Here's To You.

You know those friends you have that no matter where you're at in life, no matter what you're doing or how long it's been since you've seen them, you just pick right back up where you left off? 

Rebecca is one of those people, and I'm so lucky to have someone as incredible as her in my life. She was in my ward freshman year at BYU, and we ended up together in the same ward sophomore year, too. We got each other through a few rough times last year, and she's still someone I go to whenever I need to celebrate, rant, or just party. She had spring break this week, and chose to come down to little ole Provo. We went to the Food Truck Round-Up for dinner and got some kick-taste-buds Korean BBQ. 

BEHOLD, THE WONDERFUL WOMAN HERSELF:

Yeah, she's a babe. 

She has an inspiring story, too. Like I said, Rebecca was in my freshman ward here at BYU, but she now attends USU up in Logan. How did a true blue, cougar through-and-through end up 2 hours north? For a lot of reasons, she was meant to be up there. 

For her two years at BYU, Rebecca worked hard to get into the Music Dance Theatre (MDT) major. She auditioned multiple times, but for reasons no one could explain, she didn't make it in. Everyone she knew in the major assured her she would get in, that with her talent there was no way she wouldn't make it in. But, again and again, the MDT major refused her. It was heart-wrenching every time she was rejected, especially because no one could give her a good reason. She'd spent over a year and a half of her life pouring her heart, life and soul into preparing for this, and the only reason they gave her for why it wasn't working out was that "it just didn't work out." It was maddening for me to just watch her go through that, so I can't even imagine how she was feeling. 

Finally, she felt like she should start looking elsewhere than BYU. She didn't want to, but she knew what she wanted to do with her life, and BYU wasn't giving that to her, as much as she loved it. So, she drove up to Logan and auditioned. Then and there, at her first audition, they offered a full-ride scholarship for Vocal Performance at USU. She took her chance and ran with it. 

Within 6 days, she'd decided to look elsewhere than BYU, auditioned at USU, was offered a scholarship, accepted, and transferred. If I'm remembering right, this was all during finals week at BYU. Talk about life changes. 

The reason I find her so incredible is because she didn't let something she loved get in the way of something she loved more. She is following her passion for music, despite how hard and uncertain her future is sometimes. She knows music is a hard career to be in, but she wouldn't do anything else. She isn't willing to give up on her dreams. To someone who gave up on her love of art and music for accounting, that's amazing to me. Through her example, I again find the inspiration to keep my other passions alive. I started looking for inspiration for a larger watercolor piece, and suddenly I'm seeing everything with an artist's eye again. I notice how the light falls, how colors contrast and meld together, and I imagine how I would make those colors come to life on the page. Our passions never die, but lie dormant until we give them the freedom and energy they need to thrive once more. Thanks to Rebecca, I'm going to be paying more attention to that in the future. 

Rebecca, you're incredible and I love you. Thanks, girl.