It Seems Summer Passes In 24 Hours

It's late. I should be in bed, but I sat down on the computer for a few minutes and now I've wasted 15 minutes going through emails and blogs. I feel tired. Tonight I felt tired in a way where I'm not as perky. Not the usual-feeling 'me'.  Tired in a "I wish I had more time in a day" to get more things done. Since Spring has started, I haven't exactly been getting to bed before midnight. Thanks to the boyfriend. Definitely not his fault though! Speaking of him, I'm so happy to be dating Matt! What a great kid. Even though I do wish I had more time to spend with him, I think I just want more time in general to enjoy this time of the year (a.k.a. to be out of school and to be able to do other things other than school work).  This first month of spring has just flown by! And I know I've done a lot--but when I'm tired--I never feel like it's enough. No, it's that sometimes I feel like I could've/should've given more. The strivings within to be a better me. That I need to give life a little more of who I am. Put my mark on it. Maybe this is because I'm beginning to feel the homesickness for what I haven't even left yet. In short, I see the end of the tunnel and I'm afraid I won't be able to give it all I want too. Here's my quick summer at a glance; I have one awesome weekend planned at Matt's cabin with friends, 3 back-to-back weeks of awesome-ness EFY (which I  already know I'll ache and miss by the time it's over), my birthday stuck in there somewhere (is it really possible that I can be 21? pshhh, heck no!),   7 awesome weeks in Germany enjoying the country of my heritage (hopefully it'll be a time to fully relax: yoga, watching life through the eyes of toddlers, good books to be read, smells, sights, sounds), 1 awesome and probably last Buchmiller family reunion (a reunion with my extended and immediate family, best friend's family, my dear childhood home, my most cherished childhood memories, and Elder N [which I'm kind've hoping to by-pass on that particular reunion]). And then, it'll be time for school. For some reason, in this moment, I'm kind've terrified. I'm sure this is just sleep talking to me. It's not like I only got 5 1/2 hours of sleep last night! Pitiful that that much sleep can make me appreciate how fast my summer will go by. I want to walk into this summer like someone confident going into battle! No looking back, or forward. Just ready to give it my whole heart! To put in the adventure, the passion, the love, the prayers, the work, and the fun. To make it the greatest. To have the best experiences. To give the Lord opportunities to teach me even more. Simply put, I want to be better--before it's too late and all ends.

The Hound Dog Test

After going to the temple yesterday I gave Katherine another driving lesson with Danger, my dearly beloved manual transmission Ford Ranger. The clutch is ghetto. So really, she just needs to work on the muscle memory of when to yank rather than gently pull from gear to gear. First to second can be killer. She usually ended up going First to Neutral. Overall, she didn't do bad at all! She even drove us back home from the Stadium. I know people regularly talk about getting some serious whip lash, but I didn't feel any knots in my neck this morning! This must reflect on what a great teacher I am...typical Rhoden pride surfacing. Sorry 'bout that folks! One day I'll marry out of it, haha! I hope.

Back to the story at hand. While we're driving over and all around the Rameumptom Tower of our Band practice field (West Stadium Parking Lot), our Marching Band Director comes along driving on his scooter and recognizes Danger and decides to chat. Bro. Mac is from the South--so we automatically know that we'll be parked for an hour. After the hour, we decided that we hadn't been over to the McInnis's house in ages and that we should get our little band group together and see them. And we did.

Here's the long explanation/background of the Hound Dog Test.

