And all the memories

And now...the final 3 most significant moments of my life. 

Remember, the numerical order is meaningless.

 So, it's not like these are the 'top 3' or anything. 

3. Waking up from surgery and my mom telling me that I almost didn't make it. It is very surreal to realize you were close to death. I have no memory, really, of what happened, I didn't see a light, I just woke up. I make my mom tell me the story every day because it still doesn't really seem real. 

2. If you are not Mormon, it's hard to describe our missionary service. Most people know us as those annoying people who knock on your door to talk about Jesus. Which is what I spent most of my 18 months as a missionary doing. Hours and hours a day, knocking on doors. As you can imagine, I had many tough moments as a missionary. But I had some incredibly powerful moments as well- and they more than made up for the struggle. The most powerful moment of my mission was a prayer. We were teaching a family and they were about to be baptized- we visited them the night before and asked if we could all pray together. I will never forget kneeling with that family in their little, overcrowded living room- Jose, the dad, started the prayer and then encouraged everyone to 'add on' (not usually how we pray) but it was incredible and I had this feeling that if I opened my eyes, I would see Heavenly Father there with us. It was the most INTENSE feeling I have ever felt. It made all the long days knocking on doors worthwhile. 

My favorite family ever! 

How I felt after 10 hours of knocking on doors...sadly, this was not the only time I decided to go ahead and lay on the side walk :) 

And now.... (you must listen to the song in this video as you read this...) 

1. My dad loves music. All throughout our childhood he would play music all night, on repeat track. It was always folk music. The one he played the most was an album called "Babes in the Wood" by Mary Black.  That background info leads to the moment that was significant. A few years ago, when I lived in Amish country, my sisters and the kids were visiting and we were driving home to my apartment after some outing and there was an awesome sunset and I must have put in a mix CD that had this Mary Black song "The Thorn upon the Rose" on it (from that album) and without speaking, my sisters and I started to (quietly) sing along. We ARE NOT those people. We avoid emotional displays and singing together and anything like this- it was a rare moment and it's significant to me, because for me, SISTER is the most powerful word in the world. My sisters mean the world to me. I felt so happy in that moment- I was so lucky with the sisters I got, they know me, we know the same songs, have the same stories, we sound the same on the phone, they are the only two people on Earth who can really make me laugh and we are probably the only people our age who can sing along to every Mary Black or Joni Mitchell or Dire Straits song. And that was the luckiest I have ever felt in my life, in that moment.  (and that includes the time I won 40 bucks in Vegas!)

Ok, back to my other topics tomorrow!

Lori Ann