A Wedding Toast

As a school assignment I had to write a toast as a writing exercise. The toast could be for an event and person of my choice, so just to get in the extra laughs I chose a wedding toast for Zach! So sorry Zach, although sadly not too much so obviously since I actually followed through with it! Here goes nothing from an inexperienced sixteen year old who's never toasted and doesn't recall having heard anyone toast another person!

"I would like to toast to the marriage of one of my best friends, Zach; someone I've been friends with nearly my entire life. I remember we used to sit next to each other in preschool story time: even back then he was hardly ever to be found without book in hand. It's been a long, difficult life's journey, and now I rejoice in this newest member of our tightly knit band of friends and family: a companion for Zach. I am unbelievably honored to be here, celebrating a marriage between two such wonderful people. They've been a great blessing in my life so far, and I hope they continue to grace me in this manner for many years to come. Best wishes to you and may your marriage thrive, Zach and _______. Good luck!"

Potluck and State

This Friday we had the first teen event in forever! It was a teen potluck and my mom and I went to pick up the Fillmore kids to take with us, Brenten, Brenna and Bryce. We drove to the park, and shortly after arrived Zach and Emily, Derek, Megan, Sarah, Taylor, Andrew L, Morgan, Andrew V, Maddy, Claire and Christian, who showed up barefoot! We played tag and I pushed some of the younger siblings on the tire swing. We ate lunch and I took the chance to teach both Morgan and Megan to play speed. Megan almost beat Brenten on her first game with him too! Christian showed some card tricks he knew and some of the group went off to play dodgeball. Maddy, Claire, Christian and I had other ideas, however, and broke out the plastic bat and whiffle balls and convinced the dodgeball players to join us for whiffle ball. It was wild and funny as we all ran around chasing the little plastic ball around tree bases. I even managed to obtain my usual injury by running "home," skidding bast the tree and flying onto the concrete, scraping my arms and legs. My "Ouch!" as I sat up was met by a burst of laughter and sarcastic remarks: "You didn't have to SLIDE into home, Halie!" But we quit after a while and while some wanted to return to their dodgeball game, I convinced first Derek and then the rest of the group to go back for dessert, I'd made dutch apple pie, Derek made a "hoho cake," Em made peanut butter cookies and there was more too :D. All too soon we had to go and my mom drove Brenten, Brenna, Bryce and I to their gym. We set in helping right away, getting the gym ready for state the next day. We strung barriers, cleaned chairs, and more. Brenten and Brenna showed me around, I jumped on THE bounciest tramplines I've even been on and we jumped into a couple foam pits. It was dark when we walked out into the parking lot after everyone else had left, tired and hungry. Brenten and I rode to In N Out and the pharmacy with Mrs. Fillmore and I got to try one of the grilled cheeses I've heard so much about. It was really good actually! When we got back Brenten, Brenna and I played nuts and speed at the kitchen table in the fifth wheel until late when Mr. Fillmore reminded us that Brenna and Brenten had to compete the next day and should get sleep. The next morning I woke up to the sound of people talking about breakfast burritos in the parking lot. I lay there, listening and wondering what time it was. Brenna soon showed up wearing her competition clothes. She was out the door and in the gym before I was out of bed. Brenten crawled out of bed much later, looking tired and uncomprehending and sat at the table, staring at the wall in front of him all the while I got my stuff together. But finally we woke up a little and made our way into the gym as well. As I went to brush my teeth I thought I heard someone shout "Halie!" but when I looked up and around I couldn't see anyone I knew so I went back to what I was doing. When I came walking back out of the bathroom from brushing my teeth, though, I found Jordan, much to my surprise, accompanied by Brenten and Nick whom I was promptly introduced to. We mostly wandered around, joking and talking, Jordan, Brenten and I mainly. We played Speed, texted each other from across the room and helped out some too. Jordan and Brenten each bought one of the breakfast burritos and said they were pretty awesome, but I didn't eat one, I'm just not hungry in the morning! We hung out in the parking lot for the sun and texted people and went on an "adventure" around the side of the building. Jordan prank called a couple people and we played a lot of Speed. I had to leave shortly after Brenten competed but not before I had to get ready for my recital. I walked into the gym wearing a black dress and looking about as out of place as I could get among all the gymnasts and judges. Jordan had to get in his teasing, he laughed, "Halie you're funny, you just walk in here in that and are all 'He-ey!'" We'd been saying "He-ey!" all day! The recital was pretty fun, too, Zach played both guitar and piano!

On Jealousy

Lately I've been thinking about jealousy. It's such an odd emotion! People are jealous for a wide variety of reasons, they're jealous of money, material posessions and the attentions of other people mostly. And one reason jealousy is so hated, I think, is not only because it's an unhappy emotion, but because it sneaks up on a person. You don't see jealousy coming, you just feel it in an oncoming burst when you're most vulnerable and upsetable. When you're most likely to be sucked in to the rocky bottom of the vortex and have your bare soul scraped and scarred. And the funny thing about jealousy is it wears many disguises and uses many methods. It can disguise itself as despair or anger, or even more pleasing emotions. It can wear a pleasant mask so you think you're doing something for justice or "the common good" when really it couldn't be more selfish. People become jealous of other peoples' material posessions and covet them unashamedly. People fight for other peoples' attention in as childlike a manner as a five year old whose mother has noticed another child's accomplishments. People even become jealous of their girlfriend, boyfriend, fiancee, husband, wife, relative or just friend's time. Why do we feel this way? Is it a controllable thing? I think so in some ways. In the case of time jealousy I think it would help a lot if we stopped to consider the situation in a reasonable light. For this is all too often the very beginning of jealousy: irrationality, fear and doubt. For if you examine the situation closely with an unbiased eye is it really that big of a deal if so and so has a nicer car than you? Will it matter in ten years how much coveted praise was poured on an undeserving target by someone close to you? And if your girlfriend really had interest in someone else and made this apparent in their actions are they really worth your time, worry and jealousy? If everyone was content with what they had, remembered they could fully trust a worthwhile friend and attention from anyone but God isn't something to be too coveted could we, then, eliminate jealousy? Probably not. But I think we could make things better. Who knows. But it's just an interesting thought. Why DO we have jealousy over stupid inconsequential things? Is it worth our anger? Our sadness, rejection, dispair, fury etc?