Seven Years of Plenty

On Thursday and Friday of last week I graduated from BYU with a B.A. in English Teaching. Wow! The time since I first arrived as a freshman has flown by! Of course I did have a two-year break when I served a mission in South Africa-- but that included, these past seven years have been unquestionably the best of my life!

I remember being a wide-eyed freshman and thinking there could be nothing so wonderful as college. I lived with my friends, I chose my classes, and I did my homework wherever I wanted. I loved walking around campus, eating lunch by myself in the sun, and meeting friends to study in the library (we had a special spot on the 4th floor in the Asian section). I learned quickly that if you were smart, BYU campus offered lots of free food, interesting lectures, and a million ways to have fun (the best was the Honors Great Works discount cards-- $2 for any show in the HFAC!!). That first year my most memorable classes were HP 200 Freshman Writing with Deirdre Paulsen, MFHD 210 Human Development, and Book of Mormon. I would come home from class every day SO excited to tell my roommates what I had learned. I was such a nerd! :-)

BYU is also the place where I have grown the most spiritually-- as much as my mission or more. It is the place I first seriously studied the Book of Mormon, where I learned that there is no line between study and faith, and where I learned from the lives of those who lived as Christian scholars. I always had faith, but at BYU I learned how to live my faith.

More than anything I will remember the people of BYU. My roommates: Becca, Kelli, Tiff, Aubrey, Abby, Sabrina, Lia, Ashley, Annelies, Amanda B., Amanda S., Jessica, Sarah, Julianne, Jenny, and now Allison. Whew! That is a lot of people!! And each one touched my life and taught me important lessons. At the Humanities Convocation on Friday morning, one of the speakers did a tribute to her roommates at BYU. I thought about how my roommates are tribute worthy and how I will keep in touch with them for the rest of my life.

I will always treasure my two years with Becca, Tiff and Kelli (I was a bridesmaid for all three of their weddings)-- and my third year with Kelli. We had so much fun and got through a lot together. The girls really are fine in 99! And my 2nd year in the Colony (342) with Kelli, Lia, and Ashley was one of the best at BYU. I learned SO much from Lia and Ashley about faith, confidence, and prayer.

My roommates at BYU before my mission were so wonderful, I was worried about returning after all of them had moved on. But I was blessed with even more treasured friends. Annelies who I had served with me in ZA wanted to room together, and that was the best thing ever! I tell Annelies all the time that she's such an easy roommate, my future husband has quite the standard to live up to. Living with her for 2 years straight has taught me so much about listening, love, and letting things go because she listens to me, loves me even when I'm stressed, and lets every dumb thing I do go.

Then there is Jenny. I invited her to live with Annelies and I a year ago, and I had no idea what a blessing for me that would be. We're in the same major, and Jenny started her internship teaching 7th grade 4 months before I began my student teaching. Jenny was my advisor, coach, and counselor as I got through student teaching. She's my current empowerment partner!

The two "random" roommates I've gotten the past two years--Amanda Bagley Lewis and Julianne Dana are both kindred spirits. I don't understand how you can find friends that fit you so perfectly, but these girls do. I feel so strongly we were destined to be friends. I lived with Amanda in Wellington II #32 and then Julianne in Victoria Place II #13, and each holds a special place in my heart. They are "forever friends"!!

And this is just skimming the surface. There have been SO many more dear friends, ward members, co-workers, and professors that have changed my life. BYU has made me who I am today, and just like the student who spoke at commencmenet said, I will never be able to "move on" from BYU. It will always be a part of me. I know there are lots of great univserities in the world, but I can' t think of any that would fit me better than BYU. Go Cougars!


(Note: The title of this blog does suggest that the next seven years of my life will be lived in famine. However, my life before these past seven years was also wonderful, so I really don't think the cycle of bounty and famine is at work in my life.)