If You Can't Sleep

I am a sympathetic person.

Last night I talked to my friend Josh on the phone, about midnight his time. He's been suffering from insomnia. I didn't know it was contagious, and I didn't know you could contract over cell-phone, but I did.

So last night while I tossed and turned, tried sleeping on the couch, tried sleeping in my chair, and ended up sleeping upside down on my bed (don't ask me why this helped-- it still took a lot of time, and I ended up drawing all over myself with a pen out of boredom... I had some nice blue tats on my feet this morning, pre-shower), I started thinking about things that make me happy. There are just so many wonderful things in life one forgets about, getting caught up in the every-day rigmarole. So, I thought I'd share part of my list:

* My freshman year at the Brigham, I lived in the dorms, and there was a tunnel leading to Helaman Halls. One day, the rain poured down and filled the tunnel with about two and a half feet of water. As I approached, there was a group of boys shuttling girls two and fro via piggyback. At first I declined the offer for a "ride," but one of the boys scooped me up, and delivered me safe and dry to the other side. It was such a funny and small thing, but it still brings a smile to my face.

* One of my favorite trips of all time was going to Prague with Andrew. By the way, did I mention he's engaged? I'm SO happy for him. In case you've been living in a cave, Andrew is a boy I've hero-worshipped for about seven years now. I've always positively loved him, but in a he's-at-the-top-of-a-pedestal way. I think he's the coolest. So my second summer in Poland, we did a lot of fun things together. We shared nalesniki at a great cafe in Lublin. He let me give him a mud-mask (as did all the other people in our group). We'd sit out on my balcony for hours, not really talking, but just being there, while I'd contemplate how my carefree days were slipping away, but I just really savored it. Anyway, we took a weekend trip to Prague, and I remember having dinner with him outside the Palac Nauki i Kultury in Warsaw. The Poles hate the building, a "gift" from the Russians. But we sat in its shadows, eating bread and fruit and drinking juice, waiting for our train to Prague.

While in Prague, we walked across the Charles Bridge a dozen times, and talked about the weirdest things. While we were at breakfast each day at our hotel, I'd speculate that the other people around us assumed we were married, and I loved it.

* Sometimes I think about my old neighbor, Peter McKellar. I'd go over to his apartment and we'd play 'Round the World Ping-Pong, and then he'd sit us down and read to us from his favorite book, "Letters from a Nut." Peter could barely breathe, he'd laugh so hard. I loved laughing with our friends.

* One of the best things to ever happen at my apartment was watching my friends Nate and Kari right after Nate got back from his mission. We'd all gone to our friend Eddie's concert, and Sean bought us ice cream because he'd finally kissed his girlfriend Heather. I watched N & K sit shyly next to my Christmas tree as Kari played Sarah Mclachlan's "Song for a Winter's Night" over and over again on my stereo. I still think of them (and now their two daughters!) every time I hear that song.

* Speaking of Christmas lights, sometimes I look back to the evenings looking out my dorm-room window, watching the snow fall softly in the glow of the colored lights Brittany and I strung for a little pre-finals festivity. I loved to watch the lights and the snow as my friend Eric Otto and I talked on the phone late into the night.

* Speaking of Sean (up a paragraph or two), sometimes I just think about us grocery shopping together. I love Sean McKissick and always will (in a completely appropriate way). Sometimes I marvel that if I'd not been friends with his girlfriend Heather, I might not have ever had my college bestie.

* Speaking of best friends, sometimes I think about Sokphal, and the moment I knew she'd be my friend for life. It had been a snowy day, and I'd walked carefully up to campus, avoiding the ice. Our professor was snowed in on the mountain where he lived and couldn't make it to class, so a group of us decided to walk to the library. I manage the trip and fall head over heels on the only DRY spot of ground I'd encountered that day. Sokphal laughed and laughed. And I laughed too.

Surely there is more, but now I'm off to shop with Jetaya. It'll remind me of shopping with Pam, my No. 1 enabler. I love shopping with my girls. Like the time Vanessa and I went to Target after we'd both had the crappiest of days. Oh, I have a good life! And great friends. So I'm almost glad I didn't sleep so I could think about them last night.

PS. Another one of my all-time best nights was drinking sparkling cider with Josh in a vacant field on New Year's Eve. I love him and am thankful for him too!