Friday, April 25, 2014

The lesson I learned from a pizza

I went to lunch with my friend today. We go to lunch a lot together and with limited options, we usually have a hard time deciding on where to go. We finally decided to go to a new restaurant in town and I new it was going to be good because I had been there before. At that point I was starving so pretty much anything sounded good.
When we got there, we started with our usual conversation: how's work? how's life? did you know that so-and-so said such-and-such, and on and on.
As we looked over the menu, trying to find something to "hit the spot" was hard to do in between talking and texting but we finally decided to get a pizza and I won't lie...it was delicious.

First, the dough was the perfect amount of fluffiness, it had alfredo sauce instead of the regular marinara, there were mushrooms, bacon, chicken, tomatoes (which I loved and my friend picked off), spinach, and the perfect amount of cheese. We also got a salad and some breadsticks and they were delicious but the pizza really hit the spot. After loading up on some serious carbs, we were both full to the brim so we asked for a box and ended up taking half of the pizza and some of the breadsticks with us.
I went back to my job and she went back to hers. It was chilly outside so I figured I could just leave it in my car and it would be ok.
I finished out my very long work day and by the end of it I was hungry again. I've never understood how you can eat until you almost puke and then somehow, however long later you're hungry again. Anyway, when I got back into my car, I could smell that pizza and I couldn't wait to get home, warm that sucker up, and chow down.

My commute to and from work is about 20+ minutes each way so needless to say it taunted me the whole way with it's delightful smell. Mushrooms...tomatoes...cheese....chicken....by then my tummy was growling.
As I got about 3/4 of the way home, I got stopped at a stop light. As I sat there, I looked over to my left and I saw a woman probably in her late 40's wearing a hoody with a jacket over it and she had the hood tied tightly around her head obviously trying to keep warm. It had just started to rain a little bit and the wind was relentless so I can only imagine how much fun sitting outside would be. With her was a younger girl, possibly her daughter, around late teens to early 20's and she was holding a sign. The sign was just a piece of cardboard with marker written on it that read "hungry and broke. anything helps."

Now, I've been around my fair share of homeless people. It may sound insensitive but having lived in and visited bigger cities, you tend to look the other way when people are sitting or standing with their signs asking for money. However, there was one I saw in Las Vegas that was really funny. It was a guy that looked like he had been at it a while and his sign said "too ugly to be a prostitute." It was pretty clever I thought.

As I was trying to turn a blind eye to those two ladies sitting on that corner, I started thinking about my pizza. The smell was still taunting me and my stomach was still growling.
Then I thought, you know what? I don't NEED that pizza. As with most people, I realize that I could stand to eat a little healthier, and by that time it was about 8 pm and I knew I shouldn't really gorge myself on all that bread that late anyway (not that that stops me most of the time).
I thought, it's probably going to just sit in my fridge and if it does get eaten tonight, I might not even be the one that gets to eat it (it's a full house over here so you've got to take what you can get).

Somehow with in the few seconds it took for that light to turn green, I had had an inner battle that ultimately decided that I would give my pizza to those hungry women. By then I was down the street a little ways so I made a U turn and headed back to where they were sitting. I pulled up next to them and said, "so I have half a pizza in my back seat if you guys want it." They looked at each other like, who is this broad and why is she being so creepy? After a second the younger girl asked, "are you sure?" "of course I am", I said. "I was just heading home and I figured I wasn't going to eat it anyway." I got out of my car and gave them the delicious delight that I had been dreaming about up until that point. Both ladies were very nice and I hoped that they would enjoy that pizza just as much as I had.
As I drove away, I could see them open the box and they were smiling.

Smiling.

They were sitting in mid-April weather, outside, in Idaho, with maybe a couple of blankets to keep them warm , the wind and rain picking up again as it had a hundred times that day, some random stranger had pulled up to them, offered them some leftovers, and then drove off.
And they were happy about it.

With another 10 minutes or so left on my way home, I thought about that.
I thought about all of the times I had taken my leftovers home fully intending on finishing them later, but never got to them and then they got thrown away. I thought about the money I spend everyday on lunches and how I take for granted that I can just hop in my car and go wherever my stomach takes me.
I thought about those two women and how a simple half of a pizza, not even their pizza, was quite possibly their only meal that day, and how they looked as I drove away.

Now, let me tell you something. I am not a "save the world" enthusiast. I buy Tom's shoes because I love them and I figure it's an added bonus that for every pair you buy, they give a pair of shoes to a child in Africa or somewhere. As long as they keep making them, I'm going to keep buying them and as long as they give to the children, the less I feel bad about it.

But for real, it's a good cause
http://www.toms.com

I will say that I do take it upon myself to recycle whenever I can but it's definitely not all of the time. I believe in keeping the earth beautiful and it does drive me crazy when someone has those big exhaust pipes on their truck which they are obviously overcompensating with.

I am however a "save the people" kind of person. Having served a mission, I realize the importance of salvation and the need for spirituality in your life. I've seen people light up when you tell them that there are bigger and better things in this life and in the life to come. I've felt the Spirit testify that God lives and He loves us. I wish I could say that that knowledge dictates my feelings towards others but I'm not perfect in that area and some people just drive me insane.

