Comas, Missions, and Falling in Love

Remember that part in While You Were Sleeping where Peter comes out of the coma and is being wheeled to the elevator while eating his first post-accident ice cream? He takes a look around and says, "Everything looks better, feels better...even this chocolate peanut butter tastes better!" ("Good, it's fudge mint.")

People have always told me (even long before I decided to go on a mission) just how traumatizing it is to come home. And yet, for some reason, from the time I got home until now all I can think of is how much I feel like Peter, really seeing life for the first time.

And so it is, that I have fallen madly in love--in love with life. In love with all the things that I missed before. With the things I never had time for, or more acurately stated, the things I never made time for.

Matthew 10:39 says, "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." I spent my whole life fairly sure I knew what that meant. It made sense. I'd heard lots of stories about it. And yet, for the first time, I think I really get it.

I don't think it's possible to "lose" your life any more than a mission. I have never given myself so fully to anything before. I remember one particularly difficult day in Chile, rushing through a park on a Sunday evening and seeing two people sitting on a park bench, just enjoying the setting sun. The only thing I wanted in that moment was to take ten minutes--ten!--to relax, to enjoy the weather, to do nothing more than sit on a park bench. I contemplated it for a few seconds and, knowing my time was not my own, plowed ahead. And yet, that moment stayed with me. I thought over and over again, "Why didn't I ever take time to enjoy the small things when I had the chance?!" I couldn't even think of the last time before my mission that I'd gone out just to watch the sun set.

And so, this spring and summer I have found my life. Found a million new things to love and to be grateful for. I started a list one day and came up with almost a hundred things. Here are a few I've fallen in love with lately....

1. Family!!! Okay, so you always love your family. But I have fallen in love all over again! I can call them whenever I want (and believe me, I do.....). How great is it to be able to drive home for birthdays or Mother's Day or go camping and take your dog?! Or to go shopping or play lasso golf or make homemade ice cream two days in a row or just sit around and talk!

2. Being there. Yep. Getting the chance to hear your sister's senior recital. Or do her hair for prom. Or have dinner and watch American Idol with your brother and his amazing wife every week. Or go watch your cousin perform at halftime during a Springville 9th grade football game. Or be able to help someone pack up to move. Or getting to call your friends on their birthdays and hear their voices. How about going to lunch with people you haven't seen in forever? Or stuffing five people in a car and driving to Vegas because your roommate is getting married. Or seeing your friend's baby the week it's born. Or being able to say yes when someone asks you to babysit their bulldog (even if you do get locked outside one day in your swimming suit....)

3. Friends. Old ones, new ones, work ones, apartment ones, mission ones, school ones. The kind that send you stupid text messages or throw you a chocolate waffle plaid birthday party or make you chocolate chip pancakes on your birthday or let you live in their apartment when you're homeless or listen to your dumb stories for the millionth time or tow your car with five minutes notice or stay up and help you with your cleaning checks 'til 2:00 am or do your hair for a date or make you dinner or go out with you to get frosties late at night. Here I am with my FHE group after an unbelievable Olympic win (yes, yes I did eat a whole watermelon and do the three legged race).

4. Music and Books. As if it's not good enough that someone dug out "Love is a Battlefield," from the 80s to make our FHE music video (complete with dance moves), Jordin Sparks reminded us once again. What's better than driving around in the car belting out, "Why does love always feel like a battlefield?!" Not to mention all the other great sing-alongs. To make things even better, add in one roadtrip where I found my CDs from junior high and sang all the way from Utah to Idaho at the top of my lungs and couldn't hear for the next day. Other happy things? Finally starting the Harry Potter series. (Seriously, I was up 'til 5 am one morning?!) Reading some unbelievable talks. Cracking open the old Les Miserables music and playing the piano. Taking a beginning guitar class and learning classics like "Puff the Magic Dragon," and "Fishing in the Dark." Finally getting a library card to the Provo library and discovering the couches with the really big pillows.

5. Fun. All I can say is why didn't I do more of this stuff before? Finally floating the Provo river. Having a "Staycation" sleepover party. Getting slurpies at midnight. Country dancing. Any kind of dancing. Dressing up. Going to a restaurant and ordering every single dessert. Getting an apartment I love. Getting a job I LOVE. Having a BBQ and watching Singing in the Rain on a giant "screen" (sheet...) in the park, having a chocolate waffle/art/plaid party, having a Cinco de Mayo party. Watching the fireworks. Going to the pool whenever I want. Going longboarding. Having temples all over and being able to go all the time. Making tie-dyed shirts. Making beef and broccoli for the first time. Going on 7-11 slurpie runs. Going to watch Enchanted in the SWKT quad. Sitting in a truck stop at one in the morning eating bacon and chocolate cake. Doing less homework and still having it be good enough.

You know what? Peter's right. Who cares what flavor of ice cream it is?! Fudge mint, chocolate peanut butter....after waking up and finally finding life, everything looks better, feels better, and yes, even tastes better.