Stress and Joy

Earlier this week I was driving down the road with my window down, a good song on the radio, and feeling the autumn wind. At moment it hit me: I love simply being. That thought alone made the day go a little bit better. Speaking of: funny story.

A few weeks ago I was driving from Logan to American Fork in my amazing Toyota Echo with no A/C. I rolled my window down and rocked out to Glee while doing that thing where you let your arm ride the wind.

After a minute the guy in the car in front of me started doing the same thing. I laughed and did it back. He then did a thumbs up, I did one too. I did a "hang loose", he copied. We did this for a few minutes when he pulled over one lane and motioned for me to come up next to him. I did. He started shouting out numbers across our small space between the cars. I put said numbers into my phone and called him. He answered and we talked for about 45 minutes. Most of the conversation went like this:

Him: You are so beautiful! (even though later on he couldn't tell me what color of hair I had)
Me: Thank you.
Him: Do you believe in fate?
M: um...
H: Because I do. Have you ever picked up a guy on the freeway before?
M: No... have you?
H: No this is my first time! I totally believe in fate.
M: Yeah... maybe we're meant to be friends.
H: Or girlfriend boyfriend.
M:.....
H: You are just so beautiful! I am such a gentleman. I would be so good to you! I'd come up to Logan to see you every week. I open doors, give flowers. And I don't do it for the physical stuff (he was slightly more straight-forward than that) but you know, if you want to we can!
M:......
H: Are you LDS?
M: Yes. I am.
H: Oh me too!

You get the picture. This ended when I told him I was in love with someone else. He told me he didn't think I could marry that someone else because it'd be a while before I could do it. I told him I was most likely going to. That's when things got awkward and we hung up. He texted me one last "You are so beautiful!" and I haven't heard from him since.

I have a theory that when life gets stressful we often lean back on what was comforting to us in the past. For me those things have been three-fold. Number one: Superman Ice Cream


Whose childhood was complete without this delicious treat? So much sugar, but amazing all the same.

Number two: Star Wars

When Jessica and I were younger and Star Wars: Episode 1 came out we became a little obsessed. We selected masters for ourselves. Hers was Obi-Wan, mine was Adi Gallia at first, but then she was killed so Yoda took over. Anyways. As pictured above, the action figures we bought came with little chips. We put those on chains and used them as our "protection" when we were alone. I know it sounds silly but it did make us feel safer when we were alone. Lately I've felt in need of comfort/ protection and have really wanted to put this back on. I have a Star Wars box somewhere, I just need to find it.

And number three:

NSYNC. Their soothing lyrics and smooth harmonies have carried me through good and bad in my life.

Luckily, I have also discovered new comforts along the way. The two most important are, first: roommates.
They have been awesome! Every day they find a way to make my life a little brighter. (Note: not all are pictured)

And last but not least:
How I Met Your Mother! It's like a friend in a box. And the best part is: when there's a funny moment, the show laughs with you. You know when you're watching a funny movie all by yourself and the sound of your own laugh echoes awkwardly through your house? Shows like this solve that. Even though they're not from a real audience, these laughs make me feel like it actually is funny and I'm not laughing at a hallucination or something.

That's my life right now. Thanks to those of you who read the whole thing! I know it was long.