G under the microscope...

When I was in 8th grade I was in the science club. I also had headgear, wore a black braided belt and had bangs that looks like someone hair sprayed a sea anemone to my forehead.  I would post a picture but I prefer to not think of my Quasimodo awkward days of embarrassment. Anyway, one of the things we did at nerd club was use a scanning electron microscope where you could magnify anything over 1000x.  Check your own nerdiness below and see if you can tell what these images are:

 

If you can recognize these images, that prob means you were in some nerd club of your own in 8th grade and/or you are just weird.  The first image is red licorice, the second is sprinkles and the third is velcro. 

Now for the point. 

Sometimes G needs us to bring him lunch because he doesn't feel like eating double fried bacon (they deep double fry everything here. I'm not joking. I mean everything.) Sometimes when you have access to something so close everyday, you don't recognize how phenomenal it really is.  When you are so close to someone every day and can notice and see things that other people can't (ie a scanning electron microscope relationship) you sometimes forget the bigger picture of who they are.

Yesterday when I was driving to give G his lunch I saw him walking and I started taking pics just because I wanted to.  When I saw him walking I was just startled at how attractive and amazing he is.  Now don't get me wrong, I always know he is attractive and amazing but something about seeing him from a distance made me re-realize for the gizillionth time who I get to be married to.  

Approaching specimen A. Or I should say specimen G.

Getting closer....

Even closer...

Patiently waiting for his lunch and patiently wondering why the heck his wife keeps taking pictures...

Magnification at 1000X. Sometimes I really do feel all jittery and excited like I just swallowed a ground bloom on the fourth of July when I see him.

Especially when he comes home and does this 10 seconds after walking through the door....

Some people look really fantastic from far away but the closer to you become, the more you see hideous flaws and shortcomings that were invisible from a distance.  What if they had a scanning electron microscope that could examine and magnify what someone's soul is really made off.  I would not one someone to see all my motive blackheads and social zits that are so obvious when you get too close. Being married to G is the opposite. Knowing him up close, seeing the details and fiber or all his strengths at weaknesses only makes me more grateful for who he is.  I'm not saying that he is perfect, but he is definitely perfect for me. The closer I get and the more I get to know who he is, the more I am in awe and in love with specimen G forever.

"Beautiful Heartbreak"

I have been so dang blessed with some mind boggling friends in my life that are amazing.  Amazing people tend to have amazing trials.  There is great value in mourning with those that mourn because you get to get a little taste of their trial and the lessons they are learning and what they are becoming without all the soul stretching pain. It's like auditing the course without having any of the homework or exams.  I love the words to this song. I was reading the talk, "Endure it Well" by Elder Maxwell and will jot down the ESPN highlights:

"Endurance is more than pacing up and down within the cell of our circumstance; it is not only acceptance of the things allotted to us, it is to “act for ourselves” by magnifying what is allotted to us. 

If, for instance, we are always taking our temperature to see if we are happy, we will not be. If we are constantly comparing to see if things are fair, we are not only being unrealistic, we are being unfair to ourselves.Therefore, true enduring represents not merely the passage of time, but the passage of the soul—and not merely from A to B, but sometimes all the way from A to Z.

Rather than shoulder-shrugging, true enduring is soul-trembling. Jesus bled not at a few, but “at every pore.”  Sometimes spiritual obedience requires us to “hold on” lovingly, such as to a rebellious child, while others cry, “Let go!” Enduring may likewise mean, however, “letting go,” when everything within us wants to “hold on,” such as to a loved one “appointed unto death.”

When, for the moment, we ourselves are not being stretched on a particular cross, we ought to be at the foot of someone else’s—full of empathy and proffering spiritual refreshment. On the straight, narrow path, which leads to our little Calvarys, one does not hear a serious traveler exclaiming, “Look, no hands!” 

The whole talk is so dang good. (http://lds.org/ensign/1990/05/endure-it-well?lang=eng)  Wanting to come down to Earth life and getting mad because it is hard or not fun defeats the purpose because it is the hard and the not fun that we signed up for. That's the whole point. We didn't come down here to get a body so we could eat corn dogs and play wii and pinterest all day.  It's like getting a gym pass and then not working out or playing yatzee but hating dice. We are here to be stretched.  Life is so hard and so good at the same time.  Maybe that is why it is good because it is hard. I am so grateful for the people in my life who teach me how to "endure it well," even during beautiful heartbreak.

Fish Taco Heaven...

I love seafood. Love. Not like, love. If I was rich I would have my own shrimp farm and own my own ocean so I could have fresh seafood anytime.  The Watson's had us over for fish tacos and they were the most supreme fish tacos I have ever tasted. I love the Watson party house. I now have no words for the sacred experience we had of eating these heavenly tacos there.

  I thought we should eat the meal in silence out of respect and reverence for how good the dinner was.  Sometimes you eat because you're hungry, sometimes you eat to stay alive, sometimes you eat for the pure pleasure and delight of putting something so good in your mouth that it defies description.  Fish tacos fall into category three. 

 

Rubios is a joke compared to what we tasted.  If you would like the recipe, let me know. It's what we call heaven in a corn tortilla. Unbelievably delicious. Just writing about them makes me excited.  I was like Bob Wiley on "What about Bob" when he eats corn on the cob.  I couldn't stop raving.  I am in love with fish tacos.  Yes, if I had to marry food, I might consider marrying fish tacos. I forgot dinner could be such a delightful experience.  My tastebuds tingled with joy. Once in a while, everyone should eat something that makes them eat in reverent silence because it is so delicious.   That is my testimony of fish tacos. Amen.