10.28.2015

ALOHA


Now that summer's long over and fall is here, I wanted to post these to forever remember the summer of 2015. Hot sun, too much salt water {or is that even possible?}, crazy curls that were never brushed, a Thai food truck, frozen yogurt, laughing, shaved ice, family game night, Polynesian Cultural Center, multiple temple trips, delicious homemade food, gorgeous sunsets, deep talks, spearfishing, speaking Cantonese again, carefree barefoot walks, waking up at 5:30 to see the sunrise, naps, a flat tire. . .

It was the most perfect trip. The most perfect summer.

























10.09.2015

LOVE DEFINED


Right now I'm in a persuasive writing class. We've had to do an essay every week, and sometimes the topic is kind of obscure. Today's was, "What is art?"  Defining something like that is always hard, because it's so subjective. In one person's mind, art may be anything that embodies a feeling. Someone else believes art is anything that is created. Another person may see art in a completely different way.

It got me thinking, though, about how to define other things that may seem hard to define. Since I'm recently engaged, I've been thinking about how to define love.

Love is wonderful (in my own very small experience of loving someone -- I know I'm no expert). When you love someone, you care for them more than you care about yourself. Love is patient, and kind, and selfless. I have found myself caring more about Michael than I ever have about myself.  I want him to be happy. I want him to be healthy. I want him to do well. I feel joy when he succeeds. When he laughs, I feel like my heart is going to explode.

Love can also be terrifying. It's a scary thing to give yourself to someone; there are so many things that make up me, and I'm not proud of a lot of them. At first, I never wanted Michael to see my weaknesses and shortcomings, because I was afraid it would change his opinion of me. I wanted to be perfect in his eyes. But guess what? That's not what love is... at least, that's not what I think it is. Love is seeing and knowing the weaknesses, and looking past them to see someone's potential. Love is helping each other overcome mistakes and shortcomings. True love is extremely Christlike.

I will probably never love perfectly, at least not in this life. But I hope to continue learning about love with Michael. We are only beginning our journey of loving each other, but I am completely in awe of what I've learned in the past few months.

74 more days until forever begins. I can't wait.