Caught in the Rain

It's Tuesday again! And so, I finally have some time for a new post, one that I've been looking forward to writing about over the past few days. Early last Friday, Chris and I were caught in the rain as we made our way to campus (usually a 7-12 minute walk depending on which building on campus we are making our way to). It was probably around 8:30am, and neither of us had anticipated the storm lying ahead. In celebration of the 80 degree weather we'd been blessed with the previous day, I was wearing a thin summer dress with purple flats while Chris sported a t-shirt and jeans. Needless to say, he was much better prepared than I was when we were hit by a heavy rain shower two minutes into our walk. We hurried through the rain, as my glasses fogged and my shoes made squishy, splashy each time they hit the pavement. I silently cursed the fact that glasses didn't come with windshield wiper blades and that I had chosen not to bring an umbrella. Always an optimist, my sweet husband had tried his best to make the best of the situation while trying to keep me as dry as possible. The flooded and abandoned streets ahead of us reflected my increasing gloom and irritation at my own seemingly incapability to stop the rain and bring out the sun.

Just then, as we approached a red stop sign, the only shade of color before our view, a car honked beside us and called out words that were muffled by the wind and the splish splashing of the raindrops gathering in puddles on the street. We neared and stared blankly into the face of a smiling, and hurried woman who seemed to beckon us into the car. Of course, as she was a stranger and as I had grown up engulfed by the skepticism and suspicions of the metropolitan world, I momentarily hesitated and considered the worst case scenarios before opening her back door. While I had always offered rides to people caught in the rain, or to people who seemed to be traveling long distances, I had always thought myself too cautious to accept them. Yet here I was, entering the vehicle of a strange woman, on a rainy day, with my husband beside me.

In my mind, I feared that at any moment she'd turn the opposite way from the path to the BYU-Idaho campus, and that we would suddenly find ourselves unable to unlock the car door. At some point, the vents by unleash a poisonous sleeping gas and we'd find ourselves in an abandoned warehouse, tied to a chair (I have to chuckle as I realize that this is the product of watching too many horror movies in my childhood). Yet, in spite of the fears and suspicions of my mind, I found my heart at peace. After all, Chris sat beside me and we were temporarily shielded from the rain. The smiling woman made small talk as we approached campus and we waved goodbye and thanked her as we got out of the car. This experience taught me so much about the nature of human beings. It taught me to be grateful for the good people that exist in places like Rexburg, Idaho. I am grateful for having the chance to go to school in a place that has taught me to believe in people again and in their ability to be good and to do the right thing, just because. As I ponder and consider the world from which I came from, a world that taught me my strength, but also taught me to second guess the motivation behind any good deed or compliment; I am grateful for the goodness I have been exposed in the past few years as I've been blessed to attend BYU-Idaho and to grow in a way unimaginable to the person I was before I arrive at this small town.

No Place Like Home

I have to say that our little apartment has come a long way from the moment we rented it. The previous tenants have the living room walls painted the color of grass and the kitchen and bathroom floors has seen their better days (to say the least). We live in a tiny one bedroom apartment in Rexburg, Idaho, where we both have a year left of school before completing our undergraduate studies from BYU-Idaho. Much like the rest of the town, the apartment seemed...neglected, and we had our work cut out for us. Still, our minor complaints were easy to reconcile with the fact that rent would be cheap and we'd be living close to campus! Plus, we had the enthusiastic approval and support of our landlords, who seemed thrilled to have tenants who actually cared to change the appearance of their apartment.

Our first step before moving in was to have our landlords remodel the floors. Once that work was completed, in a significantly short amount of time, we got to work on painting the walls of the living room a reasonable tone of green (which worked for me, since green is my favorite color). It might have otherwise been an impossible task if it hadn't been for the help of Chris' roommates and my father, although they encountered a challenge trying to hide every trace of the yucky shade of forest green that had been suffocating the light of our living room. In a few weeks we managed to get our bedroom and bathroom painted cream, and our kitchen painted red (colors provided by our generous landlords).

As Chris and I were still in school during this time of apartment preparation, each trying to juggle about 19 credit hours, we enjoyed the help and support of friends and family who eagerly helped us put the apartment together by offering extensive cleaning, careful painting, generous furniture donations, and uplifting words. It was truly a blessing, as I cannot explain the marvelous way in which every little detail seemed to work out perfectly in any other word.

However, in spite of all the hard work, we couldn't have found a better location to live in the small town of Rexburg. After all, the apartment is right in the middle of the busiest part of this small town, surrounded by Sammy's Cafe, salons, arcades, restaurants, etc. In fact, our apartment complex is directly above the Craze Fun Zone, a location famous for lazer tag and black light miniature golf. In my eyes, the business of the little strip we live on reflects the revival of this small town, and resembles the feeling of living in a big city once again.

These days, Chris and I are enjoying the simple pleasures of life, like having a fridge to call our own; one that we don't have to share with 5 other people. No more 5 gallons of milk taking up half of the shelves in the fridge. Nor do we have to label each individual product with our names. And better yet, among the other abandoned glamors of life in single housing in college, we no longer run the danger of being the last person to leave the apartment who has to dispose of the one item that has been molding in someone's Tupperware all semester long who nobody seems to claim. There sincerely, is no other joy than having a space to call our own; a place we can decorate in any way we're so moved in order to reflect our unique personalities, histories, life experiences, and styles. Having our own little apartment bring to life the mantra, there's truly no place like home.

Married Life (3 days and 3 hours in)

Well, it happened! After much planning, rushing, and juggling school, work, family expectations and marriage plans, we were finally married on June 11, 2011 at 8:20AM at the Salt Lake City Temple. What an amazing start and an amazing few days! And while we hope that the joy we've experienced so far will continue for the remainder of our lives, we're slowly beginning to feel the responsibilities and expectations of life creeping in.

We're back to school. Back to Rexburg, Idaho. Back to the life of classes and catching up on school work. Yet, in spite of our new challenges (balancing academics with newlywed life, postponing a honeymoon, catching up on school and work, and settling into our new apartment), we both couldn't be happier with the decision we've made. We got married in the middle of a crucial semester in college and we got married in a short amount of time. And though this is a reality that certainly causes us to work a little harder than we would otherwise, I have never been happier. Nothing in the world beats the feeling that, at last, you've aligned your will with deity and that you're exactly where your life has been leading you from the beginning. As we face our new challenges and accept our new life, we do so with hope and an assurance that no matter what faces us, we will come our victorious.