I understand the responsibility we all have to take care of each other whether it's donating clothes or just listening to someone when they are having a rough time.
I understand that we aren't all blessed with the comforts and luxuries that life has to offer. Some of us have fallen on hard times, whether temporal or spiritual, and we may feel like we'll never get out of the hole we have dug ourselves into.
We are all here for the same purpose. To learn and to grow.
Whatever path we are on, whatever choices we have made, we are where we are for a reason.
I truly believe people are put in our lives to help us.

Sometimes they are there to help us realize that there are much crazier people than we thought, and so those who we thought were craziest aren't so bad.
Sometimes they are there to help us realize how we should or shouldn't be treated and how valuable we really are.
Sometimes they are there to help teach us patience, both with them and with ourselves.
Sometimes they are there to make us remember that the things we take for granted, other people are forced to sit on street corners with a homemade sign asking for the very thing we have sitting in the backseat of our car that may never get eaten.

I will never see those two women again. I hope with all of my heart that they are doing well. I hope that they have a warm place to sleep and a roof over their heads. I hope that they understand that that pizza was something I wanted but they needed more than I did...and I very happily gave it to them Not because I'm a saint, but because I realize that maybe I was put in their lives to help them remember that there is something out there that wants them to know that they aren't forgotten.
Don't we all need that sometimes?

Through all of this, I hope that I remember how good it felt to give. To put myself in situations where I can be a vessel for good. To forget about the things I want and realize that when I feel like nothing is going right, I have zero reason to complain.
To keep a smile on my face because I know that I'm being watched over and that I may not always have the "things" that I need, but I will always have a way to find something even better.
 
 


Sunday, April 13, 2014

"Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life." -Albert Einstein

So tonight I sent my sister a picture that I had taken of myself earlier today that was not flattering...to say the least. I pride myself on being somewhat photogenic but not this one. It was pretty bad.

Well, this started a pretty hilarious chain of picture messages that was a glorious collection of some of the nastiest faces we could pull.
(we are really pretty. Luckily my mom and Ivy got to save themselves the embarrassment of having their nasty face blogged about)

If you were to ask me what kind of family I had, my reply would be that I have the best family anyone could ever ask for.
When we get together we laugh. We cry. We fight. We tease. And well, we mostly laugh.
There are no "hidden under the rugs" or "skeletons in the closets".
We are straight up, in your face, what you see is what you get kind of people.
And I love everything about all of them.

I have always been taught that you put your family first. We have always supported each other in every dance competition, basketball or football game, wrestling match, mission, marriage, child birth, heartache, achievement, screw-up, and anything else you can think of.
At times some of us have fallen off the path and there has never been any doubt that we wouldn't support each other through it with a firm but loving "get your crap together or we'll kill you" kind of nudge.
I truly would not be here without that support.

I know that family is central to God's plan for us. We were not meant to be alone in this life or the life to come. We are meant to be surrounded by people we love and who love us back. And that could be any type of "family" we choose it to be.
Not all of us will be blessed to have children or spouses of our own. Some of us haven't been blessed with them yet. I'm one of them. And like I've said before...that's ok!!
I have never and will never say that I'm alone. I know that I was sent here to the greatest family anyone could ask for as have so many other people.
I have many friends that don't have the best family or home life. They fill certain voids with wordly or temporal things. They are grasping for anything that will let them know that they are loved.
All I can do for them is let them know that I know that they are loved and that I think that they are great. It is not my place to make them feel judged or ostracized just because their life or their choices are different than mine. And sometimes that's all we can do. Sometimes all we can do is let people know they are great. That they are loved. That they can find happiness.
My sister sent this to me a while back:


                                                         Well Meg, I think you're great.

In this current journey of self discovery, I've decided that I'm going to focus on the things that make me happy. The things that make me grateful.
Today, it's my family.
Earlier today I listened as my little brother stood and told a congregation his testimony of the Savior. It blew me away. To hear such a strong, simple testimony come from a 20 something kid was just awesome.
I spent most of the day hanging out with my other brother, his wife and baby, and my parents. We video chatted with my sister and nephew in UT and my nephew had to tell me about all the random things a 3 year old tells people.
For the most part it was a lazy day. But it was an amazing day. It was a day I spent with my family.

Am I going to say we are perfect? No. We have had our knock down drag out fights. But, those usually end with someone releasing some bodily gas...to put it nicely, and someone laughs and we end the fight with hugs and kisses all around.
I have always known that no matter what is going on, you have to let the bad things go. You have to enjoy what you're doing and if you don't, find something that you do enjoy...or just suck it up and make it enjoyable.
I could go on and on about the life lessons and the fact that my family is amazing but I'll stop it there.
Here are the things that I will say:
You're never alone.
You have a family, whether by blood or by choice.
Whoever your family is or whoever you've chosen them to be, love them. Unconditionally.

I'm so happy that I have these crazy people I call a family and whom I love more than life.
I'm so grateful to know that my family is eternal and that my Heavenly Father's plan for me is to be with them forever.
No matter where I am in life, I have them.
And if that's all I ever have, that's all I'll ever need.