Random questions.

Who doesn't love otters? Aren't they the cutest animal? They seem so peaceful.


North Dakota is a forgotten state. I don't think I have ever met anyone from that state. Have you ever met anyone from North Dakota?

Where should I move after I graduate?

Does anyone know any social workers with connections in the states of Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Utah?

Goodbyes

Have you ever considered how long it takes us to say goodbye and how many phrases we use just to end a conversation?
“Ok, well I’ll talk to you later.”
“It’s been good talking to you.”
“Have a good week (day, life, etc.)”
“We’ll have to talk again soon.”
“It’s been too long.”
“Ok, bye.”
“Take care.”
“You too.”
At this point, I have usually hung up the phone. There have been occasions when people have called me back because evidently they weren’t done with the conversation. We said goodbye eight different ways and we still weren’t done. I think this is because we are not meant to say goodbye.

ELIE WIESEL:
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.

It's been too long!

To my faithful blog readers (all six of you):

I apologize for my writing absence. It's been a wild couple of weeks school wise. I've had some good time to think of blog posts, but have forgotten most of them.

At work my thoughts and ideas are constantly being challenged, mostly in a good way. Prior to this internship, I had a lot of ideas about social welfare that I thought were fantastic. I don't think my ideas are quite so solid now. This job has strengthened my testimony of the church, particularly the churches social welfare system. It is an amazing system.

School has been quite stressful lately! I usually go from work to homework, but tonight I am taking a night for myself. I went to study, but after about a 30 minute attempt at studying I decided to give it up. I was on my way home and I stopped by the grocery store and purchased 11 cans of soup. I've really been loving soup lately! So, I came home, put my pajamas on, and ate some soup and now I'm taking time to update my blog. What a great night!

What else is going on? On Sunday I attended the fireside by President Uchtdorf. I love him and was inspired by the words he shared. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you watch it. Here is the link: http://www.lds.org/move/index.html?type=ces&event=1&lang=english

Sometimes in this world I get caught up in "the thick of thin things."

President Uchtdorf says, "You are not ordinary, rejected or ugly. You are something divine. This knowledge changes everything!"

I will post more later! This wasn't an overly exciting post, sorry!

Have you ever had the experience of sharing your opinion about something that was somewhat harsh, but then being proved wrong very shortly after? This happens to me a lot. A LOT. I don't know why I continue to feel the need to say these kind of things because, not only are they unnecessary, but I am usually wrong in saying them. Here's today's example.
Recently I expressed discontentment with my professors for "not caring" about me and not being personable enough. I think I am the type of person who requires a lot of positive feedback and, if I don't get it I assume that what I am doing is not good enough. Well, today I met with one of my professors to talk about the dreaded research project. I do dread this research project because writing is one of those things that when people criticize it is like they are criticizing you directly because you invest so much in it. If someone tells you that the math problem I did was wrong I don't take it personally, but if someone tells me I need to reword a paragraph I take it like they have insulted part of my personality.
Anyway, I met with this professor (who, in the past, I have been very intimidated by) and I found him to be quite personable and concerned about my project. While he didn't compliment me on my scholarly writing (which is probably not worthy of a compliment) he was very approachable. He spent upwards of an hour talking to me about research and then just life stuff. On my way out of his office I ran into another professor who I talked to for about 15 minutes about more life happenings.
Lesson learned- JUDGMENTS LIMIT OPPORTUNITIES!
I recognize there are times to make make judgments, but I now understand more fully the concept of righteous judgment.

PS- WE WON OUR FIRST FOOTBALL GAME!!! 13-9. It was our last game of the regular season. Winning puts a good taste in your mouth.

Just a couple of things that I am happy about...

1.How beautiful Provo is. These pictures are taken just after our flag football game. Aren't the mountains incredible? How about that sunset? It's getting colder here which I'm not thrilled about, but it's still really beautiful.

2. For people who take a sincere interest on others. This week I had the opportunity of meeting the director of social work from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He was so friendly and made all of the students around him feel like he really cared about what was going on in our life. He took such an interest that he chose to go to our flag football game instead of touring around SLC. Here's a pic of him with our football team. Good news...we only lost 0-7. It was our best game yet.

Perspective

My cousin Spencer died on September 26, 2009, five days after he overdosed on anti-depressants.

On Friday, my cousin Meredith and I flew to Michigan to be with our family. I was thankful Meredith and I were able to be together. We had it planned to meet our Uncle Sam in Denver. We thought he was going to miss the plane, we timed how long it would take to run from the terminal he was arriving in to our terminal. He got on the plane with about a minute to spare. We arrived at 12:45 am to the Kimball's house. It was amazing the amount of love I felt as our family filing in. Person after person. We were greeted by my mom and then my dad and then my little brother Sterling and then Tessa and then my cousins Melinda, Sonya, Uncle Evan and Aunt Patsie and Uncle Michael (there were more relatives to see the next day). Most were eating warm oven stew my grandma made. It was 12:45 am, but ever the Cozzens' way... we were eating. We finally saw Aunt Gail, Uncle Miles, Diana and Jordan. I kept waiting for Spencer to come, to greet us in his quiet, but friendly way. He didn't come.

I didn't know Spencer that well. I only saw him during the summers when his family would make trips out to Wyoming. I regret not knowing him better. At his memorial person after person shared about his kindness, his intelligence, and his writing ability. I was touched and impressed by Spencer's achievements, but more so by his character. I wondered to myself why we wait to share with others how we feel about them, and why we hold back our compliments and our love. I wondered why we wait to get to know people, especially family.

After the memorial service, and a nice meal we went back to the Kimball's home. Aunt Gail asked about how my life was, and she was ready to listen! We talked about routine life things such as the woes of dating and falling in love, we ate more food, I felt comforted. You know someone is amazing when you are trying to be a support for them, but you end up feeling more supported. I feel this way about Gail.

Later Meredith, Diana and I talked. Meredith fell asleep. Diana and I continued to talk. Diana is incredible, optimistic, and ever gracious. At 2:49 am, we decided it might be a good idea to get some sleep because Meredith and I had to leave for the airport at 3:50 am. We arrived home this afternoon. We were gone about 48 hours.

48 hours doesn't seem like enough time to celebrate Spencer's life, and it certainly didn't seem like enough time to spend with the family that is left behind to move on with life.

I love them! My thoughts and prayers are with them as life moves on.