hooray hooray!

About a month ago, I gave a sacrament meeting talk and mentioned that I play the flute...it came back to bite me in the rear...well, sort of. And in a pretty good way. Two weeks later I played in sacrament meeting with an old friend Jenna Cason (we played "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief". The same arrangement that we played at a youth conference our tiny Shreveport Louisiana stake hosted for us in Nauvoo, IL). It was a really moving experience to be able to play with her again. When Jenna and I would get together when we lived in LA, we would often sit around my parent's piano and play arrangements and that was how we had our fun. Jenna and I have not been so close lately as our schedules and lives have interfered too often...so it was good to play again with her and relive that experience. I texted her later "I feel like we're still attached at the hip musically.." Then in sacrament after we played the arrangement we noticed people's eyes were watery. We still got it if we can make people cry : )
With my job at Rise, I work with variously challenged special needs people ages ranging from the smallest toddler to the elderly. Recently I was paired with a mute woman in her 50's. Before I went to meet her and her mother who still cares for her, my boss told me they were both the sweetest people I'd ever meet. The description didn't disappoint. As I came in the door, the most loving, welcoming feeling came over me. It almost brought me to tears and I hadn't even spoken to either of them yet. The mother, Elsie, was leaning on her kitchen counter with her walker near by and her daughter Carol sitting at the table, face downcast. I later learned she doesn't like to look people in the eye. The conversation that proceeded was not utterly special, just normal details. Then Elsie started to tear up. She was so grateful that Rise had not just given up on Carol and that I was there to work with her. That they couldn't have picked a better person. She then told me to grab a handful of chocolates on the way out and to leave-we were going to be late to Carol's Special Mutual. This was about a month ago and I've since had the privilege of working with Carol many more times during the week. It's meeting people like Elsie and Carol that make life worth it for me. Elsie's stubborn determination to take care of her daughter and her sweetness and instant grandma-esque attitude make me want to try harder to be a better person. I already love them both so much and there's so much more that has impressed me about them that I couldn't begin to account for here. Just know there are people out there that will love unconditionally without even really getting to know you. Christ-like love are the words.
The title to this blog post was just my happiness for being able to write about these things I guess. haha. Just the words that I first thought of. Much love to all.