Reflections and Ramblings

Well, it's been well over two years since I've updated this blog. For a long while I forgot that I even had this blog, but it's been fun re-discovering it and seeing the how much I've grown over the last few years.

I won't say that this first post in over two years will be terribly exciting - because it probably won't be. In fact, I'm sure I'll just ramble on for a while about several different topics and then conclude with a statement saying, "Sorry for this being so long". This particular post might seem a little self-indulgent as it is a reflection primarily on my own life and experiences. And yes, the tone may be somewhat somber or perhaps boring, but that's probably due my current reflective mindset. So, there you go. Fair warning. :-)

I feel like I just need to write down some of the good things happening in my life and this seemed like a good place to do it. Lately I have had the reassurance that the events that have happened in my life have really been the right thing for me at each stage of my life - from birth to today. The interests I had or the differing feelings of acceptance I had sought had prepared me for bigger and better things. I can see that now.

There have been so many good and amazing people in my life, and I intend to thank many of you personally within the next few months. Sadly, I have lost contact with many, but the impact that these people have had on my life has been profound, and a post thanking people would be incomplete without at least mentioning the people who have changed my life forever. I met most of these people, with whom I have lost contact, primarily through my experiences in Canada - what I perhaps may call the Canadian chapter of my life.

Those early years essentially "growing up" in an area far different from the rural Paradise I had lived in just previously were paramount to the establishment of who I would become. The people were different from the "rural-Utahan" type I was used to, and I was able to see a wide range of values, attitudes, and beliefs that either mirrored or differed greatly from my own. It was from these people that I had discovered what would be a major force and passion in my life. Theatre. The experiences I had in my one semester Grade 9 Drama class led me to a place of acceptance and an arena for self-expression that I had been unable to find previously. We kept a weekly journal in that class and I was recently able to read those entries I made 8 years ago. The lessons I learned were not necessarily evident at that time, but have since become clearer to me upon reflection from a wiser and more mature (arguably) me. Thank you to the students in that class, and to many of the friends I had outside theatre, for teaching me that I do have a talent and that I can help make people happy. At a time when I am deciding what to study in college, I have to take into account the change that theatre has given me.

The other major force in my development during the "Canadian chapter" of my life was my many friends in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. With many of these people, I have at least partial contact and I am grateful for that. If any of you read this blog, please know that even though we don't communicate much now, I reflect now and then on the amazing experiences of that time and know that I do love and care about each of you. I have not forgotten all that you have done for me. I have never experienced such rapid acceptance and friendship in any circumstance ever than what my family and I experienced at that time. I have never made so many great close friends more quickly than meeting all of you. I do want to come back to Nanaimo sometime and I am aware that it is not even close to being the same like I remembered, but I'm glad for that. We have moved on and have experienced so many other great things. I look back at that time as sort of a "magic moment" that I don't think will happen again. I am just so grateful for each of you and for the positive influence you have been in my life.

Well, if you've made it this far in my post, congratulations! You've managed to sit through 700 words of personal reflection. There are so many more things I could and want to talk about, but I better call it good for now. I hope I can get back into writing regularly in this blog to share some of the fun, spiritual, or awesome experiences I have been having. I'll try to make the next post more entertaining - maybe I'll include a picture or two. :)

And to all 9 of you who have subscribed to my blog: You are awesome. No, really. You are so cool. Give yourselves a hand. You have stayed subscribed to a 2-year-defunct blog eagerly anticipating the next post from your favorite blogger - me. I mean, is it even a question? You should all be proud of yourselves.

Now go out and thank someone today - or tomorrow. You never know what effect you might have on someone's life. :)

S velikou láskou,

William