Friday, December 13, 2013

A quick turn of time.

I am hoping that I will be granted a time turner this Christmas, the long, spindly chain to wrap around my hand in its eternal rounds of loops and gold, the spinning sand piece and the constellations etched all about it. Not only is it an excellent dabbling of jewelry to enjoy it also serves as a doorstep into the past. I would love to re-walk the hot tar of Hillsdale again in blissful delight that is involved with you, my dear best friend, Libby Daniel. It seems yesterday, we all say that, but in all pure honesty it does. It feels like I just stepped out of that gold rimmed afternoon where we took photos against the dying Fall light. Do you remember that, Lib? We were practically drinking in the last rays of sunshine that evening. We just could not let it go and I think we were granted a little bit of a miracle that evening, I think the sunset took longer than it usually would. I think it hesitated near the horizon, at the rim of dusk, gazing down at these two girls and a sister and her friend who could not stop relishing in all of its glory. Its been a few years now, since I first met you in a small Sunday school classroom, immediately jumping onto the opportunity to have a new friend, a dissociated member to the cast of faces already on Hillsdale. I couldn't conceal my awe, I was in awe, it was this being of orange and sass that I could not look away from. None of us could. You wandered into our open arms. We have always seen the gold in you.
Dear Libby,
Hey girl. It's your birthday, uh-huh, it is. Nineteen. It feels a little older now that you are here actually. I feel as if I access bits and pieces more to my own age as everyone else reaches it. As if we are filling up a canteen, you are familiar with these as I well know, an aging canteen that is not empty but nowhere close to as full as it should be. Can you believe that we are nineteen? We, its always been a we too. Abercrombie and Liberatchi. Are we ready to keep on moving up? Of course, of course we are. Perhaps. But the beauty is that no matter what state we currently find ourselves in, its happening. It is an unexpected slide that we get to fall upon and then find our course, get our seating and figure out along the way. So here we go, fitting our wee bums (no matter what we tell ourselves) into this seat that we have found, yours is probably a pillow with embroidery and I am hoping mine was knitted for me. This will be fun, no? Yes, this is fun. I love you, soul friend. I love you so. Soulfully. See you so so so so soon. It's only a leap and skip away from each other now. Hawppiest Birrdayiest Day. I love you, again, I love you.
Love, Abs (you were first)

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Muneribus

Kindness, a gift greater than any other. I have officially met kindness, he is not very tall, has hair whiter than my sweet Gma's, scrunches his nose frequently and laughs very, very often.

I have seen and met many people since arriving in this state of rainbows, monsoons, and aloha. It is exactly what it was promised it would be. And there is one who fully emulates the beauty of the Aloha spirit, but how did he come to be that way? How does any person reach the situation where we give freely and ask for nothing in return? It cannot simply be where we were raised, though soft Hawaiian days may have assisted in molding this boy, or those who raised us. Perhaps it is an innate gift endowed to us to bear each and every day. Like anything it must be that choice you make every morning when you arise and settle your feet upon the earth beneath you and choose kindness, we have to choose those type of things each morning with the sneaking rays of sun that slip through the cracks in the walls and through the slats of our windows.

Now since having shaken the very hand of kindness I have begun to feel a little change within me, a small urge to do things for others more often than I have before. One of the things I want the most is to make others happy, it cannot be too hard now can it? There is always the Cosmo approach to it, hit your head on something, throw out a few jokes, do a jig, and appreciate some old Charlie Chaplin techniques. Also the Mother Teresa approach: "We can do no great things: only small things with great love." I'm a firm believer of this one, my very favorite shirt that I have acquired over the years actually sports the Mother herself and that quote and this is, indeed, my own interpretation of that. Small kindnesses: a hug at the right time, listening intently and devotedly, a lovingly written note, a fist bump, holding a door open, all the small things that remain in our memories so fondly. Those things. And just loving is also enough, when you give that to others you would be surprised at how they grow. We all know what it feels like to be loved, loved in just the right way. And love changes for each person, there is, as F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, "There are all kinds of love in this world but never the same love twice." Love is a kindness that anyone can share, and everyone can accept. We love as easily as we breathe but do not always share it as fluently. So what if we expressed that love as frequently and easily as we breathed? Just a thought. I may exercise it, an outpouring of love for those about me not held in but spread about to all that want a cuppa. So if you receive a letter or another form of communication from me soon know that your ears will be filled with love. And then last of all, the Piccadilly approach. Just kill 'em with kindness, be yourself, be authentic and those around you will respond to that in a positive fashion and fill in the space you have left for them to be them. Beautifully or Dastardly. Either way they are they. And that is a kindness in of itself.

