As many know the last three months I have been looking forward to my trip to Georgia. And my trip did not disappoint, but I am getting ahead of myself, let me start at the beginning.
My trip really started Christmas day, when my trip to Georgia became a reality. After months of roughness this trip became a bright spot. And since I have yet to master the blog world the pictures above seem random but they are not. The first is a beautiful morning in Conyers, the second is Covington square, famous because it has been on many a TV show. The third is the big chicken and me as well as the photographers thumb. The fourth is underground. The fifth is a part of the skyline of Atlanta. And the sixth is the World of Coke, for more pictures see my FB page :)
Let me begin by saying that I LOVE flying. I love the entire process, driving to the airport, unloading my luggage, checking in, going through security (yes that sounds crazy, but I figure if the security has to be tight to keep people from hijacking planes, I am totally okay with it), waiting the terminal and people watching. However, my favorite part is boarding then taking off. I can’t describe how wonderful the feeling is. I am positive the feeling is even greater for the pilots, but as great as I feel, I can’t even imagine how great it would feel for pilots. Anyway, in case you were wondering I love flying!
Day 1: As usual I landed in Atlanta, the funniest thing, the pilot said “Ladies and Gentlemen we are approaching Hartsfield Jackson were they are reporting a light rain thank you for flying AirTran… blah…blah…blah…”. Of course I looked out the window, and the pilots ‘light rain’? Heavier than then what we in Utah call a heavy rain. I chuckled a bit. Complements to the pilot, and a wonderfully smooth landing. Our gate was in Concourse C, baggage claim was clear past T, and the tram was broken, so I had to walk the whole way. Now normally I wouldn’t have been frustrated, however, I am finally in Georgia and I had to waste time walking from the gate to baggage claim! And by walking I mean running because, again I couldn’t waste any time.
I finally make it to baggage claim and my dear wonderful friend Melysa Moran was there ready and waiting to pick me up. Basically, heaven and those who have been to Georgia know exactly what I am talking about! Anyway, I get my luggage and we walk to the car (it’s still raining by the way), we get on the freeway and drive through the city, at least I think we did even after living there I still have no idea where I am. The entire drive to Melysa’s house it rained, you may wonder why I keep mentioning rain, and it is because I forgot how much I love the rain. When we got to Melysa’s house I felt like I was home. So many memories came flooding back, I had the same emotion, but I couldn’t decide how to display this emotion, I couldn’t decide if I should cry or laugh or just stop and stare in pure wonderment. So I did a mix of all three. It was delightful!
Seeing as how I had been up since 7 am the previous day (turns out that I don’t sleep that well on planes), Melysa and I decided to take a nap. It was about 6:20 am at this point. At 7:20 I hear these three little feet coming up to my door, and then I turn over and see this cute little head peeking through the door and right then Lauren said “see I told you she would be awake by now”. Then the three Moran kids came in and sat by me on the bed. Audrey looks at me and says “we didn’t wake you up right?” so sweet! Then I get to hear from them how excited they were for me to come and visit. That alone made my entire visit worth it. Lauren and Audrey remembered me really well Colin was a little confused, granted he was only like 2 when I was first in the Hickory Flat.
The rest of that day was spent in the pleasurable company of the Morans. With a delightful trip to a bakery, that I have forgotten the name of. I do have to say, the bakery should have stuck to the baked goods persuasion. However, their cheesecake was delightful!
Day 2: After a wonderful night’s sleep, I again awoke to the sound of little children. Today would be the first time that I stepped foot in downtown Atlanta. And I would love it, again I am getting ahead of myself. So the day starts great, a piano lesson for the girls, and then a discussion on whether we can take Melysa’s car because parking in downtown is pretty limited. Well turns out that Melysa’s car is too big, and to be honest, it’s not that big. But we still took it and parked in a great ghetto parking lot, it made me very happy! I forgot to mention the reason in which we would be in downtown; well I wanted to go to the World of Coke, and Underground Atlanta. I loved the World of Coke, some would say it’s boring but it’s not, it was fascinating. My favorite part was the tasting! So great! Although I do have to say that the States have the best products. England had a delightful lemon concoction that I could get used to drinking. Everything else had a weird aftertaste. And the floor! Oh my heavens, it was gross! My feet were sticking to the floor! I was pretty much grossed out! After the World of Coke, we went to the Underground Atlanta. And for any that don’t know what that is, during the Civil War Atlanta was burned, well instead of tearing the remaining parts down they just built on top of it, and now there are shops and such in that part. Not as big as I thought it was going to be, but still really cool. Then we went to the big chicken. And no it’s not a real chicken, it is a KFC with a big chicken out front. Everyone talked about the big chicken, so I had to go, before it was out of the mission. Don’t judge but every once in a while I would think ‘ahhhhhhhhh I am out of my area!!’ then I would think, ‘Oh you silly girl, you’re not on a mission anymore, you can go anywhere you want!’ And yes I have conversations with myself sometimes.
