One Request

To anyone who reads my blog I have one request: Please pray for my cousin this week. Parker is a sweet little boy of three years old who (despite everything) is always smiling:). About two years ago he was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. This puts lots of pressure on the heart and lungs making life and growth difficult. It was predicted that he wouldn't live for very long, but defying the odds he has made it. This week, though, he is going in for a heart catheterization. This is where they put a tube in his heart to test the pressure it is experiencing. This helps with diagnosis as well as treatment. The first time he went through this procedure we almost lost him. It was terrifying to say the least. The second time was easier and we are praying it will again go smoothly this week. So please pray for a smooth procedure for my sweet little cousin. Thanks so much!
Also on a side note I did end up texting Dan. We had a pretty good conversation and he said he would look me up on facebook. To say the least I haven't heard from him since that conversation, but oh well I found I was brave enough to chase a piece of fate, right?

Fate and Filipino Food

"Hey McKayla this is Dan from (garbled) and I was wondering if you weren't doing anything tomorrow night and if I could come over and make you Filipino food."
This was the message I received last Friday night and the first thought that passed through my head after "mmmm Filipino food", was "who is Dan?"
I repeated the message assuming that I had simply misunderstood the name, but it was Dan and I had no idea who he was. So being the assertive individual that I am I called him the next morning. Our conversation went like this.
"Hey this is McKayla I got your message."
"Hey how are you?"
"I'm good, but ummm I'm not exactly sure who you are."
"This is Dan Funk"
pause
"From school...."
"I still am not sure who you are, sorry"
"Do you go to the Y?"
"Yep"
"Are you going to the Philippines on your mission"
"Ummm not that I'm aware of"
"Oh....I don't know how I got your number. Well are you here in Provo?"
" No I'm actually home with my family"
"Oh..."
Awkward pause
"well...it was nice to meet you."
"you too, talk to ya soon."
So pretty random conversation. After hearing his last name, though, I realized I had at least heard of him so I decided to facebook stalk him to see if I knew his face. While doing that I remembered where I'd heard it. My friend Alli Evenson had sent me a message a while back asking if I knew Dan Funk, but I hadn't. He had talked to her about a girl named McKayla that went to BYU and that he wanted to take on a date, but didn't have her number and such. Alli thought he was talking about me so she gave him my number. He never called so I'm assuming he found the right McKayla and just mixed up our numbers when he was trying to call her.
At this point in my realization I had found him on facebook and low and behold I do know him. It turns out he was the really attractive guy in my physiology class last fall that caught me staring at him. Small world, huh? My sister and mom had followed me on this realization and after saying I did know him my mom declared that it must be fate for us to meet and said I should text him and say I did know him. What do I say though? "Hey Dan so in a weird coincidence I do know you. We had physiology together and are both friends with Alli and ya my mom thinks it's fate we meet. What do you think? Do you still want to serve me Filipino food? I love food. Well basically anything edible I love...."
So ya I didn't text or call him, but I'm curious. What do you think? Do you think I should let him know about his fate? I'm not sure I buy the whole fate scenario, but hey I could get free Filipino food.

"The Best is Yet to Be"

I've given up on trying to predict how my life will turn out. Planning seems silly unless it is pretty general like planning to get dressed in the morning or go to work. Just when I think my course is set the road takes a sharp turn, hits a dead end, or I fall into a black hole that transports me to another universe.
I have recently been given one of the most amazing callings ever that will not only change my life for the next year, but possibly my plans after that. Drum roll please.....I am now the young womens secretary. :D woot! I am so so excited, but also pretty nervous. I loved young womens especially girls camp. In this past sacrament meeting I listened to some of the girls talk and I was blown away with insecurites because these girls are so amazing. They have such a depth of spiritual knowledge that I can't fathom how there is anything that I could teach them. So I've come to the realization that I've been put back in young womens so they can teach me the things I missed and I'm more than happy to learn. :) Plus I get to go to camp.
So the reason it has affected my life so much is because I have decided to stay home and work instead of returning to BYU in the fall. I want to dedicate myself to my new calling as well as begin to save money for my mission in March. I can put my papers in by October so I should be able to leave by the end of March. Another scary thing, but exciting and life changing :) So ya it is basically a 180 degree turn from how I was expecting life to go. I am way excited and humbled that the Lord trusts me to help out in the young womens organization. Did I mention I also get to go to camp? :)

Advice From My Elders

Those who have lived for more than three decades often have a treasure box full of advice. As a CNA I work with individuals that have lived at least eight decades, so that is like three full boxes! I work in the memory care clinic and often have the opportunity of being the recipient of the little pieces of advice they want to give. Alzheimer's mixed with medications for the aches and pains of getting old sometimes make these good intentioned gifts of advice very interesting. A few examples I have received over the past two weeks are as follows:

1) I should get married - practical and understandable
2) I should marry the 92 year-old man- not my first choice, but it was a sweet proposal
3) I should shave, preferably my chin area- I'm a little worried about this one.
4) I should become a hair dresser because I'm good at shampooing- That is the main duty of a hair dresser, right?
5)I should turn myself in to the FBI because apparently I'm a Russian Spy- Pretty cool job, huh?
6) I should go to the doctor because I'm crazy- I already knew that, but I didn't realize my type of crazy was treatable.