So I want to thank kindness and kill 'em with small things and laughter. And maybe do some real school work. That'll do, that'll do.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Placing Happy

I feel inclined to place ten pieces of happiness out for inspection and to be followed with a few hallelujah's.

1. Today was one of those sublime mornings where all my good intentions to complete school work wafted away with each singing breeze and instead I sat cross-legged on my floor, lost in a laughing contest and conversation with an old friend over the telephone.

2. Whilst holding a class discussion in History today I got to discover my new classmates views of history and I was the one to prompt it out from them. I got a few funny looks but one girl gave me a reassuring foot pat and a "good job" and that was all I needed frankly. And Daniel went before me and covered the entire chapter, that cleared up a lot of stress. Anthropology majors are good people.

3. John, Paul, George & Ringo. They feature more in the daily than one would expect. I'll always love that Gringo Ringo.

4. Acknowledging how beautiful pregnant women are.

5. I was informed that there are 59 days until Friday the 13th. I get to return to my Valley on that day, and though that's not a piece of paradise like Hawaii there is no denying the adoration one has for home. Nothing fits quite the same as the place where your feet trod with such surety. Home is where I am with you? Utah, you have become a home.

6. Savages. Woman. Finding those whom you can raise your voice considerably with are a real gift actually.

7. The mountains that lace upwards behind campus. I cannot stop expecting to see a giant rear back it's excellent head with craggy eyebrows and tiny eyes from those hills. They are a fairy tale. It's everytime I begin to look at them my mind rushes to Spiderwick, Narnia, Atlantis and Land before Time all at once, there is to much childlike imagination running through the trees up there. It's just as grand when you enter in as well, give or take a few mosquitoes of course!

8. That cubism exists, that grizzly bears do not live out in Hawaii, that you can reserve silence and deserve it as well, that scripture power never ceases giving and that that imagination plays such a key role in the past. Say goodnight to the dwarfs of dreams.

9. I came into my dorm this morning after rushing out into the morning to Intercultural Communications with Pajama's strewn about my room, my room was unruly. And when I returned it had all been set into place again, what a sweet mercy, I felt tears prick in my eyes because I needed a little push and help and I didn't even know it. Still smiling to myself.

10. Music, and the fact that The Head and the Heart now have a new album out. Shake. Be still my soul, I have listened to it over and over. And I found Ben Howard, take a gander and listen to Keep Your Head UP. I'll keep this kid close.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

urge

I have a whole garden full of urges to be able to write something stirring. Oh man, words must be the most ridiculous medium that there is. They, simply put, will not listen. Not matter how you push or prod, demand and require, they will not just yield to you something akin to Donne or Hemingway. I'll forgive them on a later date and for now just thank the heavens for language. I'll walk their paths, the paths of words. See where they connect and intermingle with one another. After all I was searching for was me.

I.

I kept asking myself why I needed to stand so rigidly. Why were my ankles keeping each other company and why were my heels fit so firmly to the floor.
Unresisting I felt all of it enter. The universe rang about in the echoes of the shower space. Calling to corners and to the passerby's. Asking the whole entire time the same question, be change? I needed to change. The breath of angels need to change. And so do I.

Because who sees who you truly are? You could ask the members of late night bathroom trips, or friends that belong only in your well-lit kitchen. You could look to past love's, future love's, even those who you can only pretend you got to love. (They always seem to be the most heart-felt ones about it all) You could peer into the carpet bag of magic tricks of your grandfathers, or shake out the dust in your aunt's music books. Scamper about searching for linen skirt of your mom's because it knew her so well, so perhaps it could accommodate you similarly? Continue looking, ask all of your acquaintances and keep checking with your friends. Who sees who you truly are? Can you even see you? There are layers of old coats and marbles on a few, some are dressed up in rag-time tunes. There are a few who can truly see you, who you truly show you. Family is a funny place to start. Greeting with plum hands and heavy scarves. But the path torn with the hopeful awaits hope. Peace peeks behind curtains. Keep a sharp eye out for the words you most need to circle over and over until they remain stalwart and alone on the page. Keep a kind eye out for those souls who beat like yours. Keep a hand out for the breath of angels. Swim in the ocean with the salt and heat all in your head and beneath your feet keep corals colleagues dart and spin away.
 
