Spring is in the Air!

Spring is definitely here! Well, at least we think it is. I guess in Utah "spring" means five days of 50 - 70 degree weather, followed by five days of snow and freezing weather. But, here at BYU there are other things that come with the advent of spring...

One of the most annoying parts of spring at BYU is the advent of apartment shopping for all the freshmen, and also all the upperclassmen who have decided to move. I can't tell you how many apartment tours I've given. Nor can I tell you how annoying it is when they occur ten minutes after I get out of the shower and I'm attempting to get ready. Apartment shopping also means new roommates... As for me, I'm staying in the same apartment. I love the location, the ward, and the apartment, so I really have no complaints, aside from the problems I've had with my roommate this year. Plus, I own my own piano, or at least I'm working on owning it, and it's just silly to move it! It turns out that all of my roommates are moving out (one's getting married). My initial reaction was thank goodness! However, I am going to miss my roommate Tiffany, who is one of my best friends and one of the sweetest girls ever. Seriously, no one can be mad to or mad at Tiff. Luckily, she's just moving to another apartment in the same complex, so I will still see her pretty often. I was worried, however, about getting three new roommates. When you don't know them, and sometimes even when you do, it's pure luck if you will get along. I've learned the hard way, this year, how miserable it can be when you don't get along. Fortunately, last night I found out that I will be living with three sweethearts that already live here in my complex. They are absolutely adorable, and I'm really excited. I think this is one of the few changes that I am going to be okay with, and even enjoy!

Everywhere else, February is the month of love. Not here. That's cliche. No, here we celebrate several months of love, beginning March 1st and ending somewhere around August. Let me illustrate my point. I have this apartment of six guy friends in my ward that are awesome. In fact, they are adored by about every girl in the ward, and every girl they know. They truly are amazing! Well, about a week and a half ago, in the space of about three days, all but one of them got a girlfriend! No, really, I'm serious. Now, I don't resent this at all. They are all adorable couples, in fact, one of them is dating my best friend, and we are all very happy for them. But really, it all happened in the space of a few days!

It seems that dating, unless you are steadily dating someone, goes into hibernation with the bears during the winter months. I have lots of really fun guy friends that I love hanging out with, and I never go on dates, which really is completely fine with me. Folks, I kid you not, I have been on three dates in the last 10 days! I had so much fun with three different, but equally incredible and fun guys. Seriously, though, what is going on? Things like this just don't happen! It seems like suddenly the boys have come out of hibernation and even the girls that they're just friends with are date-able! Hey, I'm not complaining, just commenting!

Along with dating comes a flurry of marriage proposals, and huge life-changing events. I have three close friends getting married within three weeks of each other this spring. Two other friends are leaving on missions, and one is even having a baby. Some are graduating and leaving to go to grad school. Still others are preparing for and taking the most important tests of their lives, and applying to medical, dental, or law schools all over the country. And, while sometimes I feel left behind, I'm realizing that all of us are growing up, including me.

I got my cohort assignment last week. I'm assigned to the Wasatch school district. I will spend one month during each of the next two semesters teaching daily in this district. After that, I will intern in that district for one school year. Following my internship, I am guaranteed a job, and second-year teacher pay in the district. I'm excited about my assignment because it will require me to drive through the Provo Canyon twice a day, and I absolutely love the canyon. It's also really nice to know what I will be doing for the rest of my stay in Utah.

The other day my playlist was on random, and Graduation by Vitamin C came on. You know, that really cheesy song that they play on every high school graduation video. I seriously haven't listened to it since high school graduation, which was a good three years ago. I remember we thought that our friendships were really going to last forever. We thought that no one would ever be able to replace our high school friends. Thanks to facebook.com we're better able to keep in touch, but, we all have completely new lives, and we are almost completely different people. I remember sitting and talking to my twenty-something year old cousin a few weeks after graduation, and he told me that the friends that would really make a difference in my life, and the ones that I would really always keep in touch with were the ones I would yet make in college. At the time, I didn't believe him for a moment. Now, I'm realizing he was completely right.

As I listened to the song, I realized that these experiences we're having now are the real thing, and they're so much bigger and more important than any we ever had in high school. A lot of the things in the song made a lot more sense, and applied so much more with all the big changes coming this summer and next summer. Here are some of my insights:

We spend a lot of time talking about the rest of our lives, and our big dreams for the future, but it goes beyond when we turn 25 because some of us are turning 25 this year. I think I did have a notion that things were never going to change, but, they are changing, and we really are growing up and going our very own separate ways. We're getting the big jobs, and making the big money, or at least we will be soon. Our jokes are still funny, and I'm pretty sure they always will be. Even a year later, we laugh at our crazy antics, and stupid mistakes. We've proven that we can survive, even succeed, on our own. Suddenly, we are women and men, going on missions, dating, getting jobs, getting married, and having children. But these really are the memories that will never fade, although the high school memories have. And while this is good-bye for some of us, it is our time to fly, and we will keep in touch. And truly,

As we go on we remember all the times we had together. And as our lives change, come whatever, we will still be friends forever. Literally. Our friendships and bonds of love are eternal. What a beautiful promise. So, when the mission calls, wedding and birth announcements, dental and law school graduations come, we'll be there, cheering each other on, even though we'll be miles and miles apart, our friendships will only change, not end.