Day 4: Sunday!! Yay!! It was so great to be back in the Hickory Flat ward building! It was especially great to see the farewell of one of the young men that was in the ward when I was serving there. Seeing everyone was fantastic! I planned my trip perfectly; the weekend I was there it was sweet Colin’s birthday. He turned 5. Well is birthday was the next day but we celebrated it on Sunday with family.
Day 5: Colins actual birthday, and being Aunt J I played as many games as he wanted to, let him play on my phone, so pretty much a great day!
Day 6: My last day in Hickory Flat, but not the first day that the little kiddos realized that I am leaving. And they kept sticking a knife in me and twisting it in my heart! It was awful! However, I had a schedule to follow. So after a piano lesson for the girls we headed to Conyers. When I was on my mission and in the Hickory Flat ward, we took a certain route to our zone conferences and on this route there was this house that was fashioned after a mini castle. It has a small mote, and some creepy garden gnomes as the statues to protect the home. It is fantastic! It was a lovely drive to Conyers and when I got there, it was so great to see David, after almost two years of not seeing him it was great! I also walked Olde Town Conyers and it was so great!
Days 7-10: I have condensed these days because I spent the majority of the time visiting people. There was a Relief Society party that was fantastic as well as a night spent playing volleyball, in the dark! It was great! Now on day 10 Diana and spent the day shopping and then at the ward party, which was a chili cook off, fantastic!
Day 11: Sunday in Conyers! Nothing has changed, which is fantastic, families still sat in the same spot! So great! Totally made my trip, it brought back so many memories! I got to see, the Ingrams and Bloise Avery, great people!! And I got to have dinner with the Murphys and the Elders. Great times!
Day 12: My last day in Georgia involved a breakfast at Cracker Barrel with David and Aunt Terry. Which has its own great story. Even though I had been at the Williams for about six days, Aunt Terry forgot who I was the night before, and she was extremely frustrated that I was around. So breakfast was interesting. Then came the time to put my suitcase in the truck and get ready to go to the airport. Life was great, Diana and I were going to have lunch at Panera Bread before she boarded her flight. However, when I got to the airport they claimed I couldn’t check in because it was more than 4 hours before my flight. But luckily they had an earlier flight that I was able to get on standby and get checked in. I made it through security with no problems, and with a little flirting action from a security agent. Of course me being me, I didn’t realize it until afterward. But oh well, its all for the best. Diana and I had some great lunch at Moe’s, then she boarded, and three hours later I boarded. Normally flights are nice and relaxing for me, however, that doesn’t happen when you have a kid sitting behind you kicking your seat the whole flight! Great fun!
Well there you have it, my adventures in Georgia, I did nothing super overly exciting, but it was so fantastic it can’t be put in writing! After the last few months this trip was meant to be a time away from my usual routine and it was perfect. I learned a couple things on this trip.
The first morning I was there, the morning it was raining, when we got to the Moran’s and we got out of the car I heard the birds singing. I realized that the last few months, I haven’t been singing in the rain! I know that sounds cheesy but it’s true! The last eight months have been rough, on myself and my friends because they have had to be there when I have a rough day. But that morning I realized how I have to sing in the rain, and I love the rain so I am thinking that my life is going to be filled with rain, so I might as well sing. Plus I have an awesome voice so I will be able to make others happy as well! Just kidding!! The second lesson came from a dear friend. She said something that made me think. She said that she didn’t see me getting married or having kids. And that’s when I realized how important it is. I have spent the last few months pretending that I didn’t want to get married or have kids. Her comment kind of hurt a bit, her saying that basically translates to me not going to be a good mother. Which has me thinking exactly what do I want in life? I don’t know, I am confused about that, but what I do know, is that Heavenly Father has my best interests in mind, and while I am confused, I just have to pay attention to the spirit and pray for guidance. Life is good as long as I remember who I am and what I am worth!
No comments:
Post a Comment