I stood even straighter, an Alice potion effect took place, I think I grew. My spine pulled towards the ceiling and I could feel the dust settle on the slick floor. And then I stilled, everything stilled, and a lightness expanded in my head. The same when alone in the ocean for the first time. I breathed a fresh new breath and shook off my old bones and stepped into my cadmium towel.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Orangication


I know now there are some who are made to smile, they cannot stop! No matter how hard they try, the smile cannot be wiped off with an eraser, napkins, sticks, stones, little rocks, serious words, or even those sad stories you hear on the radio. They try, geniuinely, and sadness is never a stranger but for some unexplainable reason, a smile cannot help but perk up the corners of their mouth, even their eyes cannot resist twinkling doggishly out at the world. No, it just doesn't happen. Sweet smilers.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Extraordinary Post Conditions

 
Who needs to beard yourself when you have the sea? There's sand and a breeze, I cannot fathom that the "sea could possibly just be a wetter version of the sky" (Regina Spektor line), a rhythm deep in the cavernous caves created by crabs, children are adorned only in sand, the sun becomes your very best friend (until he scornfully burns you when he gets jealous). But until that moment and even then still, all of it is sublime.
Just fine.
Take heart and look about I know that there is not one way possible that Hawaii could have risen out of the depths to be this majestic beauty, the queen of the ocean.
If not for our loving Heavenly Father, he knew what this land can do to a heart, to the skin, to the soul, to anybody from anywhere.
 
Pineapple and folding chairs.
Cheeky kids letting you know all about it.
"This is the place"

Monday, September 9, 2013

Fawnd Farewells

Second post in one night stretch, usually unheard of from me but I have one more offering for my blog.
 
I start the collegic days tomorrow. More than I have up to this point.
 
I feel at war with myself as both fawn and school boy choose their paths within me.
 
What thoughts is the fawn having? She does not want to be left behind but has always been shy in the beginning of beginnings. Knees as fragile as tender shoots buckle under the idea. Large eyes bat at the mere mention of classrooms. Rib cage rockets with a heart destined for the whole nine yards.
 
What thoughts are on the rushing boy's mind? He seems as proud as brass to be out and going forth ready for all the new knowledge that will teach him how to conquer each constellation and every kilometer. Swaggering with strained jeans and bruised calves. As ready for anything as he ever will be. He checks two houses down to ensure his friends are following and making way to the same path. Cheeky monkey as he is, he's going to be more than fine!
 
But what if a few variables changed. The friends did not arrive, or friends had not been acquired yet. How would he be feeling? His swagger would trip with anxiety but smiling like he meant it he would continue and carry on. Because all the bravest do. Just as the fawn would too, as soon as her bus pulled in as well. Change is inevitable and not only that but good.
 
I get to trip off to bed now, and then to class next. Wish me a fond one, love! 

A Great Pear

The strange, lovely mystery of life is our ideas of what is ideal.

Sometimes holding onto our ideal is crippling and others it gives our souls flight. But the true beauty of the idealic (no not a real word but see what it can become for you) is that it is dressed in dreams and hopes like a beautiful garment meant for only you, a perfect fit, in fact! In the end real life is messy but our ideal is always somehow upheld and respected. What we think is what occurs! Marvelous, yea, yea it is. Thought provides such unbelievable power and weight for the present. You get to be exactly what you think. As Roaldy Dahl said, "If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunshine and you will always look lovely." And it's more than just looking lovely but the sunshine within you from the thoughts which keep you warm at night. I am not always prone to the thoughts that I call dripping drops of unbearable sunshine. No sir. But I know exactly where to find them if I do need to go looking, and prayer is one place to run to, my odd day dreams, ridiculous memories, and admiring those around me. People are always incredible, surprising, spontaneous, merciful, lovely, and we all have a streak of something rough and untamed within us. We sometimes find ourselves to be superior but I will let you know that its not true. No one is better than you. I know I'm not. Surprise! Just kidding we all knew that. No, we are all lucky enough to be equal so why not offer that gift to those around us, equality. Let's not forget what a full job being human is, just being you is. Being that awesome is hard! Ask Obama if you want, he'll tell you all about it. Or Will Smith, Leo the Di, Miss Watson, Emma, etc. We are who we are.

