A Lifetime of Decembers

The month of December has always been an interesting month for me. The first thing that happened is obviously my birth which happens to be on Sunday. Because my birthday is so close to Christmas, I have always gotten the short end of the stick when it came to celebrating the moment I entered this blueberry of a planet...I didn't get parties growing up because everyone was with their families, and many years all I would receive was a jazz CD from the used rack at the local music store. Some years, I remember sneaking in to see the mother load of Christmas gifts that my parents hid poorly and ended up getting one of the presents on my b-day.

I was baptized in December when I was 8 yrs old. I don't really remember the day, I just remember wearing a baby blue pinstriped suit with a pink tie. I was even styling back then in 1990. If I remember right, the girl next door to me called a radio station and dedicated a Boys II Men song to me on my birthday one year. I never heard it, but she told me about it. Yeah, I was quite the ladies man.

I received my mission call to the Georgia Macon mission in December in 2001. I remember thinking that I was going to a hole in the earth that still used cans on a string as telephones. I even have a journal entry somewhere about my feelings. It turns out I wasn't that far off...more then half of the people we talked to did not own a phone.

I was accepted into BYU in December 2003 and was confused whether I needed to stay on my mission or come home early for school. After much prayer, talking with the mission president, and a companion telling me I was going to hell if I went home early several times a day (oh, and I was bringing damnation on myself and all those people I could have talked to during those last six weeks) I decided going home was the best decision. My plane touched down in SLC on 12/19/2003. So if I had a mission plaque it would seem like I only served a year (Feb 2002-Dec 2003) despite it being one transfer early.

In December 2005, Trine and I got married in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. I was glad we actually made it to the day we had planned for despite almost eloping several times prior to the date because of the family stress. For those who might be thinking that December weddings are glorious, think again. Well, the actual day was good but the stress of the holiday is not. Anniversaries are hard to plan and actually follow through with in December...for us something always goes wrong on that day. This year we are just hitting up a dinner and a movie, something we haven't done in two years.

I graduated BYU on December 20, 2007 with a B.S. in Psychology. I was proud that I graduated a semester early (3.5 years) thinking I was going to change the world one soul at a time. It sucked being jobless during the following two months after graduation. I finally landed a job at Provo Canyon School and quickly realized that I probably wouldn't change any kid's life in the time that they are living there.

This year I will be the big 2-6 and is looking back at all the surprises that December has given in my life. Despite having some pretty crappy Decembers I have had in my life there were some pretty good December months. I think the best one happened in December 2005 when I married my best friend. Happy holidays everybody.