Yesterday Lydia, Sis. Mac, called me on the phone--she's as Southern as can be. **Tangent: I love talking to natural Southerners by myself because I can just let my Southern rip and let it all out. (Daddy and me. Oma and me. Megan and me. Uncle Lester and me. Bro./Sis. Mac and just me. Get the idea?) It almost feels like a tiger being let loose. When I'm around the Mac's with normal speaking peeps, my accent just plays peek-a-boo. I think it's because I just feel so self-conscious when non-Southerners hear me talk Southern and then stare. I can almost feel their ears perk up. Bleh. If I was smart and any more manipulative, I would use this to my advantage. But when I flip the light-switch with Southerner's and just let it ride, they don't even bat an eye. They only bat their eyes when I start speaking real...Yankee-ish. Also, I have this weird pet peeve when non-Southerner's try and speak with a Southern drawl. It never sounds natural. And makes me laugh--and run far, far away from speaking to them with any accent. So Sis. Mac called and we were chatting and she eventually found out that I was dating Matt and then she told me that I must bring him over so she could see if he passed the Hound Dog Test. Basically, Sis. Mac is like a hound dog and is able to smell things, so to speak, that other people would bypass. She said she had quite the record at being able to tell if it would last or not. I figured I didn't have much to loose and she always seemed like a good real judge of character. I kept this all to myself and took Matt to the Mac's. I think he was a little intimidated...she basically started out with, "So Matthew, tell me about yourself?". Of course he responded, asking what she wanted to know. And she looked him in the eye and said, "Everything". Haha. Poor, poor kid. Luckily others showed up real fast so we could help get him out of the spotlight. 

This morning, I got this text from Lydia:

                   Lydia: Very cute n seems very nice n well mannered. How much do you like him.

                   Me: I like him. :) He's very kind and humble and sometimes awkward, which is cute! Oh,

                           and he's really smart. Whats the hound dog's opinion?

                   Lydia: Id need to see you together one more time i didn't feel much chemistry coming 

                           from the two of you but that doesn't mean its not there. I do think he is a keeper if 

                           the other stuff is sparkin.

                   Me: I'm sure you'll see more of him. :) As far as the chemistry goes...I'm glad to know 

                            you didn't look out your windows last night when everyone left ;) 

Totally kidding everyone. Don't worry Mom. (; And I love ears. Which is why I think I just found a new love for Hounds.

The Three Wise (Wo)Men

I honestly shouldn't be surprised at the gems I learn on my morning walks. When your three walking buddies have over 30 years on you; plus husbands, children, houses, grandchildren, and countless tidbits of wisdom about life and motherhood, you would keep your mouth shut and just listen too. That, and I usually am barely trying to keep up. I'm pretty sure we walk about 4 1/2 miles in 1 hour up and down the hills of Orem. Insane? Yes. Awesome and fun? You betcha.

The other day my three wise women were walking and talking about safety and how as the mothers of the world, they were going to do what they could to change the world! It was so cute and funny. And true. Although most of this was in reference to crazy drivers and pedestrians, it started out the morning with, "So who wants to hear the sad story of the day?" And then continued to share the story from the news about the 3-year-old that fell off of a rock and into the river while his family were getting their family pictures. They were lowering the dam so they could find his body. So so sad. (For once, I didn't even laugh.)  The moral of the story was not--to not take family pictures on picturesque rock walls by huge Provo rivers--although I never thought that was a good idea anyway. I always preferred the hay field plus mountain range background, oh and the family always seems to be holding hands. Classic, Mormon family picture ya know? Especially at dusk. You know which one I'm talking about. Back to the moral of this sad story though: the ladies began sharing stories about their personal accounts of the "what would have happened if so-and-so hadn't saved so-and-so" (i.e. pulled them up by their britches) when their crazy boys, grandsons, nephews, etc just wouldn't listen and were daring children. Sheesh! I won't be looking forward to this kind of stress and worry that motherhood brings. I can see now why healthy, skinny people can still suffer from hypertension.

The real wisdom came down through this story. Kathleen was sharing a time when her youngest (Rachel) was 2 and her next oldest was 6. They were planning a family trip to Lake Powell and her mom (Grandma) offered to watch Rachel, the 2 year-old. At first Kathleen said that she didn't want to split her family up. But she let Grandma watch Rachel anyway and she was so happy that she did. Basically, she and her husband would have had to be hitched to their toddler the whole time with parent safety duty AND in the end, Rachel would never even remember that family trip. So if your kids won't remember, then why bother? They'd have more fun with Grandma. And it's safer. And the parents can bypass that cardiac arrest if they see their 6-year-old throw your baby off the boat.

Don't get too many ideas Kelsey. I'm not Grandma... ;)