Here Comes the Eurostep
My last blog post brought on a discussion about the fact that, really, I shouldn't be mixing basketball analogies with baseball terms. Oops. My bad. I was informed that a Eruostep would be more apprproiate to use if I want to use basketball stories, so, here comes the Eurostep story.
JK
There's no Eurostep story here. Weirdly enough, I don't have a reason to mention basketball at all in this blog post. Ahh! Tricked you!
This past weekend I had the amazing opportunity to go to Chicago with a bunch of friends and see HAMILTON! There are so many words, and yet none seem to speak to the amount of joy that I felt, getting to attend Hamilton in Chicago, a city I've wanted to visit since my sophomore year of college when I wrote my first big research paper on Al Capone.
Of course, when I imagined going to Chicago, I imagined going when I wouldn't be freezing. I mean, I get it - Windy City. That name came from somewhere. But, when I visited NYC, people weren't throwing big apples at me! Sheesh!
We had such a blast, despite the freezing cold/snowy weather, by attending Hamilton, staying at a cute Airbnb, mastering the CTA, walking all over in the snow... Here are a few pictures from our adventure:
It was a BLAST. Hamilton was amazing. I cannot emphasize enough how life-changing it was. I loved it. Seriously. Cannot thank Lin-Manuel Miranda enough for writing that play. Just... too good. There's a reason it won so many Tony's.
Towards the end of the play, the second to last song came on, and I panicked! My mind was shouting - NO! Don't end!! I'm not ready for this amazing experience to be over! My mind was screaming this all the way through the last song, and as I stood at the end, clapping, and wiping away tears of joy, I was reminded of something that happened last summer.
Leslie Odom Jr. came to Park City last summer on tour, and I went with a few friends to watch him. He was the original Aaron Burr in Hamilton on Broadway, and I’ve been obsessed with his voice since I first heard him sing. Towards the end of the concert he sang a bunch of Hamilton songs, which made me beyond happy, but he prefaced it with a reminder that I sent to my sister, who was just about to finish her mission. Here’s what I wrote her about that experience:
“PS, a few weeks ago I went to a Leslie Odom Jr. concert, and while he was talking about his experience of getting to perform in the musical, Hamilton, he said, "Just like every bad thing ends, every good thing ends, too." Just wanted to remind you that there is a time and season for everything in your life, and when one door closes, another opens. Love you sister!!”
I’d kinda forgotten about that gem until this past weekend when I was lamenting the end of the musical before it had even concluded.
A time and season.
I had to learn that lesson in a BIG way last year, as you well know, dear Readers. Thanks for going through all my growing moments with me.
As Hamilton ended and I walked out beaming, and forever changed, I was reminded of what Leslie Odom Jr. said – “Just like every bad thing ends, every good thing ends, too.” My life has been filled with so many good things that had to end - roommates moving out, graduating from college, fun trips with friends, date nights with great guys, amazing books, ward activities, family road trips…. The list could go on forever. I have been greatly blessed with good times. Times that I look back on with happiness and laughter and JOY. Oh, yes, there are the bad times – the times that made me feel so broken I just wanted to crawl under my desk in a ball and never come out for fear of disappointing everyone. Those are real, and helped shape me just as much as the good times. Those moments where sadness and heartache fill my life memories are also the moments that allow me to jump for joy when I experience the good that life has to offer me!
Isn’t that funny about life? How we want to have happiness all the time, but we need the sadness and stressed out days to truly appreciate the great ones? Readers, as I have mentioned multiple times, my life has not ended up where I thought it would at this point. I keep going forward, then something pops up, and I side step it and have to find a different way to go around it – OH, look, there’s that eurostep! But, really, I have found that those side roads – the ones that have taken me all over the US, introduced me to the bestest of friends, and given me a career in a field I never would have considered – are the ones that have the most meaning! And sometimes they last for years, and sometimes they last for a weekend, and sometimes, like my experience watching Hamilton, they only last a few hours; but, just because one good thing ends does not mean that there will never be another good thing in our life. It just means that we are LIVING. We are making the most of the life that we have, and though we might have to use a eurostep and step around an obstacle, the point is that we keep trying and moving forward in whatever way we can, to find that JOY. We don't give up just because one good thing ends.
