Highlight #9 - Love

This year I learned about love. It all started on a snowy day in February. I was participating in a training meeting for leadership in the stake, and part of my responsibility was to organize a musical number for the opening session. I asked Jess to play her violin...because well, it's Jess, only the most musically talented person I know.

On the morning of the event, I arrived at 7:30 thinking I was very early and prepared. I was surprised to see people rushing around and seeming stressed when we still had an hour and a half before the event started. By 7:40, I casually asked, "Why are we all hurrying?" My friend Cheryl said, "Because we only have twenty minutes till start time." WHAT!? Yes, it started at 8. And yes, I had told my dear friend, Jess, to be at the chapel at 9AM. Not 8.

My stomach dropped.

I called Jess's cell, and it went right to voice mail. I called her husband's number. He answered. "Hi," I said with a a shaky voice. "Ummm, so I made a big mistake. So you know how Jess is playing for the stake training meeting today? Well...I told her the wrong time. I told her to be here at 9, but actually it starts at 8." Joseph said, "You mean in 15 minutes?" When I confirmed the time, he said something like, "Oh boy. I'll go tell her."

Now it must be recorded that #1, Jess lives 20 minutes away from the building where she was supposed to play. #2 It had snowed that morning. #3 Jess loves her sleep, and I'm pretty sure she might not have even been awake when I called.

I confessed my mistake to Robyn, the YW Stake President, and the Stake President. Then I sat on the stand while the people arrived for the meeting. Robyn used a little stalling tactic and postponed the beginning of the meeting five minutes due "to the weather." I sat there feeling so sick that I had put my friend in that horrible position. I sat there feeling sick that most likely she wouldn't make it in time...and it was all my fault.

During the opening song, the chapel door opened and in walked Jess. She was wearing a long skirt...and snow boots. Her beautiful blond hair was pinned up in a messy bun. And she was wearing her glasses. She hadn't even taken the extra time to put in her contacts. Not a stitch of makeup on her face. All because of my mistake. When Jess walked up on the stand to do her musical number in front of all the stake leadership...in snow boots and her glasses...I whispered, "I love you." And she whispered back, "I love you more."

In that moment I learned more about love and service than any church lesson ever taught.

Love is selfless. Love is service. Love is without vanity or guile. Love is forgiving even when you have every right to hold a grudge.  Love is friendship. Love is coming late to a stake meeting in snow boots and glasses and playing the violin even when your friend messed up.

Love is road trip partners! Love is running 200 miles together over 36 hours. Laughter and sleep deprivation and lots of chocolate definitely strengthens a friendship. Love is coming to the Miami EANA conference with a 3AM pickup time and return flight on 9/11 - whoa! Love is when two friends accompanied me when I went to get a mammogram because my doctor had found a lump. And then love is when one of those friends stormed back into the office to demand better service for me when the radiologist was rude. Love is invitations to enjoy a backyard fire pit, company on the trail, and phone calls while I drive home from teaching. Love is inviting my girls and I to watch Poldark and Dr. Thorn on a big screen TV. Love is sharing Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner.

I'm so far from being a good friend or knowing how to show love in a perfect way. But for some reason I have been blessed with people in my life who are and who do.