sisters, sisters......

Every year around Christmas time, my sisters and I watch "White Christmas." It's one of my favorite holiday movies. The performance of "Sisters, Sisters...." is one of our favorite. We're often heard singing it to each other throughout the year. I really love my sisters and feel very blessed to have them as sisters.

The other day when I attended the Jingle Jam with Wendy, I became a bit envious. All of Wendy's kids and her sisters kids attend the same elementary school. And, they all live within about a half mile of each other. As if that weren't enough, they all meet at Wendy's house each morning with their kids to finish getting ready and take the kids to school. There was definitely a pang of jealousy in me when I learned that.

I adore my sisters and wish that I got to see them everyday. My closest sister lives about 250 miles away in Hurricane, UT. I see CJ a handful of times throughout the year. I stay with her twice a year when I do the St. George tri and the Kokopelli tri. If I ever decide to do the St. George marathon again, she'll provide me with lodging for that as well. She also comes to Provo a few times a year--usually involving the Hurricane State Football championship game or some other sports related event. Sadly, when I see CJ it is only briefly and it is rare that her kids (and sometimes even her husband) are around. I wish they were closer so I knew those nieces and nephews better. I will take what little time I get with CJ as she is a busy mom of 4 teenagers.

My next closest sister lives about 280 miles away, at least for 10 more days. When Meggie got married, Jonathan took her away! Yes, he still had school to finish and his school was BYU-Idaho. But, still, we once lived within 5 miles of each other and spent a good deal of time together. I did go visit them in Rexburg over the summer (and ran a half marathon while I was there). Jonathan has been great and brought Meggie down to visit several times. Each of their visits are so fantastic and I've grown to love Jonathan more and more with each visit. Now, not only has Meggie left Utah, she will soon be leaving the country. She and her cute husband and heading to China for several months. It's an exciting adventure for them, but Meggie will be dearly missed. The best part, I have an excuse to visit China now! I can't wait for that.

And then, there's Mandy. Mandy lives 1200 miles away in Texas. I go visit her every year and she is good about coming to Utah. But, gone are the days of diet coke and a crossword puzzle in the history department. And, now that Mandy has 2 adorable kids, it will be even harder for her to make the trek to Utah for some sister time. I went to visit Mandy for Thanksgiving this year and boy was that trip not what we had planned. We were both looking forward to some good sister time; Mandy's last hurrah before baby number 2 came along in January. Well, Lucky's brother had other ideas and he just didn't want to wait until January. That cutie-pie decided November was a better time to arrive. I had a fantastic time with Lucky, but Mandy and I missed out on some good sister time. We did the best to cram a week's worth of playing into 24 hours, but it just wasn't enough.

As Wendy told me about the fun with her sisters, it really did make me a bit jealous. I thought how fun it would be to live within a mile of all my sisters, to see each other everyday, to have our kids (well, not that all of us have kids or any school aged kids for that matter) attend the same school, to enjoy play dates at the park. I miss having my sister's around to watch a good (bad?) made for TV movie with me. I'd love to see CJ and more of her kids' sporting events. I wish I was around to help Mandy right now and spend time with Maddy watching Monsters, Inc and playing outside. I wish Meggie was around to help me feel hip and cool and do fun crafting projects. Hopefully one day we will all live closer to each other. Until then, I will just have to enjoy what little time I do get with them. And, at least we can talk all we want thanks to mobile-to-mobile minutes.

jingle jam

The original plan for today called for me to meet Wendy at Pizzeria 712 in Orem. When we talked last night she told me, "I know there's something going on but I can't for the life of me remember what it is. It must not be that important otherwise I'd totally remember it." She completely forgot it was the Jingle Jam at her kid's elementary school. Oops! Just blame it on chemo brain.

So, instead of an uneventful lunch at Pizzeria 712. We grabbed lunch from Flour Girls & Dough Boys and headed over to her kid's elementary school. We met up with her sisters, who also have kids attending the same elementary school and prepared ourselves for some mind blowing entertainment.

Here are the highlights (er, low lights) of the event:

• I was accosted! OK, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. However, the woman sitting behind me had about 15 different cameras and recording devices. Once her child had completed their performance, she decided it was time for her to leave. She loaded up her camera bag that weighed about  37 pounds, turned to leave and bonked me in the head with it. Who knew a kids concert would be such a dangerous place.
• It was interesting to note the different ways parents recorded the performance. One parent on the video camera, one on their phone, snapping still shots with a phone, DSLR, point & shoot or anything else they could get their hands on. There were even people with tripods set up. I had no idea that a kids concert elicited such professional documentation.
• I was sitting with the cool kids. Seriously, Wendy & her gang are pretty rad! We laughed, we joked, we had a great time. We were completely entertained by their kids and the antics of all the other kids in the school.
• I ran into a former neighbor who I hadn't seen in about 6 or 7 years. It was so nice to chat and catch-up. And to learn that her oldest son has turned in his mission papers. I'm always amazed at how these youngsters grow up---especially since I don't seem to age a day.

