The Office Next Door

I only have a few more weeks working at my beloved BYU Evening Classes before I will hand off the job to my beloved Susan. As such is the case I have been thinking a good deal about how fun it has been to work here for 2 years and 2 1/2 months. Sound cheesy? Yeah maybe it is, but I've still been thinking about it lately. Today I've been laughing to myself about all of the things I have heard and observed in the office next door to ours. The BYU Conferences and Workshops employees have a fascinating variety of topics to converse about. I'm pretty much up on each secretary's personal lives, school lives, family lives, and let us not forget love lives. I've heard all of their proposal stories, first dates, study abroad stories, fashion tips, and favorite candies. Now, I'm not stalking anyone or even being creepy. I just sit at my registration desk for 20 hours a week and you cannot help but hear what others say. One of my favorites happened just last week. Secretary #3 was telling secretaries 1 and 2 about this charming young man in her ward. She described his tremendous qualities and how she was in love with him. It was all in a very sweet lovey voice. Then, in a very different, very aggressive voice she suddenly yelled out, "Just ask me out, dang it!" My co-worker and I burst out laughing (and then quickly stifled it). Girls are so funny.
This makes me think about how I observe people. People are just so fun to observe! You can learn a great deal about someone by just listening to them and not being part of the conversation. It gives you a moment to reflect about things and to try and be the better person that you really can be. Sometimes it is a little disheartening or disappointing to hear certain things from people, but a lot of the time it makes me have more faith in individuals, and in their goodness. And that makes me very happy! It helps me re-realize that each of us truly is a child of God, and of great worth. I don't ever want to forget that.

And now, a random picture of Kermit and Robin:

The Last Day of My 19th Year

This is, as you all know, a very solemn occasion. After this day, I will never be 19 again. I'll never think or feel or see or believe as a 19 year-old would. Ever. Okay just kidding, it is kind of exciting. But it is scary, yeah? I mean, tomorrow I will be 20. TWENTY. I'm entering a completely new decade of my life. This has only happened to me twice before. Incidentally, both of those occasions took place on August 6ths... Who knows what might happen tomorrow?
It seems like an appropriate time to make some goals for Bethany-the-20-year-old:
Goal #1: Jump over a fence that is taller than I.
Goal #2: Play a wild-n-wiggy improvised solo on one of the following: guitar, bass guitar, piano, viola, organ (haha). Let's add the triangle to that list as well.
Goal #3: Make a chocolate cake like my Mamanwa does.
Goal #4: Acquire a quilt rack.
Goal #6: Be as cool as Townemouse Jr. :)
Yeah, that should do it. Okey doke, I think I'm ready to be 20. Here we go!

Ten Things I Like:

Now doesn't that sound like the perfect title of a 2nd grader's writers workshop activity? Despite its lack of eye-catching interest, it is clear and concise, and exactly what I intend to include in this post. Yesterday I was sitting in the ASB in my secret study spot, reading Jane Eyre, eating a blueberry bagel, and drinking lemonade. After pondering a little bit about some of Jane's responses to Mr. Rochester's fortune-telling (he was disguised as a traveling gypsy), I started thinking about things I like. Without further introduction, I give you the things that Bethany likes:
NOTE: they are in no particular order and this list is by no means comprehensive, so don't worry about that.

1. Blueberry Bagels. They are the very tastiest of bagels, especially with plain cream cheese. Yum!
2. Empire Waists. Haha, my very favorite waistline and one I have employed on each formal dress I've had occasion to wear.
3. Sounds advice for/from missionaries. Preach My Gospel, wonderful missionary friends...it doesn't get better than that.
4. Elementary School wall decorations. You know, the alphabet above the chalkboard, the cutesy bulletin board, word walls, student art work, READ posters, etc.
5. Hair ribbons, especially solid colors. Nothing too striped, polka-dotted, or trendy.
6. Elder James M. Gardner. There is much to say on the qualities of his that I admire, but you may have to inquire personally :) Don't you love good people? I do.
7. My left hand.
8. Being a heathen with Sadie.
9. Being teased relentlessly by little Emma. It really is as though I were the 10 year-old, not her.
10. Misunderstood villains that turn out to actually have hearts (Snape, Javert, you get the idea).

What do you like?

What?

