Home is Where the Heart Is

...so where does that make it? My first year at BYU was no contest the hardest of my life. But it was also the most rewarding, the most happy, the most fulfilling, and the most growth-inspiring of my life, no contest. I was so homesick at Thanksgiving I didn't even know what to do with myself. But sliding into Christmas break I was starting to establish myself, and by the end of second semester I was the happiest I can remember being in...well, forever. Now I'm home. But am I really?

Everyone has been asking me how my first year at BYU was. What can I tell them to sum it up in just a few words? Amazing? Incredible? The greatest year of my life? While that is all fine to say and definitely true, it doesn't exactly communicate the reason behind any of it--pretty comparable to saying "good" when someone asks how you are doing. Even if you are legitimately doing "good" (which technically should be 'well' to be grammatically correct, not that any of us are or care) that statement is immediately dismissed as the socially acceptable response, whether you actually are "good" or not. In other fancy words, it doesn't cut it.

On the brighter side, it is wonderful to be back in North Carolina. I had forgotten exactly how beautiful and alive it is here. I was starting to think I was exaggerating in my mind when I remembered exactly how green and alive summers here are, but I think that every year without going through a bleak Provo winter. I've caught myself getting distracted by all the trees mid-conversation when in the car. I just can't get enough of them. This is my house right now (forgive that I took this picture with my phone):

And how wonderful is that? From this distance you can't even see all the weeds hidden behind the bushes and the fact that our lawn needs to be mowed! (Granted, it always needs to be mowed this time of year. You could mow it and five minutes later it would be out of control again) I tried to take a picture from the other side, (I like it better--it looks greener) but my phone said the memory was full. The picture doesn't capture it, but if you stand under that maple tree in the front and look up, during the early afternoon the sun shines straight through the leaves and they layer to make the most beautiful canopy of living green. It's one of my favorite things. This, I've missed. This makes me happy. But my friends make me happy and they're all in Utah =P. Well, they were in Utah. They're all over now. But I miss BYU. I guess you just have to live in the moment sometimes. But thank goodness for facebook!