Sister Vella

I was going to write a blog about Aspen Grove, but I don't really feel like it anymore. I've been thinking a lot about Sister Vella and I want to talk about her. The problem is that I'm not eloquent-and I think we all know that-so bear with my inadequate scribblings about a wonderful woman.

At first Sister Vella may have been hard to get along with because she has a very brisk, no-nonsense personality. We were talking about it the other day and my dad said, "She acted like she knew everything, but...she really did!" And it's true. Sister Vella knew everything. Speaking of Sister Vella, someone said, "If you didn't love her, then you didn't know her." I don't think there could be a better phrase. If you really knew Sister Vella, you would know how generous, kind, and loving she was.

The more I thought about Sister Vella, the more I realized what she has done for me. I didn't see her a lot-especially after they moved-but she still impacted my life through serving my family and specifically my mom.

• She would frequently bring over half of whatever food she made for her family. We always had a jar of Sister Vella's soup in the fridge. My dad mentioned it in his talk, but our favorite thing was tomatoes with mozzarella cheese in vinegar. Yum! No one cooked as well as Sister Vella.
  
• She made my Irish dance costume-and a matching one for my doll.
• She made a new underskirt for my prom dress, so it would be long enough.
• She came with me to Jarom's farewell so I wouldn't have to go alone.
• She offered help and materials for my projects in school.

Besides all that, she was my mom's best friend.

Sister Vella loved babies, and I just hope she's in Heaven finding my children and helping to teach and prepare them for me.

I'm glad that Sister Vella can be at peace now, and not have to worry about any health problems. But we will miss her! I just hope that I can look to her example as a way to live my life. I want to be as generous and giving a person as Sister Vella was.

This is the truth

And I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out. So, for the first half of this week I had a pretty awful attitude! I'm serious, ask anyone. Actually, ask Jarom. He'd know. I was sulky, and mean, and caustic, and sarcastic...yeah it was basically great.

So today I decided to put on a positive attitude before I left for work. I decided that I was going to smile more, complain less, laugh more, roll my eyes less. I did it. For half of the day I had to chant in my mind: "I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful..." (What About Bob) but it worked. I had a positive attitude, and I even survived the test....my Tell class.

Positive thinking works.

It also probably helped that I skipped one of my two hour classes. But I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful!

Random picture: we rode the bus!

I can do this!

"It's knowing what they want of me that scares me. It's knowing having followed, I must lead. It's knowing that each person there compares me to those in my past whom I now succeed...

I know expectations are wild and almost beyond my fulfillment, but they won't hear a word of a doubt or see signs of a weakness. My nigh on impossible duty is clear. If I can rekindle my ancestor's dreams, it's enough."