Thankful #4

I have felt overwhelmed by my disorganized and dirty house recently, so I've been complaining to my mom a lot. Well my mom started complaining back a little, asking me how I got to be so "anal-retentive." She said I didn't use to be like that. Then she reminded me of some of my past experiences.

The morning of my BYU graduation, I slept through my alarm. I woke up to my roommates alarm, and her graduation was 2 and 1/2 hours after mine!  My graduation started in 15 minutes. I had borrowed Russ's car (he was my fiancee of like 1 week,) but there was no way I had time to park on campus. So I called Russ who was waiting for my family to pick him up and told him to pick me up, too.  But I told him to I was going to be so late that I said let's just forget it and go to breakfast instead. 

When my parents picked me up, I had slick hair, no make-up, and I was wearing the clothes that were on my floor from the day before. The whole time in the car, I told my parents and Russ I wasn't going, I was too late, let's just go to breakfast. My parents dropped me off anyway, Russ shoved me out of the car, and dragged me into the Marriott Center. I was still saying let's just go to breakfast. Because of Russ's job (a news reporter,) he knew how to get around all the back halls and elevators in the Marriott Center that most of us aren't suppose to be using. So he got me where I needed to be, and I entered the main floor of the building following behind the "Z"s. I ended up sitting in a row completely by myself, and then had to try to alphabetize myself in front of the crowd as people's names were called. Shortly after that, it was my turn, my name was called, and I got my diploma. And then my parents could breathe again.

After graduation, I told my parents that this was the perfect ending to my college career. This was how I made it through college. Every day, every paper, every test happened by the skin of my teeth.

So today, I am grateful for time to improve. Somewhere between graduation and now, I decided I didn't like stressing at the last minute, I didn't like living in a dirty apartment, and I didn't like looking like a slovenly dressed, sleep-deprived college student (another story that mortified my mother.) I am grateful that I have been able to change those things over time. You may call it "anal-retentive", but I like it.

I am thankful for something else, too. I am thankful that Russ still wanted to marry me after that little episode of craziness, and that he knew I would have been sad if I'd missed my graduation. And I'm always thankful for the little perks Russ gets. He seems to always be able to get me into the back door, the front parking spot, or one of the best seats in the house. Love you Russ!