Most of You know that I give tours of USU campus to prospective students on a weekly basis. I used to honestly dread giving a tour, but the more I give them, the more I love Utah State and LOVE sharing it with other people. I gave a tour this weekend to my friends younger sister and some of her friends... it was a little less formal than most tours I give, but as I took them through a somewhat dead campus, I had an epiphany or two (or three or four)!! Sometimes, I say there is nowhere else I would rather be right now than at USU, doing exactly what I am, but this time, I felt it! As we walked through old main, I could touch every memory that I have had within those walls. I could hear every word that was spoken there... some of a crazy archaeology professor and his misanthrope comments, others of greetings to friends, laughter from being a youth counselor, and frustration of Youth conference leaders with their youth being locked out of their dorms! I then took them through the ESLC, the building I frequent every Tuesday for Ambassador meetings. While there I sense my progression from my first meeting as an Ambassador... wondering, "what in the heck am I doing here, these people are leaps and bounds better than I am!"... to now, where I still greet feelings of inadequacy, but they are muffled by my sense of belonging and home among some of my best friends! We then traveled on through the quad, stopping for a quick snowball fight, and I remember rockwalls, frisbees, volleyballs, and golf carts, carboard, "squeez-its", ceran wrap, and lazy sunday summer afternoons. It is a tribute to the fact the most joy is uncovered in the simple moments of life. These for grass (often snow covered) squares speak to that fact. We walk a little further to find my sanctuary, the place where I sometimes feel heaven touches earth. Its nothing spectacular, but to me, it embodies beauty... trees, that have grown and strechted heavenward, longer than I have been alive, meet over the cobblestones in an arch like greeting, ready to lock me up in their "london-bridges" chant. I could stand there for hours, smelling pine needles, watching raindrops gather in the cracks, gathering perfect snowflakes on a winter coat, breathing in a fresh breeze that carries with it the essence of tulips, roses, and soil. But these senses pail in comparison to capturing my own snapshot of people, minds that are expanding and learning about the world in ways similar yet incomprehensibly different than my own. It is those moments, that I often readjust my lense sometimes speeding up my shutter speed to let in only a little light... but more often slowing it down to a more heaven-like view... full of light and hope in my brothers and sisters that pass by. I often hesitate to understand why I am in such a beautiful place, and how it is I got here, but I rember thats not the point. The point is that I am. I am content. I am happy. I am learning. I am loved. I am known. I am worth knowing. I am a student. I am a friend. I am a roomate. I am a daughter. I am a sister. I am implicitly divine.
