Temple Trips

I don't know that I'll ever really get used to going to the temple out here. I grew up in Utah, where the Latter Day Saint religion is dominant. I would go to the temple, be ushered to a locker and go to a full chapel and wait for a session. If I decide to go to the temple alone out here, I don't know if there will even be a session. If I go with Will, we are most likely the witness couple, in a very small session. We went a couple weeks ago, on a Saturday. It was the first time we'd been and we weren't the witness couple. There were actually more than 5 people in the session. However, I still wasn't ushered to a locker, in a very organized fashion. I picked my own locker, at random. Which meant, I had to wait for 3 people to get changed before I could change when we were done. It really is down to a science in Utah. We also have to really plan our time, as the temple is an hour away. I realize that is still fairly close to many other people that live outside of Utah. But again, I grew up with my choice of temples, all within 20-30 minutes from my house. It took up our whole afternoon to attend the temple the other week. And I also need to be better about going more than once or twice a year. The things we have to change our focus on, when it's not so readily accessible as we are used to.

Change is Hard

Over the past year so many things have changed for me. Not all bad, but changes nonetheless.
- I got married
- I quit my job of 12.5 years - stability and knowing what I was doing
- I sold my house - the first house on my own
- I moved across the country
- I started a new job
- I got a new car - Nigel treated me well for 13 years
- I moved away from all my family and friends
- Moved to all new things

This week has been rough for me. I don't really know why, it's just been rough. I was brushing my teeth tonight and almost started crying as I thought of one of my nieces and how much I miss those nieces and nephews of mine.I'm no longer within 90 minutes of all of them. Now I live across the country and I can't just stop by their houses after work and say hi. I don't have a good answer when they ask me, "Minda, can you come over and play?" It breaks my heart when they are so excited to see me and I can't fulfill that wish for them. I learn more and more how tender their little hearts are. I didn't think about how hard this change would be when it all happened. But this past year has not been easy on me.

I have a job, which is great. But I'd been at my previous job for nearly 13 years. People knew who I was, trusted me to do my work and to do it well. That is not the case here. I have a boss that doesn't trust her team. She's always double checking people's work or having us double check each other. Which I understand to an extent, but there's no logic behind her thinking. She has control and trust issues and she's going to lose some good workers because of it. I can't just quit and easily find another job because I'm qualified for nothing. I didn't finish school and every job now requires some sort of a degree. It doesn't even necessarily matter in what, but job descriptions more often than not say, "bachelor's degree required." And that is a requirement I just can't fill at this point in time.

Everything is harder in Massachusetts. Everything.

Friends are Important

I've been blessed with some really amazing friends in my life. Wonderful, talented, amazing friends. When I got married, I had two very talented friends that helped me. One was my photographer and one catered the reception. Bonus for getting married later in life: you have established friends with careers that you can trust. I wasn't worried at all about the quality of my pictures or food that would be there. Other people may have, but I had total confidence. And it turned out wonderfully!! People kept raving about the food. Well of course they did, because my friend is amazing!

That being said, I've had a lot of wonderful people come into my life that I've been able to call friends. What's hard about that? When you move 2000 plus miles away from all of that. Don't get me wrong, married life is good and I have a best friend for life. However, sometimes a girl just needs her close girlfriends to talk to. Yes, technology is amazing and I have all these apps that I'm able to communicate with them, but I'm missing that social connection. I miss going out and having girls nights with my friends. Crafternoons with my girlfriends and catching up on all their lives. Making friends as an adult is hard! Kudos to those kids of yours that come home and say, "I made a friend today!" That's amazing and I envy children and their ability to make friends. That is hard for me. I'm not outgoing. I'm quite shy and come across as a bitch to people when they first meet me. I can say that because some of my close friends have admitted this to me. "I thought you hated me when I first met you." Yeah....that's not a good combination when you try and make friends in a new place. I'm sure they're wondering what my husband is doing with me.

Just What My Heart Needed

Will and I recently went back to Utah for the holidays. I went for a quick trip in October, which was good for my soul, but this time I got to stay for 10 days. It was just what I needed. I haven't done stellar with the adjustment out to the East. Don't get me wrong, Will has been amazingly patient with me and my breakdowns, but I'm very close with my family and not being near them has been hard on me. Harder than I thought it would be, actually. And although it was loud and crazy and I came home sick, I absolutely loved my time back in Utah. Will joined me a day later and had to leave a few days before me, but while he was there, we actually got quite a bit in. We got up early Friday morning and went to see the lights at temple square. Pro tip, they turn the lights on for an hour in the morning. There are no crowds and it looks like you're there at night. So much better! Will had come to visit me last December and we met up with my good friends to walk around temple square and grab some dinner. It was so ridiculously crowded that night that we didn't really get to enjoy the lights. This year, we learned our lesson and snuck out of the house before kids woke up and went to see the lights. Parked right across from the temple (another bonus) and got to walk around and enjoy the lights without having to shove our way through crowds of people.

I also got lots of family time. Sadly I didn't get pictures like I would have wanted to, but I did get to see everyone (minus Brad who is living it up in Hawaii for a few months). We had our annual Christmas Adam party, which is always a fun event. We went bowling with my mom, Jeff and Holli and their two kids on Christmas Eve. Turns out bowling on Christmas Eve is a popular event. I'm not a great bowler, but I enjoy it and it was fun to watch little Lexi bowl and have fun. I also got to have a little salon treatment by Miss Pais. She painted my nails and then I painted hers to match. I had a game night with the Wilcox kids the night I left. That was fun. We played Disney code names. Which I've never played, but actually enjoyed. Will and I received a code names game for a wedding gift and hadn't broken it out yet. I think we can now break it out and I'd be able to explain how to play.

I was also able to go to breakfast with the framily while I was out there. My friends that I consider my family. I was grateful that they were able to take the time to make breakfast with me happen. I love all these wonderful humans. All in all, it was a good trip and exactly what my little heart needed. I was in desperate need of some family and friend time.