So, yes. The font is done a little differently because certain parties asked if I could make it easier to read... I really like the color of the font so maybe in bold it will be easier?
Anyway...
A.A. Milne wrote many a sweet and encouraging thought from Christopher Robin to Pooh. The one that sticks in my mind the most is this: "Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." I don't know about you, but I totally believe this-- especially the bit about our strength. Of course, I don't think it necessarily applies to physical strength but rather to the inner strength that is seen in each of us by those around us.
The following will be a brief (although when is my brief writing ever truly short?) description of my 5 strengths-- these are either those strengths that others have pointed out for me or a select one or two that I have recognized in myself. Onward:
1. My ability to not take sides. This may sound like a strange one but it definitely saved me a lot of heartbreak throughout my elementary school years. I cannot remember how many times my young friends got into tiffs over the silliest things and would try to win me to their side. Eventually, they discovered that I was the one out of our group that never would choose and, as a result, would turn into the sounding board for both sides of the argument. I cannot remember if I ever helped to actually solve any of those fights but I did keep my friends. I remember being thanked for that a few times before I left Burney for the brand new world of Corning.
2. My silence. Alright. So I am sure there are a few people out there that would choose this as my greatest weakness (and in some aspects I might choose to agree with them) however, I find in it strength. I think more about what I am going to say before saying it. Sometimes I choose not to remark on a situation that could snowball into an undesirable and strange situation. Quick example: I went to the temple this past week and while awaiting my turn to go into the next room, it turned out a locker in the girls' locker room was having issues. They had to stall me and a handful of other young women from going in until the maintenance workers (all male) could get in there and fix the problem. A woman who had come in as they had started the "evacuation" was starting to get slightly agitated. I heard her say, "Why can't they just let us into the bathrooms? We can change there!"
Uhm, problem. The bathrooms are in the locker rooms. AKA the area where there would be only men. (According to, I'm sure, temple customs and rules set for the women's protection, etc.) I turned around to speak to her thinking that perhaps she hadn't heard of the problem. So quietly, I explained the situation and her attitude, if at all possible within the parameters of the temple, turned for the worse as she quipped that she was "on a schedule" and couldn't be late for work...
Needless to say, there was a thing or two I wanted dearly to say and not all of them were kind. I turned back to face frontward and kept them to myself. Strength, I tell you.
3. My courage. Apparently it is what helps me to keep friends past the final definition finding of my relationships between me and the men I have met. I work for it and talk through it. The friendship CAN be preserved if both sides want it. I have had, and I assume will keep having, these experiences until the day I find the friend that chooses me above the rest.
4. My womanhood. What strength there is to be found in such a noble calling! The nurturers of this human race. The calling to use the sacred power of procreation with the man that you love and are married to (there is a proper time and order for all things) to bear children, and to raise them in a loving and complete home. To be a woman is to be powerful. I know the Lord hears me and counts my tears. I know He loves me and is behind this story that I live.
5. My writing...
On a side note, random fact about me: I love corn chips and tuna. Together. Delicious.
Next time I will tell you what animal I would be... and why! Haha!
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