To tell a story...

I get asked all the time, "How do you have such amazing stories? My life is so boring." I'm a firm believer that everyone has the most amazing stories... they just don't realize it. Part of having amazing stories is knowing how to recognize them. Now, I know some of you will laugh at me for this, because I have oft been given the honor of being the least observant person in the world, but really, the key is to be observant to the events around you.

For example, this morning I drove to work. I left my house at approximately 6:40. Somewhere down 700 N. I glanced out my back window through my rear view mirror. Now, this wasn't the first time I had glanced out of my rear view mirror--I had done that as I backed out of my driveway--so the sight I beheld rather shocked me. How had I not noticed this while backing out of my driveway?! My back window was covered in a very light frost. Now, this is nothing incredible by any means. Most mornings my windows are covered in frost. But this morning, the frost was beautiful. The way the light from the street lamps hit it, it looked like some fairy had come and covered my window with fairy dust. For all I knew, my car could now fly. But really, the glittering effect that the light hitting the frost made was very mesmerizing. I was very sad to be driving because that meant I couldn't actually look at it. At least not for extended periods of time. Even more sad was the logic in me that told me that I would actually need to use that window and thus must turn on my rear defrost. It was very sad to watch that frost melt away. As the last few strips of frost were turning to water, I looked back at it one last time, sad that I had caused the death of something so beautiful. However, I did not die on my way to work, so I feel it was done in good measure.

Also, when I plugged in my iPod to my FM transmitter, it didn't seem to be working. My iPod said it was playing "S.O.S." by Abba, yet I was hearing "And I'm proud to be an American" come through my speakers. First I checked the station, thinking they weren't synced. The station I tune into actually has music that plays through it, so I thought that must be the culprit. However, typically it's hard rock--stuff I don't recognize--not nice patriotic music that I love to listen to. Finally, I decided the music had to be coming from my iPod. Weird... it really did say it was "S.O.S." So I hit back to restart the song to see if it would restart. Sure enough it did, this time playing "S.O.S." So weird. For some reason, my iPod said it was playing one song while actually playing another. Even more weird was that as soon as "S.O.S." finished, "Proud to be an American" started. Hmmmm...

Lastly, (goodness, it's only 9 am... how many stories do you think I have?! Ok... I actually do have more I could tell.... but I won't.) there was a car wreck on I-15 this morning. It took me over a half an hour to get between Lehi and Thanksgiving Point. It was ridiculous. Though, having been in one of those wrecks myself, I felt much less annoyance and much more empathy than usual. Yellow has this theory that the middle lane actually moves faster during rush hour, so I decided to trust him and was driving in the middle lane. Problem with this, though I didn't know it at the time, was that the wreck was in the right lane, so everyone was trying to merge into the center lane. This became very apparent to me when the semi to my right pulled up next to me, then put on its blinker. Now, this very act scares the bejeebies out of me. I have very good reason for this fear... perhaps someday I will tell the story. I sat there, going about 2 mph, trying to decide if I should just let the semi in front of me (requiring me to stop for probably 5 minutes to open up enough space) or if I should press forward, making someone else let him in. Neither seemed a pleasant option. I didn't want to have to follow a semi in this already slow traffic, nor did I want him sitting next to me for hours with his blinker threatening me. Luckily, his lane spend up, so he ended up sailing on past me. I breathed a sigh of relief until the vehicle behind him pulled up alongside of me... another semi with it's blinker on!!! What did I ever do to deserve such curses! I read my scriptures last night! I prayed last night and this morning! I paid my tithing! I was nice to my roommates! I killed no small animals! I didn't even kill any spiders! Then why oh why was I put under such torture!? [sigh] It was horrible. Really, it was. Luckily, there is a God and He loves me. The second semi sailed on past as well after a few moments. I didn't encounter either of them again.

Now, you see, these are very simple stories, easily forgotten, rarely told. (Well, perhaps not the semi story... but that was truly just frightening.) How often does someone come up to you and discuss the frost on their back window? Never. Well, unless you know me or someone like me. So next time you think you don't have any stories to tell, start paying more attention to the little details of life.