A Post for Jenny

Bethany is wary of her own blog. I'm wary of people reading it and thinking all sorts of things about me. I've always been unduly concerned with this, but enough of that, more on that later (perhaps). I have had my first request for my blog address. Who is it from? Jenny! So, as not to disappoint Jenny, I will post some sort of new post :). Here we go:

Right now I am reading Jane Eyre. I love this book! I am at the part where Jane has just been admitted as the governess of Thornfield Hall and has only encountered the mysterious Mr. Rochester twice. Right now in my reading they are discussing Mr. Rochester's personality and how his knowledge differs from Jane's. He has traveled over half the globe and is nearly 20 years her senior. She has lived all of her life at her aunt's house for 10 years and then at Lowood School (50 miles away) for the next 8 years. Doing the math, that makes her 18. Mr. Rochester asks Jane if she would agree that, because of his wide knowledge of the world and the time that he has spent in it, he has the right to command and direct her. Jane replies: "I don't think, sir, you have a right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experiences."

Each individual lives in a different situation, each has a variety of experiences. No matter the position in which we have found ourselves or put ourselves, the thing that matters most is what we "have made" of our time and experiences. An individual's character cannot be made out by their age or by the experiences that they have had; rather, one can learn a great deal by studying what that individual has made of what life has given him. I'm convinced we can all be happy. And now, I think I'll keep reading...

A Walk in the Rain

Yesterday the skies were dark and grey, threatening of rain, and there was a pleasant sort of undecided breeze and a touch of misty fog. These, of course, are my very favorite conditions. I decided that I must be part of them and so, with my younger sister in tow, I set out on a walk. I desired a walk in a completely secluded place, maybe a hill with trees, or near a small stream somewhere. But I live in Pleasant Grove, and although it still resembles something of a small town, lovely houseless hills and secluded streams are difficult to come by. I went to the next best thing: the canal!
I headed North on the canal, a direction I had not been in for some time, and was very pleased by what I found. Emma and I walked on the damp earth next to the very full and beautiful canal. At this part of the canal the sides are not made of concrete, but of earth, and a variety of flowers and greenery line the water. It was beautiful to walk amongst it. We noticed a beautiful and large garden in a nearby yard with 6 or 7 chickens poking around in it. We tried our hands (or mouths) at making chicken calls, until Emma became afraid of the big old rooster who was calling back and giving us menacing glances. We walked on, this time next to an orchard and a charming field. The canal turned and winded and as we walked on, occasionally hearing thunder from across the valley, we took it all in. It was beautiful, I cannot say it enough. I actually had to stop, open my arms wide, and embrace the beauty of it. We heard a clap of thunder quite nearby and rain began pouring down on us! I could stand in the rain for a very long time if given half the chance. But, having a 10 year-old in my care, I figured mother would want me to return her in a semi-dry fashion. We began to run back along the way that we had come, laughing as the rain splashed on our arms and faces. We chanced a glance at the menacing rooster, who had now taken shelter under a large cherry tree near the garden. Emma and I reached our yard and ran up the grass, Emma tripping once. I couldn't help but think of that scene from Sense and Sensibility, though luckily no Willoughbys appeared.
It was a beautiful walk. I'm the sort of girl that is crazy about 18th-19th century England...you know the type. My favorite authors (Jane Austen and Beatrix Potter being among them) are all British. Anyway, for so long I have longed to somehow someday visit there and feel what it is like. I've only read, seen movies and pictures, and imagined, but somehow my walk yesterday felt like a taste of somewhere I would love to go someday. That is how life seems to hand me blessings: I am given tastes of the things that I would love to hold and have forever, and someday, if I keep moving forward as I should, they will forever be mine. I mean, right? :)

I have a cough

I have a cough, an odd sort of hacking mid-June cough that is incredibly annoying. As annoying as it is to hardly be able to breath and to feel like someone is taking a cheese grater to the inside of my throat every time I cough (ew...that is disgusting, I can't believe I just wrote that), I do kind of enjoy being sick. Why? Because it reminds me that I am oh-so-very-human and this reminds me to be humble, which I very much desire to be. Other perks: it is an excellent reason to rationalize buying a fresh strawberry shake from Taco Amigo. Such a reason is definitely needed because I can't fork over $4.40 just like that, you know? Mmmmh, fresh strawberry shakes. I'm grateful for Strawberry days. Luckily my cough is not hindering my sleep very much, though it does require additional bedtime preparations such as placing a glass of water on my nightstand, turning on the humidifier, closing the window (mum's orders), and rubbing vaporub goop on myself. Last night I put it on my feet because apparently that is supposed to help. I couldn't really figure out exactly how it was supposed to help, but I figured I'd give it a shot. Melanie watched me and probably thought that I was crazy, but that is what sisters are for. I suppose that is all that I have to say about my cough. Haha, this is a ridiculous post.