Stories

A few people enjoyed the chicken story enough for me to want to share two more. One of them is a story about how I made people laugh, and the other one is a story for you to smile and *maybe* smack your forehead.

We will start with when I made people laugh:

In my Adult Development and Aging class, we have been talking about crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence. Crystallized intelligence is the accumulation of knowledge, facts, and skills that are acquired throughout life. This increases as we age. Some examples are, “what is a tiger? What is a custom? What is 2+2?”

Fluid intelligence is the ability to perceive relationships independent of previous specific practice or instruction concerning those relationships. That’s basically a fancy way of saying fluid intelligence is problem solving, especially novel problems (newer and more difficult), speed in solving problems, and the efficiency in which we solve them. Fluid intelligence declines as we age into older adulthood.

It’s said that you learn something everyday, so go ahead and check that off your list!

Anyway, one of the examples she showed us for crystallized intelligence was “What does abscond mean?” None of the people in my class raised their hand and told us, so she explained it means to leave hurriedly and secretly, typically to avoid detection of or arrest for an unlawful action such as theft.

Double check!

Later in class, we began talking about Albert Einstein’s brain. We watched a video about it and briefly mentioned in the video was that someone stole the brain and drove across the country with it. After the video, one of my classmates exclaimed, “are we not going to talk about how the guy stole the brain and drove away with it?! Why would he do that?”

My teacher explained that supposedly the scientist didn’t know if Einstein’s family would let science have it for research, so he took it to make sure they could study it. I raised my hand and said, “are you telling me that he absconded with the brain?”

My teacher laughed as well as some of the class, and I, once again, felt awesome.

---

Now on to the next story. By the way I told this joke on the SUU radio last week. I went to Battle of the Bands on campus, and they asked for jokes from the audience while the judges deliberated on the winners. It took a minute for me to gather the courage, but I raised my hand nice and high and shared the joke to everyone in the room as well as everyone listening in on the radio. The joke/story was received well, so I hope you like it too. Shoutout to my dad for telling me this story long long ago while making us breakfast.

(I’m going to add details to make it more interesting.)

Out in the middle of the ocean, there were three men in a boat. They were hungry, thirsty, tired, and lost out on sea. They weren’t sure how they were going to get home, and options were becoming thin.

One of the men, looking off into the water, noticed a bottle floating in the ocean. It was nearby, so he jumped in and grabbed it. Bringing it back to the boat and climbing on deck, he popped off the cork. Out of this small glass bottle came a genie.

“Congrats!” it said, “I am going to grant you each one wish.”

The men grew excited and could barely contain their joy. The first man, with a little scruff and a smile, said, “I wish to be home with my family. I miss them so much.”

POOF!

He was gone, home with his family.

The second man, very tan and very tall, astonished that one of his friends had just vanished, exclaimed, “I wish to be on a tropical island somewhere with lots of delicious food and beverages. I want to sit on the beach while someone fans me.”

POOF!

He was gone, on a tropical island somewhere, slurping a smoothie.

The third man, a bit shorter with a small frown on his face, cried out, “oh no! I miss my friends. I don’t want to be all alone out here! I wish they would come back!”

POOF!

Three men, stuck on a boat in the middle of the ocean.

---

When my mom drove me up to Utah to go to school, she cleaned my car before she left. Both the interior and exterior were spotless! (PS. Thanks mom!)

In October, we planned to meet halfway between where I live in Utah and where my family lives in AZ to trade off some things. This included a little puppy that we had picked up here in Utah. We needed to meet to send the puppy to its new home in AZ…with my family!

Anyway, I set my alarm early enough so I had time to go get a car wash before I left to go meet my mom. When I got upstairs and opened the front door…I saw this:

Let’s just say that I didn’t need a car wash anymore.

However, because I had planned time to go get a car wash, I had those extra 20 minutes to get the snow off my car.

I could choose to believe that it was a happy coincidence that I got up early to get a car wash, or I could acknowledge that Christ and Heavenly Father had something to do with it. That they helped prepare me for the snow by reminding me to “wash my car” before I left.

I could also say that I’m an amazing driver, or I could choose to recognize that I was protected while driving in the snow…(don’t turn me in but) I ran a red light because my car wouldn’t stop. The intersection was empty at the time, so I was safe, but it could have been busy.

I’m grateful everything worked out.

---

I’ve been having a hard time lately deciding where I fit in my life. That may sound stupid, but hear me out.

My whole life I have wanted to go on a mission. I decided I was going to go, and no one was going to stop me. If there’s a will, there’s a way, I reminded others and myself.

About 6 months ago, my mission came to my mind often, and I would feel anxiety about it. I worried about not being able to read books. I did research and asked other missionaries and found an answer good enough to quench my worries. For a time.

