Lessons Learned

These last few weeks starting my new life in a big city...has taught me a LOT... 

• If I had no source of Divine help and my life was left completely up to me...it would be a MESS!!!
• There is no point in trying to do your hair...because within 5 minutes it has wilted
• Always take something to read on the metro...it makes you look more intelligent...and gives you something to do
• Take a seperate pair of comfy shoes to wear to and from work...cuts down on the blisters
• Don't smile at everyone you see on the street...some men will take it the wrong way...
• This is not Utah...everything is more... colorful: the faces...the language...the styles...

One of my favorite lessons:

This last week I went through the self-checkout lane at Giant (don't know why...I hate them) and forgot that I requested $20 cash back.  Luckily Annette was in the next lane...so while I helped her another man came through my lane and asked me if I had used that lane.  Confused...I asnwered, "Yes". 

He smiled and help up the $20 bill!  After thanking him over and over he said, "I just wanted to show you that there are some honest people left in this world."

It doesn't matter where you live...what the crime rate is...there are good people everywhere...thank heaven for that!

Now that is what I call Ironic...

So....I left my phone on a bench at a bus stop....shocker... I didn't realize it until several stops later...panicked...got off the bus and ran (skirt, dress shoes, purse...ALL flying and bouncing about) down several blocks of Crystal City back to the bus stop.  I arrived back at the bench only to find my phone in the hands of some young thug...who honestly looked like a member of a gang...remember those fears I had of getting shot...yeah...well...so did I...

What was I supposed to do???  You know what they say...."Desperate times..." I stand up straight...square my shoulders, boldly march up to him with the most intimidating look I could muster...hand out..."Can I have my phone?"...trying to keep my voice steady.  He looked up at me surprised...then with a disapointed smile handed it over!!! 

That is RIGHT!  "Look at me and my BAD SELF!!" 

Now in my attempt to learn from my past mistakes and prevent future ones (cause I know that it was an act of divine intervention that things turned out the way they did)  I am not only scatter brained...but PARANOID!  I check to make sure I have my phone...keys....or wallet...every 10-15 minutes!  I look like a complete idiot as I suddenly stop wherever I am...sidewalk...metro platform...etc...and pat myself down or look through my purse just to make sure I didn't leave/lose anything....because let's be honest...I don't have the best track record...

MY POOR NERVES

I have always felt like I have had a pretty good grasp on my life... I am usually organized... have a sharp memory....etc.  I remember growing up...watching friends or family who seemed so scattered and spacey, constantly losing this or that...I could NOT understand.

Well...in the last year...I HAVE BECOME THAT PERSON!!!  I don't know if it is the stress...or premature senility setting in...but I feel like my attempt to keep that same "grasp" on my life has become a big joke...almost like convincing myself I can still do the splits...embarrassing...and VERY painful. 

I am only in my mid twenties for heavens sake!  Shouldn't this be the time when I am mentally and physically at the top of my game???  I am too young to be feeling this old!  And it will only get worse.....PANIC!!!!

Keys...phone...debit card...all VERY important...and for some reason I never seem to have them ALL at the same time.  At least one is ALWAYS missing...then the minute I find it....I lose one of the other items.  Something is seriously wrong...(I blame it on a curse...that means it is out of my control...right???)  I went several months unable to find my debit card earlier this year only to find it under one of the couch cushions...and the NEXT day....what happens?  My phone went missing...for several weeks....

Now I find myself....scatter-brained and all...in Washington D.C....anyone else a little nervous???

So far...nothing disastrous...or at least nothing I couldn't handle.....

Washington D.C. - The Next Chapter

 It all began Memorial Day 2010...as we were frantically stuffing the remaining boxes etc. in every available space left in the car and moving van.  Packing finished, it was time for goodbye.  I don't know if it was because Aunt KLynn was so emotional and I can't help but cry when other people do, or if the reality of what I was about to do began to set it...either way...I found myself unable to hold back my sobs as I went down the line and said goodbye to my family.

 Although I have lived away from home for five years, this goodbye seemed different...I knew that I wasn't just saying goodbye to my family...but to a wonderful chapter of my life...a chapter that had been filled with trips home for the weekend to help mom with whatever event or project she would be working on (Women's Conf., home make-overs, canning, reunions etc.), family vacations, late night talks with mom and dad, pillow talk and being immature with Melissa, general conference...when all the family and friends come into town, birthdays, most holidays, weddings, and the many family gatherings and activities.

Let's be honest here...this is what was really going through my head...

WAIT...why am I moving to the next chapter???? I like this one!!!!  WHY did I ever say I wanted this???  I am so STUPID!!!  I don't even have a job...I will probably end up begging on the street...and if I have to spend that much time on the streets I am definitely going to get mugged and killed...I don't have a car...so I will get lost on the streets of D.C....probably at night...yep...I am going to get shot...FOR SURE....I have practically NO money...so when they mug me they will only get angry and THEN kill me...and I don't have ANY friends in D.C....NO ONE will notice if I am dead...and I will just lie there in the streets...dead and alone...

I DON'T WANT TO GROW UP!!!! 

WHY am I doing this again??? Is it too late to change my mind???

...whimper....whipmer....sniff....ahem...pulling myself together

Goodbyes having been said...it was time to leave.  There we were, three ladies stuffed in the cab of a 14 foot moving van with only two bucket seats...YES...I rode all the way across the country on a broken camping chair...now THAT is what I call a ROAD TRIP!!!!  It was definatley memorable...from the beautiful mountains (I can say that cause I had PLENTY of time to admire them...due to the fact that the truck could barely go 20 mph depending on the slope...one particular stretch we couldn't get over 10 mph...semi truckes were literally ZOOMING past...) to the beautiful green plains of Nebraska...and Iowa...and Missouri...and Indiana...(sick of the plains yet...me too...).  Finally in Ohio the plains turned into beautiful, densely wooded, rolling hills.  It only continued to get more and more beautiful the further east we traveled.

Finally...after four LONG days of fast food, endless road kill, swollen feet, hours of staring out the window, gas station bathrooms, a flat trailer tire, and sitting in a broken camp chair...we pulled into Virginia...my beautiful new home.  Suddenly the fear of being so far away from my family, the unknown, and getting shot vanished...in its place...a nervous excitement for the future...a future that lay completely in my hands...to make of it what I will...thus beginning a NEW chapter in the life of one Whitney Hunsaker...

Jumping on the Bandwagon...

I have wrestled with the idea of starting a blog for quite some time. Will I even have anything worthwhile to write about? Who would want to read what I have to say anyway? Will it end up with all my new year's resolutions...goals...or to do lists, after two weeks...when all the motivation and novelty is gone... abandoned and pushed aside by all of life's business?

I loved writing e-mails from China because each one was filled with different...exciting news and stories. There was nothing "every-day" about life in China...and I LOVED sharing. It became a passion...I began to write down EVERYTHING...knowing that it was only a matter of time before my days would become faded memories. I have been home from China for two years now and my letters, originally for family and friends, have become one of the greatest treasures in my life. I find myself re-living those days in China...laughing and crying as I read...remembering how amazing those six months were...and how I saw the hand of God in my life EVERY day.

So...although blogging is usually intended for its readers...my attempt at blogging is more for me than anyone else. My hope is that even if no one reads of cares about what I write, like my letters from China, I can look back at each entry...laugh...cry...shake my head...and remember how amazing my life is even when I am not in another country...but MOST importantly...so I can look back and see the hand of the Lord.