept and move forward. As in the words of my grandmother and my mother, “suck it up and deal with it”. That is exactly what I have a tendency to do automatically.

I don’t know if it is due to being inundated with an overwhelming amount of changes already this year or if I am just losing my tough exterior, but I woke up last night horrified. The dream which I pulled myself out of was a nightmare representing several of my worst fears. I stayed awake for quite a while until I could calm myself down and remind my mind and heart that it was just a dream and that, as always, I would be just fine.

I attempt to look at every situation in my life as an opportunity to learn and grow, to become a better individual. Although I am still not sure exactly what I am supposed to be gaining from these challenging experiences in my life, I do realize that I am not as strong as I once believed.