So those are just a few of the tidbits of advice I have received. Other than getting a new razor I haven't acted on any of them, but they do make me laugh. I mostly enjoy these pieces of advice because I love the old folks I get to help take care of and because they appreciate my amazing dance moves.

Expectations vs. Reality

A few months ago I had the opportunity to see a movie entitled "500 Days of Summer." Basically it is a boy meets girl story with a twist. At one point in the movie it shows the main guy character going to a party. It compares his expectations to reality. His expectations are way off and in the end he is disappointed.
I was thinking the other day about how often that happens to me. Either I'm disappointed or pleasantly surprised because my expectations are wrong. I have this funny idea that if I try to imagine how an event will turn out (usually in a way that everything would fall into place) it never happens that way. So I try not to daydream which inevitably causes me to daydream more. :)
unfortunately this week I had one of those moments. My trip that I was blogging about in earlier posts has been cancelled. This is due to a few people dropping out so we no longer had the funding to support the trip. It is very heartbreaking because I had all these silly day dreams of being in Mexico for two weeks. Spending time with the people there, learning how to serve people who I probably couldn't even communicate with and just being with some friends I hadn't seen in a while. I was really frustrated with the people who didn't stay committed to the trip. I was even frustrated with my Dad because he kept saying how it was a good thing because of all the turmoil in Mexico. It was one of those moments that I just didn't want to hear common sense, I'd rather just sulk in pity.
Why is it that our expectations are almost always off whether good or bad? The only thing I can come up with right now is either to keep us on our toes and surprised by life or to keep us humble. To help us realize that somehow our expectations aren't the right size for that specific moment. Maybe I lost this experience because I need to consult more with my Heavenly Father about what he really wants me to do and where he wants me to go. Or maybe it was just kind of a kick in the pants to help me realize that I am interested in humanitarian work and that since this one didn't work out it will just motivate me to work that much harder for other opportunities that come my way. Also I guess it is possible my Dad is right about it being too dangerous. I don't know I guess time will just tell. What I do know, though, is that sulking never got anyone anywhere so I thought I'd blog about it instead. :)

The Good Ol' Bunk Bed Days

Growing up, sleep wasn't my favorite past time. Don't get me wrong, I loved to sleep. It was just the process of getting there that set my nerves on end. Primarily it was the fact that I was terrified of having bad dreams. I remember sitting by my door and crying just loud enough for mom and dad to hear so they would call me into their room to help me get over my fear. After a few years I was able to get past this fear, but a whole new obstacle presented itself in the form of my little sister, Saydie. We shared a room, which was wonderful because we had bunk beds, but she had this lovely habit of not wanting to sleep. Especially when I most wanted to sleep. She would talk, and talk, and ask me to stay awake till at least she fell asleep. I usually would promise that I would stay awake, but end up falling asleep anyways. Sometimes it was quite a frustrating process to get to sleep.
These past two years when I've come home for the summer I'm amazed at how much my younger siblings have grown and how much can change in a few short months. The other night I was able to come home from work and talk to Saydie for a few minutes about life and such and it reminded me of the good old bunk bed days. I love my family and can't believe how blessed I am to have such a fun and kooky one. :)

Super Senior Prom

One of the greatest joys about being home is that I have been able to get my old job back at the assisted living facility that I worked at last year. So I get to see a lot of the old folks that I helped care for last summer. A few of them have passed away, but there are some of the same and the new ones are just as fun to get to know.
Yesterday was a lot of fun because the facility hosted a senior prom for the residents. Hillcrest high school students also came to dance with and get to know the residents. It was so much fun to see some of the residents get asked to dance and to see how their faces just lit up. It took me back to when I was able to go to high school dances. I can't believe that it is already two years ago! It was so much fun to get all dressed up and wait in anticipation for your date to pick you up (especially if you really liked the guy :) The dances were usually silly, held in the cafeteria of the high school with a bunch of kids attempting to dance and a few succeeding. Feeling like Cinderella as you look into the blue eyes of your prince charming. haha I miss it now and wish that I could go back and whisper in the younger me's ear, 'enjoy this moment, really live it, 'cause it goes by fast.'
Unfortunately time travel hasn't been invented yet so I will have to settle with committing myself to work harder to live in the moment now so that I won't ever need to remind myself of how precious a commodity time is. That way if I ever get the opportunity to dance at an assisted living facility with a young whipper-snapper I will be able to show as much joy, if not more, on my face as the sweet residents showed me last night.