I got a B in one of my classes this last semester. This may sound like no big deal, but it was a deliberate choice I made. It may be difficult for some people to comprehend my achieving, perfectionistic personality, but I was really excited about graduating with a perfect 4.0. I may have slightly overplanned my summer, but I was feeling really burnt out from my internship, crazy class load and COMPS/NCE. I needed a vacation in a major way!
I had already committed to take Andrew to BYU Math camp for the summer, and after Brandon begging to go to Alamosa and visit all his friends, I decided that we might as well drive the extra 18 hours there and back as long as we were already so close. So, just a few weeks into my summer semester and final two classes we packed up and headed out for a two day, twenty hour drive.
It was totally worth it....we had such a fun time visiting our friends, floating the Rio Grande, going to Splashland, eating at SLV Pizza, and most importantly for me, gaining closure to our life in Colorado.
After a very relaxing time, we got back in the car and headed to Utah......not quite as relaxing. This was my driving pattern for the week: (If you are familiar with Utah, you will appreciate the miles I put on my car.) Day 1: Drive from Alamosa to Centerville to drop Brandon off at his friend's house for the week, drive back to Draper to stay with Cami's kids. Day 2: Drive from Draper to Orem to drop off Zachary and then on to BYU to drop off the boys (we had Evan with us for the whole trip) to math camp, quick stop in American Fork to get Connor a new pair of glasses, drive to Thanksgiving point to check out the new Museum of Natural Curiosity which is very cool but also VERY crowded, head back to pick up glasses, drive to BYU to check out the bookstore and have dinner in the creamery and then drive back to Orem to stay at Cousin's house.
Day 3: First stop BYU, back to Thanksgiving Point to check out the gardens and the Dinosaur Museum, go to Orem to hang out for a while, and then BYU and back to Orem for the evening....my slowest day. Day 4: BYU, drop off Nicole at Aunika's house in Saratoga Springs, take Isaac and Connor up to Draper to meet their ride to scout camp, back down to Orem, BYU to pick up boys, and back to Orem. Day 5: BYU, Orem, BYU, Orem, shopping for a few things that I needed. Day 6: BYU, Saratoga Springs to pick up Nicole, Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake to meet Melanie and pick up Brandon & Austin. I must say that the Bird show at the Zoo was the highlight of the week for me. It was absolutely amazing! Back down to BYU to pick up the other boys, up to Orem so Brandon and Austin can get ready for their quadruple date with LaRae and BriAnna, out to dinner and back to Orem.
Day 7: Down to BYU to drop off boys at math camp, go to pick up Zachary from EFY but can't find him, back to Orem, back to BYU where I find him sleeping in a booth at the BYU creamery, back to Orem, pack up our stuff and get the kids, drive up to Centerville to drop off Austin and hang out for an hour, head to the store to get snacks for the trip home, down to Draper to pick up Connor and Isaac from scout camp, out to dinner, go to Cami's house.....fall asleep at 8 pm and wake up at 8 am the next morning.
From there on out it was easy. I drove the 8 hours to Sparks where we spent the night and then drove home with my mom and Lenaya following us.
We spent the week of the fourth together which was an emotional week for us. The anniversary of my dad's death on the 5th will always hold new meaning for me. Still, the week went so much better with family there and we were able to create some new, happy memories.
Isaac was our 6th child for the month. He came out to go to scout camp with Connor only to discover that we had the wrong date....it was a bummer, but I'm still glad we got to have him! (Oh yea, I was still doing homework, taking tests and staying on top of my readings through all this).
Then, a couple of days after they left we went on a fun trip to Bend, Oregon. That was a pretty relaxing trip, and I got a few more assignments done from the hotel between checking out different parks, museums, restaurants, and exploring the town.
The same day we got back from Bend, our friends the Smiths came out for what turned out to be a FABULOUS weekend. We got to go see a beautiful waterfall near Crater Lake together, which reminded me of waterfalling with my dad. We all got along great and stayed up way too late talking. I foresee many wonderful visits now that we live so much closer!
The day after they left, Cami and her family came for a few days. I had a great time catching up and hearing about her trip to Europe. The day after they left, I got my grade back for one of my papers. I got a 68%, because I interpreted the assignment differently than my teacher did, but she gave me the option to redo the paper for a higher grade. I only had one day before the semester ended, and I really thought about doing it. That is all it would take to have a perfect 4.0. Maybe I would regret it forever if I stuck with the original grade. Then I thought about it some more and realized I already have the job I want, no one will care about any of my grades, but the peace of mind to just walk away and be done was more important to me in that moment.
So, I don't have a perfect GPA. And I am okay with that. It reminds me of the Alaskan dream catchers. A native Athabascan woman I met told me that they purposely leave a flaw somewhere in the dreamcatcher, to let the demons out. I guess getting a B is my way to show that I am still human, and honestly after a semester as crazy as this one, having an A and a B is truly miraculous.
Oh, and I am not traveling further east than Reno for the next year!