A few months later, I moved up to Utah and began going to college. Worries about my mission crept back in, and I felt stressed and overwhelmed. A friend told me to enjoy college life and look into a mission later…to live and love life now and have fun! I said okay and put my worries aside.

Then this last week the worries came back. They were constantly there, questioning me on how I was going to figure everything out. This sounds sooo dumb but I worried and worried about having my number change. I love my phone number, (weird I know 😂) and it’s not like my parents are going to pay for a phone number that’s not being used while I’m gone for 18 months. That’s just not practical. I kept thinking about getting my mission papers started and then always found a reason not to: “eh I’ll start them next week” or “I’ll do it when I get home to AZ.”

I filled out FAFSA for January of 2021 (I’m a mess and just got it done ahaha). After doing so, I began wondering about filling it out for the following school year…if I was on my mission like planned, then I wouldn’t need to fill out the form. But…what if I wasn’t? What if I decided not to go? What if I went and had to come home early due to anxiety and/or depression? What then?

Better safe than sorry, right? Keeping this in mind, I filled it out for the next school year too.

I talked to a friend and they suggested I play with the idea of not going. Just for a few days…and see how I felt. I followed this advice and suddenly my worries went away, the dread left, and I felt relaxed. Does this mean I’m not supposed to go?

I’m still searching, but it’s looking more and more like a mission isn’t for me. However, now that I’ve decided this, I’ve somewhat lost myself. My plan was to go on a mission. My plan was to deal with the rest of life after I got home. Except now, suddenly, my life is right ahead of me; it’s ready for me to get started.

I have found myself feeling lost and unsure of what to do. This sounds silly since I will obviously continue to go to school to finish my degree, but there’s more to it than that. I’m using my family’s car currently, but my sister will be able to drive in May. We didn’t worry about it since “Kyra would be on her mission.” But now, I’m not sure I’m going to be on a mission…so do I buy a car? Do I get a job? Do I learn to live without a car for some time?

Every time I thought about meeting someone and getting married, I would just put it aside and say, “oh it will happen after my mission. Nothing to worry about.” Except now…I’m open and am not planning on leaving for over a year. Obviously, I will be okay if I do not meet someone, but what if nothing happens? What if I’m alone forever? (Super dramatic I know, but this is what goes through my head!) Everything seems so close and so far away at the same time. I always assumed things would start AFTER my mission. AFTER I got home. Now life can begin at any time, and I don’t know if I’m ready! I think the thing that scares me the most is if life never begins. I don’t know if that makes sense…

As you can see, my mind has been on a treadmill, and my thoughts are running a marathon. I want them to slow down and take a break, but they refuse to let down.

My roommate’s boyfriend sensed my anxiety (as I paced back and forth in front of them) and suggested I sit down and watch this video about the “refiner’s fire.” After we finished it, he added two more to the queue. In the dark, the three of us sat, watching these clips together.

The Refiner’s Fire

Finding Hope After Losing a Child

Your Great Adventure: Overcoming Life’s Obstacles

If you have time to only watch one, please watch the second one: Finding Hope After Losing a Child.

I (probably) would have cried anyway, but because my heart was extra tender that night, tears and tears rolled down my face. I had to take my glasses off to wipe my eyes! (Crying with glasses is not the move 😂)

This second video specifically moved me, but all three of them gave my very broken heart a hug.

The anger the father felt is so relatable. This video changed me. The anger he felt is so raw and real…that’s my favorite part. He had so much anger and was still able to have faith.

Of course anger is a secondary emotion, so he was really just hurt and scared, but his willingness to express his complex range of emotions shows how truly broken he felt. Even still, he came in and made a video to inspire and comfort others. I am inspired by that.

The third video (about the marathon) said something that stood out to me:

It isn’t about doing something perfectly, it’s about doing something intentionally.

I want to know which one you like the most, so please text me, email me, or comment down below!

It seems a little redundant posting it four different times, but maybe you’ll read it four times when you look at the edits, and it will truly imprint onto your brain. STOP TRYING TO BE PERFECT! (I’m speaking to myself too.)

Before I sign off, I want to thank my choir institute teacher for expressing her excitement to read my posts. She encourages me to keep writing, even when I feel stuck. I want to thank my roomie’s boyfriend for showing me those videos and helping ground me. I want to thank my friend who reads these posts first, edits them, and makes sure they make sense. I want to thank the people in my life who are there for me. I want to thank you, for reading this post, for getting to the end, and for everything you do to make the world a better place.

At the end of the day, I still have a lot of worries and concerns, but I feel so grateful for the support I have, for the moments when I can reflect, and for times when I feel His love and know everything is going to be okay.

My grandma said (quoting someone else), “everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”

Thank you for reading this post and hanging in there as I shared all my Stories! I hope you enjoyed it…until next time. 😉