I forgot how much fun a kids Christmas program could be. I'm so glad that our lunch turned into "lunch and a show." I always have a great time with Wendy, but this event definitely took the cake! Even if (very briefly) I did feel like I was being held hostage.

i choose to believe

I have a 9 year old niece who still believes in the wonder of Santa Claus. Not having children, I don't know at what age they quit believing and start to question. However, I think there is something special about this child. She is the most logical and rational kid you'll ever meet. Seriously! She once convinced her mom to let her have cookies for breakfast (true story!) She was 6 at the time and she wanted cookies for breakfast. Her mom informed her that cookies were not a breakfast food, but rather a dessert. She immediately shot back that they have donuts for breakfast sometimes and they also have donuts for dessert sometimes. How were cookies any different than donuts? She got cookies for breakfast that day. So, it is shocking that this brilliant, rational child still believes that a fat man in a red suit travels the world on Christmas Eve and delivers presents to all the children of the world. On some level, I think she knows it isn't possible. But ultimately, I think she wants to believe; because there is something magical about believing.

Believing isn't always easy. There is lots in this world that makes me not want to believe. There is so much hurt, pain, heartache and sadness in this world. I've definitely seen my share. It sometimes seems that there are only those awful events and experiences to be had in life. Life can be hard! Some days it just seems easier to give up, to quit believing and just accept a miserable rotten life. I've definitely felt this way in my life and certainly over the past few weeks. But even amongst all the sadness and heartache I still believe!

I realize as a grown woman it my be corny to still believe, but trust me I do. I believe in the goodness of people. I believe that I can make the US Olympic team (even though I'm not an expert at any sport). I believe that someday I will grow 2 more inches (because I've always dreamed of being 5'10"). I believe that someday I will make perfect cupcakes (because I already make perfect cookies!) I believe that someday I will find my soul-mate, my perfect match, my dream guy and I'll marry him. I believe (even as a woman of my age) that I will be blessed with a child of my own. I believe in magic and fairy tales and pixie dust and unicorns and the happy ending.

While the notion defies all logic and rationale, much like my niece, I believe in Santa Claus. Maybe not the literal being, but all that he represents. You see, I'd rather believe in happiness, hope, kindness, love and even a little magic. And so, everyday I choose to believe!

my first published work

I know, I've been terrible about posting to this blog, but I have a good reason; I swear! About a month ago I was approached by a friend who is working with an online triathlete resource. They post articles, product reviews, race reviews--everything a triathlete needs to race better & faster in one location. They asked if I'd be willing to write an article about my experience with trail running.

Well, that article got published! I know that technically, I am already "published" every time I post to this here blog. However, to have someone else ask me to write and then to actually use what I wrote is the best. I'm so thrilled and hope to do more writing for them in the future (do you hear that @triathletesedge?)

Here you go: read all about how I take it to the trails!

my 3 days as a chip checker

Trust me, the job wasn't as glamorous as you're thinking. I know--chip checker, you're thinking I got to taste test chips and see if they were edible for human consupmtion and determine their quality. This job was so far removed from that. I did however, get all the free Frito Lays products I could consume in my 10 minute break.
This story is going to take a while to develop, but stick with me, I promise it will be worth it. The whole reason I even thought of my days as a chip checker are actually related to my current job. As part of my training, I have to spend an evening sorting mail at the facility--not really what I was expecting. Because, in reality, it's not "part of my training." This is their way of making all employees feel like equals. I'm not exactly sure how my spending 3 hours in the warehouse makes me "part of the team." You see, tomorrow morning, I'll put my college education to good use, get dressed in cute clothes and continue to call on customers. I have no problem doing manual labor. I have no problem spending some time in the operations side of things. I just don't like the reasons why I've been told by management. I don't like that I have to do it so that those working in the warehouse think I "feel their pain" and "understand their job" and other such nonsense. Because, let's be honest, it's not like I'm going to spend a day with the executives of the company learning their jobs! So, because of my attitude toward spening 3 hours sorting mail, I was called "entitled." I actually think "elitest" would be a better term, but I'm not here to make qualifications on my entitled elitism.
Well, I was actually quite bothered about being called entitled; and not because I disagree, I can totally admit to feeling entitled. I have a college education and because of that education doors have been opened to me in the realm of employment. So, yes, I do feel entitled to the jobs I apply for, the jobs I am offered, the jobs I work. I paid my dues in the form of 4 years at a university. And, even with all that, if I needed to work to support my family and the only job available was in a warehouse, I guarantee I'd work every day (without complaint) to care for my family. That's just who I am. What I realized is this: many people don't know my background, the jobs I've had in the past and the things I've done (no, nothing illegal, or unethical or immoral) to pay the bills.

