When I walked into the leasing office to look at the apartments, I knew absolutely that I needed to live there. I was ready to sign the lease without even looking at the apartments, and I knew I would make an effort to live there no matter what roommate situation I had to put up with.
Well, the first roommate I had was a disaster. But that enabled - encouraged - me to reach out to people in a way that I normally wouldn't. Which turned out to be...the best.
First I met this girl who loves and accepts without bounds...I seriously am blown away by how much she is willing to give others, and how unceasingly kind she is. Her friendship was the first life-preserver I caught in this new place.
Then I met another girl that knows how to live life to the ultimate capacity - every experience is exciting and precious and worth living! She taught me to really let go and relax (being a massage therapist helps). And to make my life epic!
And then there were two brothers that completed the outfit. They brought rationality, calmness, and intellectualism into the group. What they brought specifically to my life was a better understanding of understanding, including a widened perspective on forgiveness and acceptance. They helped me learn how to implement the positive changes I wanted to make in my life.
I got to know a lot of other people in Draper, but there are a couple of other girls that deserve a specific mention. This girl, who treats everyone equally, no matter what, which is something I admire extremely:
And this girl, who is like mango salsa: sweet and spicy at the same time. She brightens my day and is just plain awesome!:
Now for one of the most important people to mention is my bishop. He said some very profound things to me in our various meetings:
- You don't have to prove anything to anyone. You are already amazing because you are a daughter of God.
- You are beautiful and doing good things (I need to hear that often).
- Do the right thing and the rest will be taken care of. He quoted this scripture to me more than once:
25 aTherefore I say unto you, Take no bthought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? aConsider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, ashall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little bfaith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father aknoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 aBut bseek ye first the ckingdom of God, and his drighteousness; and all these ethings shall be fadded unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take athought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. (Matthew 6:25-34)
So in conclusion, in case you didn't get what I was trying to say in this post, what I learned from living in Draper was to love more and worry less. To give without holding back, and without expecting in return. To forget when you forgive. So many things that sound easy but aren't. Living in Draper was an absolute necessity to make me into the person I really want to be. I will cherish the time I spent there and the people I met there by living better because of them.
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