The Music You're Given

Hey y'all!
How's it going? I hope well. The biggest problem about trying to update people through blog is that I don't ever get responses, and therefore have no idea what's happening with anyone else. You should let me know! Just 'cause we don't live close to each other, that doesn't mean I don't care all the sudden. I totally do. In case you were wondering.
Anyway, this week. What happened this week? Not much really. Monday and Tuesday were pretty slow. The only real highlight in there was, of course, the 'Supernatural' season ten premiere. Holy crap! I absolutely love that show. Like, a lot. It's so good! And it was fun (overall, though they will tell you I got rather frustrated during the whole ordeal) watching and talking with Randilee and Hayley. I miss you girls! Can't wait to talk again on Tuesday. 'Reichenbach', I'm lookin' at you!
Wednesday we had the missionaries come over for dinner. There are a companionship of elders and one of sisters here in the ward, though apparently the sisters cover two other wards as well. Whew, they're busy! We had wetback, which was of course extremely tasty, and I was surprised to find out Ryan was unsure if I liked it or not. Hello! I guess he hasn't been paying attention at any of my birthday dinners. Ever. Oh well. :) Talking with the missionaries was fun, and it totally made me miss my mission. Watching the elders give their slightly awkward but still good thought, seeing the light that only full-time missionaries have- yup. I miss it. I did, however, made loose plans to go out with the sisters some time. We exchanged numbers and they said they will 'go find the one Korean in Morgan Hill so we can teach them', and (maybe possibly as a joke. I wasn't sure) said they wanted me to teach them some Korean. Either way, I'm very excited to help them.
Nothing much happened on Thursday either, and the only real thing we did on Friday was GAFIA. It was a Relief Society activity where our and the other Morgan Hill ward got together to do crafts. Niccole wasn't interested in any of them, as they were all really- as in painfully- simple, but she'd told someone she could help lead one of the crafts if need be, and dragged me along. It wasn't too bad, and it was nice to 'Get Away From It All' (I found out during the thing that that's what it stood for. Niccole's friend apparently emailed one of the ladies in charge to figure that out, and she told me.) for a bit. Of course, we were hoping to get home before midnight, but when the thing wasn't even scheduled to end until 11 and of course a bunch of sisters had to keep going and make it really hard to clean up, what can you do. We didn't want to leave all the older ladies to clean by themselves.
Saturday, yesterday, was pretty crazy, though it probably shouldn't have been. The whole week Niccole had been working on getting everything ready and packed for their Disneyland trip, and it all came to a head yesterday. The morning flew by somehow, I got roped in to helping with nail art (I know, right? Apparently I didn't do too bad, though, and the only nails I was completely responsible for were Browyn's. Who actually cares what a two year old's nails look like, huh?) and then we all jumped in the car to run a few errands before heading to Ryan's work party. (If you follow me on Twitter, you've heard a tiny bit about this, so sorry if it's a tad repetitive.) It ended up being farther than Ryan thought- last time he'd looked it up he remembered being told it was in San Jose, but it definitely wasn't. We ended up at Alameda Point, which is an old Navy base. The base has been closed and turned in to an assortment of other things. The particular place we went to was a wine storage and tasting facility that had been put into a couple of old fighter maintenance hangars. To make it even cooler, it was on the water just across from San Francisco, so we had a really cool view of the city and the Bay Bridge. There was a carnival set up, complete with face painting, rides, several bouncy castles, a magician, a guy making balloon animals and things, and a bunch of food trucks. The trucks, ice cream, games, cotton candy, and cupcakes were all available for free, and while we of course didn't imbibe, every guest over the age of 21 were allowed three alcoholic drinks for free. Seeing as how we were practically in a winery, there were a lot of choices for those who wanted to try them. Think that's cool? There was more! The Bay area is currently in the middle of Fleet Week, during which there are a bunch of different Navy-related events like art shows, ship tours, etc. Yesterday the party occurred during the air show, which featured (among other cool things) the Blue Angels! Of course, they're not quite as cool as the Thunderbirds, but hey. You take what you can get, right? ;P It was so cool! Watching them fly around the city, under the bridge, into and out of the fog- even if the rest of the party had sucked (which it didn't!) that in and of itself would have made the drive worth it. We decided to stay late enough to watch the sunset behind the city, which was really pretty, and Niccole and I have decided we're gonna take a trip up there some day soon to take pictures around the old base. (I found out Niccole really likes military history, and we both were geeking out over the location pretty much the whole time. Ryan was amused and confused, but we're just gonna go without him.)