This all brings up back to the summer between my sophomore and junior year of college. I was back in Texas (oh, how I love Texas!) I'd applied for several jobs, talk to temp agencies about summer work and even applied for a paid internship at GTE (General Telephone Exchange---which I'm pretty sure no longer exists!) Well, I hadn't heard back from GTE (my first choice of a summer job) or from any of the other places I'd applied. So, there I was with Jessica (my dear and funny friend) and Justin (my brother) sitting in the office of an employment agency after being home for almost 2 weeks. The woman across from us had a job to offer. It was only temporary and certainly wasn't a job we were looking for (we did want to build our resumes and skills for post-college employment) but it was a paying job. So, all three of us agreed that together it wouldn't be so bad and we'd take the work!

Thus began my 3 days as a chip checker for Frito Lay. (I don't know that "chip checker" was our official title, but its the title we gave ourselves.) The next morning we awoke at the unearthly hour of 3am (ok, it was probably closer to 5am, but I was a college student it felt like 3am). My brother and I left our house to pick up Jessica and then headed on out to the Frito Lay plant in Plano, Texas. We arrived at 7am with our brown sack lunches and bleary eyed from the early hour. (In fact, I'm pretty sure that Jessica and I made my brother drive and slept in the back seat) It was then that we met Carlos (I remember because he had a gold chain necklace with his name in beautiful gold cursive that he wore each day) and "supervisor guy" (I really wish I could remember his name, but I can't) It was also here that we learned exactly what our duties would be as "chip checkers." You see, they'd shipped a batch of original Lay's potato chips over the rockies and back. Apparently, this is not how transports are to take place. Because when bags of chips go over and back the air pressure does something to the bags (some get over full of air, some bags explode, some have no air left in them and others are still intact and acceptable to be displayed on the grocery store shelves). So, the 4 of us were tasked with checking the air volume of each bag of chips and sorting them--garbage or back into a box for shipment to a retailer.

As you can imagine, after about 20 minutes, this job became quite tedious. The clock moved very slowly until it was time for our break. At the deisgnated time, a whistle would blow (ok it was really more of a signal sounding) indicating that everyone on the warehouse flor could take a break. Everyone's work day started at the same time, breaks were at the same time, lunch was at the same time and we all ended our day together. So, when the whistle blew, we took our break. The best part of the break---because we were in a Frito Lay plant, there were all sorts of Frito Lay treats free for the taking. Suddenly this job was looking up!

And so it continued for 3 days. Wakig up early, heading to the plant, taking our breaks and lunches at the designated hour. "Supervisor guy" was very funny and entertaining. He gave us all nicknames--I was "senator" because I was majoring in Political Science. He drove his fork lift over to check on us; brought us new palets of chips to sort though and in general looked out for us crazy college students doing this job.

Needless to say, with all the boredome, we had to come up with some way to entertain ourselves! So, by 10am on day 2 found the solution. When a bag of chips is so full of air it's about to explode, it's very easy to pop the bag and spary chips all over the person at who it's aimed. Well, that's excatly what began. And by the end of the day the three of us were covered in chip crumbs and the stentch of deep fried potatoes. We made a complete mess of the corner of the warehouse where they had stashed us, but had so much fun working those 3 days.

So, I worked my 3 hours at the facility the other day. I learned mail is dirty! I learned the process of how things arrive, are checked in, scanned and sent on their way. I even spent 3 hours scanning, sorting and tagging a bin of mail. I learned the process that they wanted me to learn to help me with my job. However, this second go round of working in a warehouse I learned so much more. Back in college, I was far to young, naive and entitled to learn the lessons that I learned this past week.

First, I was put to shame by the women I was working with. They were far faster and more efficient than I was at the task at hand.

Second, these women are hard workers! There was no chit-chat, no goofing off, nothing but hard work. They got to work immediately and didn't quit unti lthe job was done.

Third, and most important in my opinion, I learned why many of these women were there working from 5pm to midnight. Yes, this is not an educated group of people, but this is a good job that pays well. But, the real reason they work this shift--it allows them to be home with their kids. These women are dedicated to creating a better life for their families and are willing to do what they must to make that happen.

I'm sure back in college when I worked in a plant/factory/warehouse many of the people working at Frito Lay were in the same situation. But, at the time I was too entitled to realize that. But now, I'm not the same person. I recongize and appreciate the work others do; work that I am grateful I don't have to do. I am grateful for the doors that are opened to me because I had the opportunity to continue my education post high school. But, more than anything I'm grateful that I was given a second opportunity to learn the lessons that I should have learned back when I was a chip checker.

it's been a while my friend.....

I swear I'm back. Back from my vacation; back from my illness; back from the blahs of not wanting to post. I promise you at least one real post this week (maybe even 2 if I'm feeling crazy!) In fact I'm working on a good one right now---all about my funniest summer job (and yes, it was a real, live, paying job!) I only hope its worth the wait.....

and........i'm off

Not that I've been a very good blogger lately, but at least this next week I'll have an excuse. I'm off for a week in Grenada. I'll be completely unplugged--no phone, no computer, no email (unless I can convince my gf to let me borrow hers), no twitter, nothing! (And, I'm so looking forward to it!) I promise to come back with stories and maybe even some pictures (if I can remember to get my camera out!)

Miss me!