I bet you can’t guess what the best part of my week was.
I’ll give you a hint: it wasn’t the emotional meltdown I had this morning.
And really “meltdown” is probably dramatizing it a little. It was more just hysterical sobbing in the foyer at church because my kids were being little Hellions during sacrament meeting and “for the love of all that is holy all I want is to sit and listen to the talks.”
But there’s a silver lining to my emotional turmoil. And that’s that when I’m having struggles, I’m always reminded of just how good people are. Because on my way out of the chapel with my kids, a woman in my ward who I’ve gotten to know a bit, grabbed the baby and offered to hold her for me. So I accepted. Then that same lady came and sat by me in the foyer, put her arm around me and told me, “I see you. This is hard and you’re doing amazing. I love you and you’re amazing.” (Or, ya know, something along those lines.) And it’s just what I needed.
And then that same woman made us dinner AND a freezer meal for later AND sent some men from the ward over to give me a blessing of comfort.
And this was all after my niece and her friend spent Friday and Saturday with my kids so that a friend and me could go on a little overnighter to relax (more on that later).
And that was after the Military Relations Missionaries dropped off flowers for me for Mother’s Day.
And THAT was after some other friends from the ward watched my kids for 7 hours the day before Mother’s Day so I could have a break.
People are so so good. Look for the good in people.
The truth is: I used to really struggle with asking for and/or accepting help from people. When Brandon left to play GI-Joe in January (ha!) I made a promise to myself: I was going to accept help when it was offered. And it hasn’t been easy. In fact, my knee-jerk reaction is to tell someone “no, thank you” when they offer to bring me dinner, take my kids, etc. But I haven’t done that. I’ve accepted every little bit of help that has been so graciously offered to me.
And I’ve learned a few things.
1) Accepting help has let me really see how good people are. Sometimes I get caught up in how crummy the world can seem. How mean people can be. I lose sight of those amazing people in the world who are just good and kind and who just want to help.
2) Willingly and gratefully accepting help from others has helped me feel my Savior’s love for me. I know these people will be blessed for what they’ve done for me and my family. God uses others to lift us and to ease our burdens. Through this, I’m blessed in ways I can’t even describe and those who serve are blessed. It’s really a win-win. And who I am to deny someone the blessings that they get from serving me? (I’m kind of joking… but also kind of not).
3) Accepting help from those who offer it has made me more willing and able to serve others when given the chance. Sure, there are still some instances in which I may not be the first to jump up and serve. But when someone needs a babysitter, or me to take some extra kids into my Primary class, or a meal brought to their house, I’m able to do that more because I have accepted help that has lessened my burden. So not only does the service others provide me with give me the CAPACITY to serve more, it also gives me the MOTIVATION to serve more. Kind of the pay-it-forward mentality.
Years ago, when Brandon was at Officer Candidate School, I was trying to get our house spruced up before we sold it. I knew NOTHING about home improvements (even minor ones) and was trying my best to make the place as sellable as possible. But there were things that were beyond my knowledge. Some broken baseboards; a random tiny door to the pantry that served zero purpose and needed to be removed and filled in; some doors that didn’t close all the way; a broken deadbolt; some broken door handles; and probably lots of other things that are slipping my mind.
I was talking to a woman in my ward at the time who I’d gotten to know pretty well. She was just generally asking me about stuff and I passively mentioned the work I needed to get done on the house. To which she responded “talk to my husband, he’ll take care of it.” So I did. And he took care of it. Within about a week, everything that I had needed to be taken care of, was. When I asked what I owed him he said, “It’s funny. The hardware store was having a sale and everything was free.” And he insisted that I don’t pay him for materials or labor or anything. What he DID insist on is that I pay it forward when I have the opportunity.
And I’m not sure I’ll ever really pay it forward all the way. Really, how do I ever repay that? No matter how much I serve, there are always 1.2 million other ways that I COULD serve. And that’s okay. Even if every bit of service I provide for others is just a drop in the bucket, I get credit for trying.
I’m not sure where this is going exactly (which will come as no surprise to any of you who bother to read this), but I think I’m just trying to tell ya’ll these few things: 1) people are good 2) accepting help from others is not a weakness and 3) Orca whales are insanely cool (and I haven’t even gotten to that part yet).
Come for the Orca whales, stay for the inspirational thoughts by Ashley (or, ya know, come for the Orca whales and force your way through Ashley’s not-so-inspirational thoughts).
My friend, Sarena, and I headed up to Port Townsend, Washington – which, by the way, is like THE cutest little town ever in the history of cute little towns. We spent Friday driving, exploring Port Townsend, and eating some delicious food. Then we went back to the hotel and talked uninterrupted for like six hours (which I think ALL my mom-friends can totally appreciate).
The next morning we got up bright and early and headed to our boat. We were hopeful that with 6 hours on the water, we’d see some cool wildlife. I was hoping for Orcas. Sarena was hoping for a Humpback Whale. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any Humpbacks. BUT we saw a Grey Whale before we were even out of Port Townsend. Close to shore, right in front of Point Wilson Lighthouse was a Grey Whale just hanging out, coming up occasionally to breathe. It never got old seeing it come out of the water.
And then we moved on because our guide saw some Orcas. And to say it was thrilling would be the understatement of eternity. In all we saw at LEAST four females (it was hard to tell if we were seeing the same 4 or if there were more) and one bull. We watched two females catch and kill a seal. We couldn’t see the actual kill, but you could tell something was going on in the water as they circled back and came up occasionally. And then the water looked oily and the air smelled like cucumbers, so I guide told us that that’s confirmation that it was a Harbor Seal they caught and killed.
Nature is amazing.
We stopped in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island and had some delicious food before heading back on the boat for a few more hours.
We also got to see Deception Pass which is AMAZING from the water. They don’t usually get to go through it, but because we had so much wildlife action on the way to Friday Harbor, we had some extra time on the way back. It was so warm and sunny on the way back which felt like an extra little treat. We also saw Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, Blue Herons, and a pair of Puffins (which was apparently a BIG deal as there are only 8 mated pairs of them in the Puget Sound)
All in all it was an amazing trip and something I’m glad I got to experience before I time in the Pacific Northwest is (maybe, possibly, probably) over. I still don’t know exactly when that will be, but it still stands that this was an experience I’m glad I had!
And now for the photo-dump…
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