Started from the Bottom Now I'm Here

So I'm officially half-way done with my last semester at BYU! Wow, almost a college graduate and I still had to try three times to spell officially right. Ahh spell check. What you've done to the youth of the world. English needs to take a lesson from Spanish. Enough of this unnecessary double letter business. So....because of the upcoming changes in my life I've been reflecting recently (and by recently I mean the last 15 minutes) about the things I've learned in my five years since high school. I've decided to list a few of the more significant discoveries (reading back over this blog post I'm not sure if "significant" is the best word choice here...but we'll go with it. Eye of the beholder right?) for you in this next segment I'd like to call:

Things I've Learned In My Five Years Since High School: Part 1 (oooooo foreshadowing)

1. How to take a good selfie. Selfies have become a way of life...if you don't learn to conquer them they will conquer you. 

So remember...lighting is key. It's truly amazing how different you look in good lighting compared to poor lighting...some examples:

Selfies for days

People just don't look good with half faces

See what I'm talking about people??

Also it's all about volume. Volume and variety. One does not simply take one selfie...you must take at least 20 if you're gonna get a good one.

Or I guess in our case you could take at least 20 and still not get a good one. Yeah...we're pros. 

2. The definition of a good friend.

Something else that I've been giving a lot of thought to recently is what makes someone a good friend. As most of us are aware I was pretty much a loner in high school. (A fact that Midge and I enjoy bringing up every once and a while for a good laugh.) In fact I'm one of those rare breed who actually preferred MIDDLE SCHOOL. Can you believe it?? Anyways...back to sad, lonely, friendless high-schooler Emilye...well okay it wasn't really that I was lonely...I was just a loner. I did my own thing and every one else in my school did theirs. I didn't bother them and they didn't bother me. 

Going away (20 minutes away to be exact) to college was a bit nerve-wracking...I worried that it wasn't going to be any better than high school. I was moving in with one of my best friends Kelli...so that was somewhat comforting, but I was still worried about it. Luckily I moved in with some of the greatest girls EVER. I'll always remember the first night that Allie invited me to go watch a soccer game with her. Just me and her. I was like...Oh my gosh! Am I making a friends right now?! Is this what this feels like?? This is such a new experience for me! And it was all up-hill from there. I just slyly inserted myself into a group of girls that had become best friends freshman year. I don't even think they noticed. Actually I heard so much about their freshman year that I'm not positive that I wasn't actually there. Since then I've been able to make lasting friendships with many amazing girls that have been my roommates/companions for the past 5 years. As I started making these friendships I learned a lot about what it takes to be a good friend as an adult (again after reading over this blog maybe adult isn't a perfect word...maybe like a childlike adult.) I'd like to share with you now some of those discoveries of what A Good Friend Is. 

*Note to any friends reading this: if there's a lack of pictures of you on this post it does not mean I love you any less...it can be one of two things. 1. We don't have many pictures together because I didn't have a smart phone when we lived together. 2. That I don't look good in the pictures we do have together. Either could result in you being poorly represented on the blog. Sorry! C'est la vie. 

So without further adieu...A Good Friend Is:

AGFI...someone who will LOUDLY proclaim...oh Messy you're so funny! I can't believe you don't have a boyfriend!...within earshot of a guy you fancy. (Yes, I am a 90 year old woman. And I'm okay with that.)

AGFI...someone who will pick you up from campus. It means a lot.

AGFI...someone who you just can't keep anything from. 

AGFI...someone who can't keep anything from YOU.

AGFI...someone who warns you before they jump on your back. Don't be alarmed.

AGFI...someone you tackle-hug.

AGFI...someone who supports you. 

Okay I'm a HUGE fan of this pic, I totally forgot about it.

The night I opened my mission call

Don't ask me why I didn't have my call in ANY of my pictures

AGFI...someone who thinks EXACTLY like you.

AGFI...someone who thinks NOTHING like you. 

AGFI...someone who stalks you on social media to see when you are in town.

AGFI...someone who will be silly with you.

And most of all...AGFI...someone who makes a husband totally unnecessary! (Don't cry mom...I'm only (sort of) kidding) 

*Note to family: Don't be jealous...I have something similar in the works for yall.

Umm this is a BONUS lesson that I learned as I was writing this post...look what google+ will do to your photos!!! It's so awesome! (and yes those are butterfly tattoos one my arm...what are you going to do about it?) 

And look at these! They are awesome! 

3. How to try new things.

Okay so MAYYYBBEE I haven't exactly mastered this one yet. BUT I'm way better than I used to be. My first few years of college helped me get over my fear of new things a little bit, but the real catalyst was the mission. Going into the mission field was kind of like that moment where the mama bird just pushes her baby out of the nest and it's expected to fly. I've always felt that was a little cruel. The mama bird should be a little gentler with it's baby. Maybe take it down to a lower branch. Let it ride on it's back and get used to the feeling of flying. Give it flying lessons. But no. Nature is cruel. You know....I swear I had a point when I started this paragraph...oh yeah! New things. Well anyways...new things. There are PLENTY of new things that I've done in the five years since mom pushed me out of the nest...you want examples you say??? Well good. Cause I've prepared a few. 

Camping. Okay so this isn't a totally new thing. I was old enough to remember one or two of those dreaded camping trips in Eureka. Oh...and I guess Girls Camp...okay I guess what I should classify this one as is "Enjoying camping" or "Camping I did with my own free will" or the most accurate but slightly long title of "Camping that was short enough that my bladder of steel was able to get me through the whole trip without having to use an outhouse or dig a hole or something." Now that's what I call camping. I also experienced my first...and last...camping trip during the winter. A ground covered in ice and snow should never be combine with paper thin tents. #justsayin #defwasntmyidea

Sports in general...basketball, ultimate frisbee, tennis, long-boarding, soccer...I do it all. Or...I do none of it. One of those two. BUT I've tried it all. And what is that saying there is no do or do not it is only try? Something like that. The only sport I ever really played before college was volleyball, but having some athletic friends has forced me given me the opportunity to play all of these sports...and actually enjoy a few of them. 

Rock climbing. Nuff said. #boss

All sorts of different food. It's always been a family joke that I got to do and eat the most exciting things out of anyone in my family because I was/am/always will be friends with Kelli Floyd. Whenever I mentioned something that I'd done that surprised my family they would say, "Oh, you must have done that with the Floyds." Well even with the Floyds helping me out I still hadn't tried very many different types of food before I moved out to college. Indian food with Abby and Dave, Mediterranean food with Logan, and Mexican/Guatemalan/Cuban food with every Hispanic in Kentucky has really made my taste buds way more cultured. 

Preached the gospel. That was a VERY new thing for me. But you know what they say...once you go Hermana you don't go back. I love my friends, family and my fellowmen (heck I still say things like fellowmen!) more than I ever did before I was a missionary. It's a new thing for me to care so much about other people. (I'm crying way too much now a days) I still love every little Hispanic person that I see. The other day a man came to the door selling tamales...I don't even LIKE tamales yall (I know, I know...I love their other food! I just could never get into tamales...except for one time I had these ones that just had black beans in them. Oh man they were super good, but I digress.) but I HAD to buy some from him. I just loved getting to speak in Spanish with a cute little Hispanic couple. Totally worth it.

Obviously this is not an exhaustive list of the new experiences I've had, but I really want to post this and it's getting to be a SUPER long post. Honestly once I saw those little picture gifs from google+ everything else in this post became irrelevant. I LOVE them. I've watched the one of Coco and I at the football game like 100 times. Also if you go back and look at my previous post I've added the pictures I promised. Love yall!

Blessings