I'll be home come sundown

What a bittersweet week it's been. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were mostly spent cleaning for a dear friend who is moving to Europe for the next few months with her husband and two adorable girls. (The ones I nannied for) Tuesday also included a Seminary council meeting, some tears (more than I'd liked) and rehearsal. Wednesday I was able to go boating with my Young Men and Young Women for about 2 hours before I had to sneak away, once again, to rehearsal.
Thursday was the Choir Council retreat. We hiked to Timp Caves at 8:00 am, went to Zupas for lunch, and spent the entire afternoon planning out the year. Thursday was a really good, but really rough day. As we were hiking down the mountain, we received word that Emily Austin, one of our choir members who had been fighting a long battle with Leukemia, had passed away that morning.
Something told me every single day last week that I needed to go see her. And I didn't.

Emily kept me going most days last year. She always radiated the light of Christ and the light of life even though her body restricted her from doing most things. She touched the lives of so many people, especially mine. She will be missed. But I cannot wait to see her in heaven, no longer bound by the disease that she battled her whole life. I have no doubt that she is already bringing to pass the Lord's work. I love you, Emily.

So Thursday was hard. In addition to Emily's passing, I was exhausted from getting home from rehearsal at midnight each night and getting up very early the next morning to work hard. I'd just hiked a mountain, and spent 4 hours debating with opinionated people. And I had to go to rehearsal for 6 hours with puffy eyes and billions of overly dramatic people who like to pretend they understand. And some people do understand. But it just didn't sound pleasant.
Thankfully I got to go to rehearsal and spend my time with Katie and Hannah. I have never been so grateful to see their faces. Katie had a box of tissues, I had a pillow, and Hannah had a fan. We sat in our bloomers in the dressing room. We avoided putting eye make up. We knelt in prayer. We mourned the loss of a friend together.

I have the best sisters in the world. Our performance that night was more real than ever before. it suddenly became beautiful. Truly a part of each of us. I love these girls more than anything. And I love this show.
I made it through the night and spent most of yesterday recuperating. Last night we opened the show. It was awesome. I've never felt so good performing. It wasn't my best performance, but I think I finally understood why I perform. It just felt right.
Church is true. Come see my show. Go Ye Now In Peace.