a little taste of heaven

Oh how I will miss you, beautiful island of Oahu.

tis the season

I love this time of year. The older I get the more I learn to love it. I used to loathe the snow and the cold that comes along with it. Now I welcome it. Snow is a beautiful thing. Each and every snow flake is majestic and falls as if doing a dance. It covers all the dying shrubbery in a beautiful white blanket. Then there is the smell of the crisp fall air, the rosing of my cheeks every time I step outside, carving through the snow on a snowboard, and of course the fall/winter fashion trends.

Another welcoming trait of this time of year is the holiday season. Everyone is giving, loving, and charitable. It seems that others needs are better taken care of and looked after. It is a beautiful thing. As a people we seem to really embrace those around us.

In the spirit of these pre-Thanksgiving weeks, I thought I would give a little rundown of what I am grateful for.

• My family. Each and every one of them. I love you guys!
• Friends. You make everyday so much better.
• A good job. I truly enjoy going to work.
• The view from my apartment window. The mountains never looked so pretty.
• Education. You have changed the way I look at the world.
• Religion. I can be whole again.
• Never ending opportunities. Life is so much more exciting because of them.
• Life experiences. You have helped mold me into who I am today.

the good life

I was talking to one of my coworkers the other day. He mentioned something that has stuck with me. He said "if everyone in the world were to put their problems into a hat and choose which set of experience they wanted in life, we would all want to have our own problems back".

The more I think about that, the more it seems to ring true. We do all have our problems - everyone; not just the obvious ones either. Everyone experiences life in a different way and we all have our own perception of things. Something that may be life altering for one person might not even phase another. One person might come out on top of an adverse event when the same exact thing might completely consume another. As such, we should always be aware of what others may be experiencing on the inside. I know for me at least, way more goes on inside my head than I will ever let out.

What I perceive to be the moral of the story is that you can't judge a book by it's cover. Anyone at any given moment might be going through a life changing experience that has no physical manifestations. There are times that we may appear rude or disgruntled that we don't even realize it. Everything that we do and say has to do with our perception of the world around us - the things we learn, the things we do, and the opportunities that we have. We become the people that we are because of the way that we experience life.

That being said, I do have to give thanks as well. I'm not really sure that life gets much better. I mean, it's pretty much guaranteed to as I continue to get older and experience more things. But, I do have to say this - my life is good. I have an amazing family and excellent friends. I love my job and my roommates. My ward is great, my apartment is great, basically life is just good. And I will be in Hawaii a week from yesterday. Does it get much better? Like everyone else, I have my problems, but really life is good. So good.

Food for Thought

I came across a copy of this article at work yesterday. I found it rather fascinating - which probably has a lot to do with the fact that I work at Intermountain and live in Utah. It also adds some good points to the current healthcare debate.

Making Healthcare Better