Raspberries!

Before leaving the hospital this evening, I pulled my niece onto my lap, and she let me hug and kiss her and tell her how special she is.  Then she told me that there would be no raspberries (She likes giving those.).  I wondered if she thought it would hurt her, or something, so I said, "Maybe next time."  Then she explained that it was dark, and that's why.  So silly sometimes.

The plan is for her to go home tomorrow.  I hope that's how it goes and that she's well and happy and healed in no time.

Psychology

Today I got to visit my niece and hang out at the hospital for awhile.  The word yesterday was that she was grouchy and maybe not excited for visitors.  She must have been feelings better today.  When I walked to her room, she looked through the glass, smiled shyly, and sort of melted into her bed a little, which was cute.  I went in and hugged her, and while we talked, I said something about Buckles, her teddy bear that was there with her.  I erroneously referred to the bear as a male, and she corrected me.  She told me that Buckles didn't like it at the hospital.  Buckles wanted to be at her house.  It was interesting from a psychological standpoint to hear her tell me her feelings by attributing them to her stuffed animal. It also pulled at my heart-strings a little.  Something else that tugged at them was seeing her little body in this big hospital bed; she seems too small to be there.  I love that girl and hope her recovery continues and is speedy.

Nablopomo

Happy Nablopomo 2012.  Yes, it's that time of the year again when I try to remember to blog each day.  Hopefully I will remember and actually post all month long, so I can feel like I have accomplished something - completed some goal, regardless how silly or unimportant.  Stay tuned.  :)

Appendicitis

Today I found out that my niece had appendicitis.  My sister knew she wasn't feeling well; my niece didn't even go trick-or-treating last night, so you know it must be serious.  They went to the doctor today, and he thought she had pneumonia.  He sent them to the E.R., and they figured out that it was really what it was.  They operated and found that the appendix had ruptured (which, from what my sister said, is normally the case for children her age who get it), so she gets to spend several days in the hospital.  And I wonder - how do you keep a child who's not even 4 occupied and in okay spirits in a hospital for that long?  I know that there are other children who spend lots of time in the hospital.  :(

When I found out the news earlier today I thought about modern medicine and how grateful I am to live in the time I do.  Otherwise - well, I don't like to think about it.  I'm glad to live in a prosperous country, too, where there's access to help.

Youth

First of all, I've been looking at the statistics for who visits my silly little blog, and I want to say thank you to those who do.  And to those of you in Russia - wow.  So cool.  Isn't it neat how technology helps to make the world smaller and more connected?

Okay, now for the post:

In my church, we take turns serving in different unpaid positions.  We don't choose them, but we believe that our church leaders are inspired to call us to serve in those different positions.  A couple of years ago or so, I was asked to be in the Stake Young Women presidency.  A stake is a geographical region.  Within a stake are many wards (congregations).  Within each ward is a young women program, which is for girls between the ages of 12-18.  So what I do is work with the ward young women leaders who are part of my stake - does that make sense?

This evening we had a youth fireside (devotional?) for our stake.  All of the youth, boys and girls, from 12-18 years of age were invited to attend.  Unfortunately, there was not much of a turnout.  For those of us who were there, though, I feel like it was a really great evening.  There were five people who spoke, and the topic was service.  Two of the speakers were teenagers - one boy and one girl.  They did such a great job.  I was especially impressed with the boy who spoke.  He talked about how serving others is necessary for one to be happy.  He also made some comment like, "You can do all of the cookie-cutter [good] things, but if you don't give service that's all you are - a cookie-cutter."  He also mentioned how many people today are not accustomed to being served, which I think can be true. It's easy for us to be self-serving and to get so caught up in our busy lives that we don't reach out to others like we should.

I was just impressed to hear this boy, who seems to understand how wonderful service is and how necessary and important it is.  Teens can really be given a bad rap, but there are some very amazing ones, and I was glad to be with some of them tonight.

Amnesia

This weekend I met up with a guy who was passing through on his way home from some job training. He added a new one to my list of interesting issues from the guys I meet.  Amnesia.  I don't know if I've ever met someone with amnesia before.  He claims to not remember anything before this war injury from about a decade ago.  Can you imagine having a good portion of your life erased from memory?  So weird.  He said something like it's not strange to him because he doesn't know what it is that he doesn't recall.  I don't know if I'd feel the same way; I kind of hope I never find out.

He also said that there are certain emotions that he doesn't feel now, so I offended him by kind of asking if he's a sociopath.  Ahem.  I know that's not the most flattering thing to ask someone, but I was trying to understand.

Fall Break

I just got back from my fall break - I didn't post last Sunday because I was vacationing.  It was a good week, and it included several first (and last) dates.  Picnic dinner and walk, corn maze, putt-putt and ice cream.  I think the putt-putt guy was my fave, but there wasn't really chemistry with any of them.  So it started out as a kind of exciting week with new people to meet and fun to look forward to, and it ended in a little depression and questions such as:

• Is it worth it to go out with a ton of guys - does that actually help you find a keeper, or does it just mean a lot more "not going to go anywhere" dates?
• Should I stop paying money to a site to "meet" people?
• Will I ever find anyone I connect with?

Okay, a little dramatic, but you get to feeling a little dramatic sometimes when you don't see success.

Other than that, it was a good week, and now I've actually been to a corn maze.  It was really nice to go to my mission reunion and see my mission president and his wife, as well as a couple of missionaries I served with.  I got to spend some time with my brother and his family, and I watched a bunch of Monk with my grandma, which is always a good time.

General Conference was amazing, as always.  As I go back through the talks, maybe I will post on them.