My Autobiography
I am not one
to say that I’ve overcome insurmountable obstacles in my life. In fact, I would
probably say that my life has been as close to Hollywood perfect as humanly
possible. I fell in love with the best friend I met while serving a mission. My
parents married as high school sweethearts and are still in love with each
other to this day. I have never known true hunger or homelessness and I’ve had
the opportunity to attend a university that offers one of the best educations
in the country. You might say that I began life with “living happily ever after”
stamped in invisible ink on my forehead. Instead, I want to show how my
blessed, always happy circumstances have made me the woman I am today.
Growing up
in the LDS community in a time where Disney shaped a little girl’s perception
of Prince Charming, I didn’t worry too much about finding the “right guy” for
me because I just figured he’d appear when he was ready. I had other plans
anyway. I wanted to serve a mission and since women could only serve at 21 or
older at the time, I saw no rush to get married. After the mission, that’s when
the panic set in. I was beginning to feel like I was too old to date Provo boys
anymore when an elder with whom I’d had the opportunity to serve came home from
his mission. We were so glad that we could have a boy-girl friendship without
marriage hanging over our heads because he was seeing someone and I was sort of
seeing someone. One day it occurred to us that we could actually date each
other! To make a long story short, we did date and we did get married. This
choice has been a blessing in so many ways because we are different enough to
have balance in our relationship, without being so different or so similar that
we just feel at each other’s throats all the time. I have learned to be more
patient and understanding of a differing point of view because I married this
man.
Speaking of
marriage, my parents’ marriage has been another great life-molding blessing in
my life. My mom and dad were high school sweethearts. It was a classic country
boy falls in love with the new girl. When my dad went on his mission, my mom
told him she wouldn’t wait for him but would happily pick things up if she was
still available when he got home. Things just seemed to work after that. My
parents’ example has taught me that marriage takes work but should be an
enjoyable work. I have learned to love deeply and openly from them.
My parents
also taught me the role of the parent is to support and raise their child. I
was raised in a home that always had heating or cooling (depending on the
appropriate weather). I always had food to eat and clothes to wear. I may not
have always worn clothes purchased for first time use or eaten gourmet meals,
but I have always had more than enough to live. When I went to BYU, I didn’t
have the money saved up to pay my own way for tuition and I didn’t have the
grades for a scholarship. I didn’t even have the excuse of saving for a mission
because I didn’t pay for that myself either. My parents paid my tuition until I
was old enough to obtain grants. My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles all
pitched in for my mission fund. From this, I learned to be a woman of
generosity and to put my children’s needs above my own.
Overall, my
life has been comparatively easy. But it is through the blessings of home,
parental example and overabundance of love from my spouse that I have become
the woman that I am today. I am a woman of generosity, a woman of love and
compassion, and a woman of patience. I have been truly blessed to have
wonderful blessings to help me learn to be this woman I have become today.