I kept hearing this in prayers today, a plea to our Father in Heaven, supplicating for our hopes and dreams that we can live by those and gain them. I have never ever heard that uttered aloud in a prayer before but we all have them. Sometimes, we ignore them. Say, little guy I don't know what you are doing poking your nose around here but you are crazy and I cannot take you in with all my other sensible things I already possess. Or you are not real. Ha, it is. We each have a job on this earth and I think one of the ways Heavenly Father helps us realize it is planting in each of us a dream. They are shy creatures dreams, easily frightened and we need to follow them mercilessly. I have a dream said Martin Luther King Jr. and he was right, he did. And we do too! And Heavenly Father is more than willing to help us hobble after that dream, toddle after that flashing lightning bug to hold for ourselves, peeking in at and not even quite believing that it could be real.

Here is my dream
Seldom leaving my haven of home
a small house for the two and more
open doors and breezes that should be bottled up
peeling pears for pear pie (is it any good? in my dreams it is)
venturing from the homestead to the big, lovely planet
service, endless service
a peace corp existence simply
add in some marine life just for good measure, please
a few wild hearted ninnies to call my own
scruff and guitar
honest tea until we can drink no more
an immaculate word or two to share
books upon books upon books with books on those
ART, yep, ART
words as easy to share as a smile
love jam
and laughter as quick as a flash flood in Utah but not as rare
being apart of the church always
taking breaks to give life to living
pack ratting, its who I am
road trips
hawaiian spirits
give me those who know happiness just as well as they know their own, sweet voices
 
Not to much to ask is it?
I know it will all get taken care of. In it's own time.
"This is a prayer of contentment." C.S.
 

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Always Gold to Me

There are more things that should be considered precious than actually are. And I am not just simply talking Gollum in a cave holding his precious to him, humming to himself and reminiscing about that nice raw fish he had for lunch. Though that is precious! I have a certain soft spot for the little guy. But a different precious entirely. The sort of precious that causes you to stop what you are doing to glance fondly at the wooden congreve Cube that someone labored to make for you, and it's not just the Cube (though it possesses all sorts of magical qualities and a potential to do unbelievably great things) but it's the hands which crafted it, that cut themselves once or twice in the making and that proudly presented me with my Cube.

That is what is precious.

Can you believe that we forget that? That in our hackled times we look at those most precious to us as something to irk us. That get's under our skin.

But in other moments, when we are relaxed and happy as fat housecats on a potted plant we truly see all of our dear precious beings around us. Sometimes you have to leave for some time. Others take a walk. Or even sometimes if you are especially wide-eyed you can look up and see them there, standing before you with all that they are worth wreathing them in the light of a slightly perfect and even more strange being deserves! That's what happens to the luckiest of us. We actually see our friends, family, our strangers and our future for all that they are worth: precious people. As Winnie the Pooh once said, "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." Because we are surrounded by the most precious things there can be and that's just the people that we love. And who is begrudging enough to truly withhold our love from any one? Every last Gollum, every Dumbledore, each and every Steve. They could do with the opportunity to be precious. And that's what I want to do more of. Make my preciouses feel precious and know that they are precious. As precious as any gem, any seven wonder, any star. And even more so. Because they have always been gold to me. And hopefully that will do them good. For that's what they have each done for me. So thank you precious, thank you.

Even these two, they have been vital and precious and always will remain so. 
Thank you world. Stay safe. 
Sincerely, Abigail 

Monday, August 19, 2013

How am I getting home?

This is it, I am in Dublin, safely in the Abigail's (yes, that's exactly how it worked out) Hostel. Thanks Ab, your a keeper I am sure of it! And through the kind graces of Fealuanauu, yes that was her real name, who Theresa and I met on the ferry, we sat in a nice companionable silence and then began chatting and Theresa and the Welshie simply clicked! Stories and thoughts on horses, riding and country music. Yes, they like country music out here! But the Welshie's sweet Irish Dad came and gave us a ride out to Abigail's or else we would have doomed to a fate of walking here. Just like those emaciated statues lining the pavement from the Irish famine. Half dead on our feet! How does travel wipe you out so? It has a knack for me! But now is that moment where you are looking about you and all those moments you were looking forward to and could barely see ahead of you before are tripping along happily by your side, new friends and companions to keep your soul a little brighter when those travelless days come! As Debra said,
You won't ever forget this will you? 

Never, not as long as I live will Wales leave my heart! And as Theresa has been very consistently reminding me, we are coming back. Yea, we are! It's inevitable, I fell in love with everything wet, wild and green out there and quite a few dry things as well! Oh if you could only just begin to imagine their library! Holy Crepe! It's a good one to say the least. Ah, Wales you will now remain one of those countries encircled with faint, golden haze reserved for all things fantastic, reverently special and gut-bustingly funny. This is for you Wales!



