Happy Halloween

Why are haunted houses so scary? They're not, really. It's all fake, and we know that...so how come everytime my little sisters and I go past the "spooky house" or go through a real haunted house we get so scared?

For our ward carnival, they did a spook alley. Ok, I'm sixteen, and my little sister is thirteen, but when we walked through that dark maze together, we got scared. But it's not just the creepy masks that are scary, it's the people jumping out at you, taking you by surprise.

When I took my eleven year old sister and all her friends past the spooky house, they wanted to get out of the car. So, I let them get out and walk around looking at the scary ghosts and the other creepy mannequins. When the harmless little scarecrow jumped out and started chasing them and coming after me, he scared more than just crows. But we knew he was fake, so why did we get so scared?

I think the initial surprise really does scare you, and then after that you realize (however subconciously) that being scared is fun. So you continue to let these things scare you, even though they aren't scary when it comes right down to it. They aren't even real. But that's okay. It's fun to be scared.

Lance's love life

My friend Lance has no love life. There's nothing wrong with this, but the other day we decided we need to figure out why he has no love life. The main reasons for Lance's lack of love are:

• Lance is afraid
• Lance needs help understanding girls

Lance is afraid. Not exactly afraid of girls, but he's afraid of being rejected. There's a girl who comes into work everyday and asks to use the phone. Let's call her Kate. Lance likes Kate, but all he will say to her is, "Sure, you can use the phone", when he should be saying, "Hey, what's your name? I'm Lance. We should go out sometime." If he wasn't so afraid of being rejected, or afraid that people will think he's weird, he could have already been out with the girl and have an established relationship.

Lance needs help understanding girls. The relationships he's been in only last a couple of months before the girl finally breaks it off. If Lance understood girls better, maybe he could realize their intentions before they verbally communicate them to him. There was the one time Lance broke up with a girl because she lacked responsibility, but if he would've taken the time to understand why she was responsible...maybe he could've made their relationship work.

If Lance was more like the characters in the book 'Tess of the d'Ubervilles', he could start learning more about Kate by stalking her (but not in a scary, obsessed way). That would be useful in understanding her, which could lead to the establishment of a better love life for him.

So I'm tall...

Now, I’m not really sure why, but it happens a lot. Complete strangers will stop me and ask, “How tall are you?” I answer their question politely, but it’s almost inevitable that this next question will follow: “Oh, so you play basketball, right?” No! Wrong! I do not play basketball! After I explain very nicely I do not play basketball because I don’t particularly care for it and I’d rather be dancing or playing the piano, a myriad of comments follow. “Oh, you should be playing basketball. How can you be tall and not play basketball? That’s the whole point of being tall!” First of all, I’m not that tall, and why do people think they can tell me I need to be playing basketball? When I say I don’t play, they should just leave it at that….but, really, why don’t I play?

I’ve always known I don’t want to play basketball. But I never knew exactly why. I always thought it was just because I don’t really care for basketball. It wasn’t until I had a conversation with my neighbor that I realized why I don’t play basketball. He asked me if I was a basketball player and I said, “No, I don’t play basketball, I’ve never wanted too.” My dear old friend looked at me for a minute, then patted my arm and said, “Dear, you don’t have to play basketball if you don’t want too. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” I thought about that for a few years, and then it hit me. I don’t play basketball because people expect that. I’ve never been a rebellious kid, but basketball has been my way of rebelling. Everyone expects tall people (me) to play basketball, so I’m not going too. Ha! I sure hoodwinked you.

Don’t get me wrong, I think basketball is great. I like to watch games, and I even play church ball every winter. But I’m not looking to make a career of it. And I love being tall. It doesn’t bug me when people ask how tall I am, it just bugs me when they try to tell me how I should live my life. There. I said it.
The end.

Winter pajamas

My dad has this pair of pajamas that he wears when it gets cold. All us kids like to make fun of those pajamas, mostly because we're so jealous that our dad has such a stylin' pair of pjs, but we are really mystified as to why he loves those pajamas so much. He's worn them ever since I can remember, but they're still in really good condition.

The Christmas before my dad left on his mission, his sister gave him a sweater. So, that was a couple and a half decades ago. It's cream colored with a maroon stripe across the front. That's what he wears for his pajama top. His pajama bottoms are maroon flannel pants with thin blue and black stripes. I think my mom must've given those to him sometime early on in their marriage.

Last Christmas, we tried to start a new winter pajama tradition by giving my dad some blue flannel pants to replace his red ones. He wore the blue ones a couple times, but then reverted back to wearing the originals. So obviously, we can conclude that my dad does not just wear those pajamas because he lacks other options. There's got to be some underlying reason.

Since he pulls out these special pajamas feel very warm and cozy. They look cozy, and we're all so used to them. Every time we see my dad wearing those pajamas it brings back such good memories of winter, especially Christmas. The pajamas give a sense of warmth and familiarity to not only my dad, but also to us kids. They bring a sense of nostalgia as well, since my dad has had them for such a long time.

It must be getting cold, because my dad has started wearing those pajamas again. It's that time of year. Time for my dad to pull out his winter pajamas. I love the winter.

You are born into a family. You do not join them like you do the Marines!

Spending time with my family is the best. I love getting together and just talking, reminiscing about vacations we've taken together, plays we've been in, or just experiences we've had. I can be myself and I don't have to worry about the consequences when I'm with them. I know that my name is safe in their mouths.

There's a safe feeling with family. Anything I do will be safe in my home and in their hearts. There's also a warm feeling of acceptance. I know that whatever happens there stays there. If I do anything stupid (which is surprisingly frequent), my family doesn't really care. We can have a good laugh about it, but it's not like they're going to use it as blackmail or anything.

We understand each other really well. When I'm with a group of people that really understand me, it's easier to express my feelings. We love talking about things that have happened to us and sharing stories we have of each other. Since I'm the oldest granddaughter, my uncles and my grandpa are always kinda protective of me. It's great.

The memories that we have together as a family are never going to go away, and that's the best thing. Friends change, you grow apart, or they move away, but with your family, you know that they're always going to be there for you.