Out With the Old, in With the New

Holy wow. I haven't been on here in over 2 years.

Well...2017 was interesting, but things were still good. Hang on a sec while I look through my photos to remember what happened. lol. K now I remember.

2017 was the year I first met my bestie, Heather. It was also the year where I went on so many summer adventures with said bestie. I met Michael in July and we dated for a few months then broke up this last December. The same summer I semi-officially started my current job at SUU working as a herpetology intern. I joined Animal Ambassadors that fall and eventually became part of the presidency as the fund-raising chair. Heather became our president. I kept my job at Dairy Queen working as a manager and Heather actually worked there with me from May until mid January this year in 2018. Hmm...I started going to the gym more seriously this last fall and I have not regretted anything since. I have learned that challenging myself physically is something I will always enjoy and aspire to keep up on. We also took family photos (Kind of a big deal).

So, let's talk about Heather for a sec. She's an important staple in my life. I met her when I joined Animal Ambassadors club on campus. I found out about the club on a post via Instagram. I emailed the club owner, Dr. Heyborne (also one of my first professors I had) and the rest was history. The first time I really had any, shall we say, interaction with her was at the homecoming parade. While we were walking down University Blvd, she kept pestering me to hurry. Apparently I was falling behind from the rest of the group, and that was probably because I was letting the crowds interact with my rat snake I had around my neck. I didn't even know her name then.

I had a couple of classes with her, but the only one I really got to know her in was our microbiology lab. She was the only person I recognized so I immediately wanted to be her lab partner. Good thing too because if I'm being honest, I was an idiot and knew nothing about that class. I can honestly say that she got me through it. We worked together on the experiments with her telling me what to do. The experiments were interesting sure, but like the class, it was ridiculous sometimes. Dr. Gold was a great guy, but he had unbelievably high expectations for us undergraduates. 


That summer Heather stayed in Cedar City. I was genuinely interested in getting to know her. So one day I posted on Facebook that I wanted to go hike Angel's Landing. I had park entrance tickets and just needed a brave soul who would go with me. To my surprise, she wanted to and from there our relationship gradually grew. I took her out to many of my favorite places around Southern Utah. Most of them were hikes either in Cedar or in St. George. We did go to a place called Little Jamaica which is in Littlefield, AZ. We went from hanging out a couple times a week to nearly every day thanks to her working with me. Those were some of my happiest days.

We stayed very close when school started and have been very close ever since. Animal Ambassadors took off with us in the presidency. We worked together, went to the gym together, went to church together...the works. I didn't have any classes with her that time around. She became so important to me as I really began to realize just how alike we are. Never would have imagined it; life is full of surprises. I really needed a best friend that year and I was blessed with the very best. I will never forget when she told me that she prayed that she would really connect with someone when she went to college and that I was that answer to that prayer. I had never felt so important to someone. I knew I loved her long before she told me that. I can't tell you what it's like to have someone return your feelings. Exhilerating? Sure. Makes you so happy you actually cry? Yeah. 

Towards the end of the year is when things took a turn for both of us. (Incoming sad times...) We both broke up with our boyfriends for one. Ask me about how much fun that was. Then I find out that she got a wonderful job opportunity in North Salt Lake and that she was moving in 2 weeks. 2 days after that, I found out my financial aide was cutting me off. This happened all within a week. 

Talk about worst week ever. 

Technically it didn't have to be that way, but I needed to know where Michael and I were standing in our relationship since we were almost to 5 months. I broke it up once things were turning sour. He didn't want the same things as me (temple marriage). She took care of me that night. I was able to return the favor on New Year's Eve. While she hadn't broken up with him yet, the stress and anxiety that had been going on for awhile all came out. I'm the kind of friend where if I'm needed, I will drop everything and go. We were going to hang out New Year's Eve anyway, but once I got that text, I rushed over. I didn't know I would be spending the night, but I regret nothing. I was grateful I was able to help her when she needed it. 

So fast forward to 2018. Everything up until this point has remained the same, until yesterday. February 4th was when I first made my decision to transfer to Weber State University. Never thought I would end up doing it but I'm excited and crazy nervous. I didn't pray about my decision, but I knew it was the right one. See, I had been thinking a lot about my future career with animals and honestly, I don't think living in Cedar City will get me very far. I found a zoology degree program at Weber up in South Ogden, nearly 4 hours away. Like I said, excited, nervous, more excited. Heather is going there this coming fall as well, so we are going to try and get a place together. I hope things all work out.