            CHEERS!









Saturday, July 27, 2013

Feeling 19, at last.

This is weird for me. Normally I am not stoked to age but this time around, on July 22, I was ready to be a whole year older. Nearer to twenty than I have ever been before. I am not excited for the year of twenty but being nineteen just feels right, I suppose. Something I am meant to be. And now I am! To add to the joys of being a nearly adult child is that the royal of royals was born on my birthday! Oh George Alexander Lewis, what a cutie. And rumor has it that Prince Harry himself has happily cuddled him, must be a keeper.



















Saturday, July 13, 2013

Janie & the Stonehedge

My overwhelming excitement about being in Winchester Cathedral in crazy close quarters with the resting Jane Austen in the ground was, frankly, overwhelming. Me and Lydia erupted out of the Cathedral, skipping, laughing, grabbing and climbing about. Every photo taken afterwards was filled with us grinning ridiculously and grasping onto each other in pure unadulterated glee. Oh Jane. We skipped, jumped and danced back to where our study abroad group was waiting for us and just jabbered about Jane! JAne! JANE! We even wrote a song about her that had a gothic, religious ceremony affect to it. I licked her dying home. Oh sweet Jane. Did you know her brother revealed her identity after she had died as the writer of the greatest roman novels?

Then our day felt as if it stood in that small, circular break in the stormy, dark clouds, the sunshine spot. The ring of sun. Sunny ring. Sunny-D, Baby. But if you are wondering what all the hype is about. It's stonehenge! A place for druids and wizards alike to gather and chant on the two solstices', but we along with all those crazy magicians (but not when we were there) were allowed to walk among the rock giants. Stonehenge. It was more than lovely.

WE HAD
Indian Chanting
Polish Dancing
Sacrifice
Jumping lessons and strained neck-tendons
More sacrifice
 Awed Sighs
I think one couple kissed....
A rock was licked (on the sly)
And the sun was raised to the sky in its setting
Best. Day. Yesterday. Hmmmm.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Plural Sister

Jenny. What a simulataneous breath of fresh air and then tornado that will rip your little cottage on the plains apart. It is her funny, sometimes overwhelming self that causes so many to just fall in love with her. I know that I am the luckiest to have that wild child as my sister. And I know that if Harry Styles ever got down on one knee for her he would be the most fortunate young man, undoubtedly. So here are ten things I know about Jenny that you may not.


1. She has no qualms with being without pants when others are over.
2. No conversation is safe from her popping into it with something funny, perhaps mean, to say but always funny in the end.
3. She loves jokes, we bought male boxers with our cousins just the other day and the way that girl was dropping jokes left and right and laughing so hard was something to behold.
4. She wants to, with all her little obsessive heart, marry Harry Styles (she may not like the way I phrased that) but she is the type of girl who when she has a dream, a goal, an ambition, she obsesses over it. She can talk nothing else for weeks, which explains how and why we own a hedgehog.
5. Speech impediment that all children suffer with was even cuter on her. "Ricorish. Rolla. Puppesh."
6. She has minor kleptomania when it comes to others clothing that she takes a fancy to, mine definately included. (so puzzling out the closet issue when I leave will be interesting, of course).
7. She imagines Zombie Apocalypses. Hmmmm. Did not see that one coming?
8. Wicked Wit. I end up repeating most of what she says because I find it so funny, and I just cannot help myself when I find something to be funny like that, just cannot. Ask the show Friends.
9. She has the most natural tumbling ability of anyone I know! Flashback to a few years ago, she asked me to spot her while she tried to do a backflip on an air mattress set up on the family room floor, and this is not my shining moment as a sister, because she asked me and I set my hands on her back to help her out, keep her sturdy and then when the crucial moment came I stepped back and she did a back flip on her own. Man. Who just does that? There was a little resentment for spotting but it was all worth it.
10. She is my only sister, you knew that I know you did, and I often times forget that and I take the kid for granted. But there are also moments when she just means the world to me and I cannot imagine what I would do without her. And as much as I annoy her and she teases me, I love her as only an only sister can I imagine. I will always want to protect her and funnily enough I know she will always do the same for me. That ferocity that is in her comes out in such strength if someone seems about to mess with someone she loves. Her puppy self comes out I suppose, that inner guard dog! I am going to miss her more than I ever suspected, that goof, but I am happy I can always come home to her, to Leo, to Tommy, to my family.


Friday, May 31, 2013

A Day before the June Series

I am to begin a journey that has been planned for, hoped for, crossed toes for, wished and dreamed for. (Dreamed is just a side note). And it involves the hopefully sunlit days of June. 