Today we headed out to church, and after sacrament meeting Ryan, Niccole, and the kids left for Disneyland. Browyn still didn't get that I wasn't going with them, and got rather sad about it. (Then again, she also kept trying to go to nursery while we were waiting for their parents to be ready to leave, so I'm not sure she really understood much of the situation anyway…) I've only had the house to myself for about nine hours now, but it's already weird. The quiet, the stillness- it's rather odd. I might end up going crazy this week. Like, for real. My only plans are to start exercising again now that I can more or less breathe and put in some serious hours job hunting. Since I don't have any money, I don't think I'll be leaving the house at all except to check the mail. It's gonna be weird. Hopefully I'll get used to not having the kids around (though I don't want to get too used to it, 'cause then I might hate it when they come back. :S) We'll see.
That's it! That's my week. Nothing really happened. I hope you didn't fall asleep too many times while reading this. To try and make it not a complete waste of time, I do have a thought I'd like to share. It came from a mixture of the Relief Society lesson (isn't it crazy how much Satan tries to get you to leave the days you really need to hear something?) and, surprisingly enough, a 'Bones' episode.
I've been trying to get caught up with 'Bones' lately. I have loved the show since Aleta introduced me to it, but as per my usual got behind. So, when I got home from church and had nothing else to do, I sat down to watch some. At the end of one episode, Booth and Bones are at home (if you haven't seen any 'Bones' the last few seasons, spoiler! They live together. [Don't worry, they got married this season so it's okay now.]) at the end of a long day and, of course, a trying case. Booth turns on some music, a rather slow, low country-ish song, and wants to dance with Bones, but she says the song isn't good for dancing. Booth says it's a fact that if the song isn't a good one to dance to, you just dance slower, and Bones disputes that. Booth then says "Sometimes, you just have to dance to the music you're given." That line, coupled with the lesson we'd had about Elder Bednar's talk from the April conference about bearing your burdens, really hit me.
At times, this life totally sucks. We face challenges, we are given burdens, we go through something we don't think we can handle. Like Alma's people in Mosiah, we are occasionally burdened so much that we stumble under the weight of the cross, or we get stuck in the snow like in Elder Bednar's story. Sometimes, the song just doesn't seem to be anything we want to listen to, much less dance to. But, though we may want to with everything we have and are, we can't usually change these circumstances. Alma's people couldn't free themselves from captivity; Elder Bednar couldn't move his truck; we can't cure illnesses or magically create jobs or brush off emotional problems. The thing is, when that's the case, we're not supposed to. We're not supposed to change the song- we're supposed to dance anyway. You can also think about the saying (I don't remember where it came from) "Life isn't about learning to stop the storm; it's about learning to dance in the rain." (It's something like that.) Even if you have to dance "really, really slowly" as Bones said, there is always some way to move to the song. There is always some way to keep going forward, though it very well might include dropping to your knees. After all, "When life gets to hard to stand, kneel". There are hands waiting, both seen and unseen, to help bear the burdens. Like the Lord did with Alma's people, like He did with the Hebrews and the Saints during the Restoration and His disciples in His time; as He has always done and will always do, He will be there to make us strong enough to bear our crosses. He will send His angels to help us along. Sometimes those angels are our friends and family, sometimes they are unseen beings that doubtless still bear some of the weight. He may not take away our trials, our challenges, but He will make sure there is a way through them. He may not change the song, but He will help us find a way to keep dancing. Whatever your song, never stop dancing. If you need a partner to help you feel out the steps, I'm here. I hope you all know that.

Always,
-Megan

P.S. Yes, I know there were a lot of different quotes in there. That really shouldn't surprise you by now. If it does, sorry. Either way, just know (as stated in the disclaimer from my first post) I am not eloquent. I don't know how to say things, but I can find others that do. Deal with it or find a different blog. ;)