Readers, live life! Find what brings you joy and pursue it! Don't get discouraged when life doesn't work out how you want it to; that's LIFE! Treasure those good times, but remember that when they end, new adventures will find their way into our lives, and, as Gandalf so wisely put it, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
JK
There's no Eurostep story here. Weirdly enough, I don't have a reason to mention basketball at all in this blog post. Ahh! Tricked you!
This past weekend I had the amazing opportunity to go to Chicago with a bunch of friends and see HAMILTON! There are so many words, and yet none seem to speak to the amount of joy that I felt, getting to attend Hamilton in Chicago, a city I've wanted to visit since my sophomore year of college when I wrote my first big research paper on Al Capone.
Of course, when I imagined going to Chicago, I imagined going when I wouldn't be freezing. I mean, I get it - Windy City. That name came from somewhere. But, when I visited NYC, people weren't throwing big apples at me! Sheesh!
We had such a blast, despite the freezing cold/snowy weather, by attending Hamilton, staying at a cute Airbnb, mastering the CTA, walking all over in the snow... Here are a few pictures from our adventure:
Chicago Dog from Portillo's, Deep Dish from Pizzeria Uno
Amazing pancakes at this adorable Cafe!
It was a BLAST. Hamilton was amazing. I cannot emphasize enough how life-changing it was. I loved it. Seriously. Cannot thank Lin-Manuel Miranda enough for writing that play. Just... too good. There's a reason it won so many Tony's.
Towards the end of the play, the second to last song came on, and I panicked! My mind was shouting - NO! Don't end!! I'm not ready for this amazing experience to be over! My mind was screaming this all the way through the last song, and as I stood at the end, clapping, and wiping away tears of joy, I was reminded of something that happened last summer.
Leslie Odom Jr. came to Park City last summer on tour, and I went with a few friends to watch him. He was the original Aaron Burr in Hamilton on Broadway, and I’ve been obsessed with his voice since I first heard him sing. Towards the end of the concert he sang a bunch of Hamilton songs, which made me beyond happy, but he prefaced it with a reminder that I sent to my sister, who was just about to finish her mission. Here’s what I wrote her about that experience:
“PS, a few weeks ago I went to a Leslie Odom Jr. concert, and while he was talking about his experience of getting to perform in the musical, Hamilton, he said, "Just like every bad thing ends, every good thing ends, too." Just wanted to remind you that there is a time and season for everything in your life, and when one door closes, another opens. Love you sister!!”
I’d kinda forgotten about that gem until this past weekend when I was lamenting the end of the musical before it had even concluded.
A time and season.
I had to learn that lesson in a BIG way last year, as you well know, dear Readers. Thanks for going through all my growing moments with me.
As Hamilton ended and I walked out beaming, and forever changed, I was reminded of what Leslie Odom Jr. said – “Just like every bad thing ends, every good thing ends, too.” My life has been filled with so many good things that had to end - roommates moving out, graduating from college, fun trips with friends, date nights with great guys, amazing books, ward activities, family road trips…. The list could go on forever. I have been greatly blessed with good times. Times that I look back on with happiness and laughter and JOY. Oh, yes, there are the bad times – the times that made me feel so broken I just wanted to crawl under my desk in a ball and never come out for fear of disappointing everyone. Those are real, and helped shape me just as much as the good times. Those moments where sadness and heartache fill my life memories are also the moments that allow me to jump for joy when I experience the good that life has to offer me!
Isn’t that funny about life? How we want to have happiness all the time, but we need the sadness and stressed out days to truly appreciate the great ones? Readers, as I have mentioned multiple times, my life has not ended up where I thought it would at this point. I keep going forward, then something pops up, and I side step it and have to find a different way to go around it – OH, look, there’s that eurostep! But, really, I have found that those side roads – the ones that have taken me all over the US, introduced me to the bestest of friends, and given me a career in a field I never would have considered – are the ones that have the most meaning! And sometimes they last for years, and sometimes they last for a weekend, and sometimes, like my experience watching Hamilton, they only last a few hours; but, just because one good thing ends does not mean that there will never be another good thing in our life. It just means that we are LIVING. We are making the most of the life that we have, and though we might have to use a eurostep and step around an obstacle, the point is that we keep trying and moving forward in whatever way we can, to find that JOY. We don't give up just because one good thing ends.
Readers, live life! Find what brings you joy and pursue it! Don't get discouraged when life doesn't work out how you want it to; that's LIFE! Treasure those good times, but remember that when they end, new adventures will find their way into our lives, and, as Gandalf so wisely put it, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
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