All of it, the entire June Series, is to prepare for my great leaving of Provo. To fill everyday with such overwhelming laughter and joy as to tickle my down to my toenails! There are a few main attractions of the June series and they happen to be a good handful of friends, who would capture the heart of any miser whether it be Scrooge or Darth Vader (who is just very, very grumpy). So it all will begin tomorrow but already a few adventures have debuted in these few final days of May weather. Including:



Cutting Easton's hair (yikes)
It happened last night, and it began as a joy but as the hair got shorter and as he got quieter my anxiety began to rise steadily. Oh man, occasionally I would giggle and Rachel would laugh out loud making the whole ordeal much more of an ordeal! But it turned out just fine it seems because he still said goodbye and is still talking to me so not to shabby I would say.












June Series

Monday, May 6, 2013

Honestly Teaing Up for Something Rompingly like Art

I don't post terribly often but I have a few life moments I want to document. As someone great once told me, 

"You regret every picture you do not take." 


Well someone told it to someone who then told it to her which was then laughingly told to me.

So here a few treats of a few people I love dearly and have spent a good amount of time with lately! (Alas the Mexico pictures are lost to a very dead battery or else Rachel would be taking her odd bird debut most certainly.)


Isn't she adorable when she laughs? The cute one supposedly got deleted but I disagree.




#nofilternojoke





The artist himself.
Easton hates pictures of his feet, who knew?


There is just a odd cacophony of moments that grew into a flower that rained down the waters that just wet the earth today. Farewell for now!




Tuesday, April 30, 2013

A bit glum bummed.



This may not be the most heart tickling of blog posts but I need to relieve a little anxiety and blue weather feelings by solemnly, (though hopefully still a little funny), telling them.

*****



Okay I cannot even do it. A down in the dumps blog post is just not necessarily my gift, I suppose! So instead of moping over the fact that I have to, wait, am so thoroughly blessed with the opportunity to go to Wales this summer and then onto Hawaii I am going to remember all the wonderful, and incandescently beautiful things there are about those two places and all the little things I can take with me there!

First off, Wales. Green sunsets, floating hills. Ha, just pulling your leg. There are the most achingly gorgeous hills in Wales though, rolling, smooth, emerald with many, many sheep all atop them. Ah, to be lost in those hills will probably have me singing robustly, "The hills are alive, with the sound of music." and then trilling my heart out with sighs of awe. And traveling into the regions of London and other places that all dreams carry us Americans too.
Alright, I am very, very excited for that part of the journey into the isles of life.

And then the second leg of the journey, I get to come home for about a week and a half before I continue onwards to Hawaii, or Havaii, or BYU (Island edition). I cannot imagine Hawaii let alone living and thriving there. But I am being honest here when I wholeheartedly believe that my Father in Heaven has a plan for me over there, for so many signs have pointed to it and so I will go and leave my sweet little Provo behind. Not forever mind you. No, I will always call Provo home now. It's busy school terms and then tranquil summers, the rushing friends, lingering neighbors, Utah Lake and all its carpy friends, the Library that is ethereal and magical, Canter Street with all its funny idiosyncrasies, PHS, Kiwanis Park that has held so many "wild parties" over the years, the well used Y trail, and of course the creamery. These all come together to create a small eden, a very silly eden, but still its own parched paradise.

So what will I take with me to Hawaii? Well, to Wales I am planning on finding before I go an excellent pair of overalls to top off my wonderful cranberry red rain coat and those two will find their way with me to Hawaii. But more importantly I will carry in my, sure to be overflowing, suitcase: the congreve cube, my mumford inspiration poster (thank you, Taylor), potentially my three goldfish, my collage of all things Abbey and Libby project, my personal mantra collage, that picture of Hannah, Justin and I all on a sledding inner tube cheekily grinning at the camera, my picture of a fedora'd President Gordon B. Hinckley, also my Rachel collage and dream catcher, as well as a heart full of laughter and joy because of every blessed moment that I have lived here on Hillsdale, that I have know Libby, Taylor, Theresa, Hannah, Rachel, for each scraped knee and bruised ankle that gave me such a perspective on how to say "ow", neopets, bryer horses, anything and everything wonderful that has ever occurred to me. So even the other day when Easton took me to romp with the musicians and candles. To tell the truth there are to  many things to count on my list of lovely things! So thank you Provo you always have done me well. I love you.

Lovingly, Abs