A Bench

Just sit on that bench. If you would have told me that, I would have laughed. Could it really be that simple? What about complex formulas, strategic planning, and careful calculation. No really, … just sit on that bench.

The best gifts in life come from small daily choices made over and over. The seemingly insignificant forms the pattern for the fabric of our lives. BLINK! It’s real. Yes, just that quickly. The house that you live in isn’t the same house, and the sun seems to shine brighter. Don’t ask how, just cherish every moment of the fairy tale. It’s real this time. Believe the dreams that God has inspired because they are real—every last one of them.

So forget what people have told you life is like. Don’t resign yourself to any situation that isn’t what you have always imagined. You imagine for a reason. It is God communicating with you, telling you what He has in store for you—if you can just do a few daily things.  And when it comes time, just sit on that bench, and He will do the rest.

No two days will be the same after you do.

San Francisco Summer

It's tall and a utilitarian evening blue, but inside it's white. The kind of eggshell white that wakes you up at 8 am when you step off the elevator.

At home, the puppy dog stands guard by my door when I feel under the weather. Tree lined streets.

Inside the city, roller-coaster streets are dotted with thin homes from white trim Queen Anne to postmodern and every design era in between. The fog rolls and takes over. Deep orange vermilion of the bridge above the water. Everything faces the water. Large windows built with the sole purpose of catching more of it. Hilly. Woodsy. Culture, fish, greens.

Adventures in all directions and enough ocean to keep things in perspective.

Irish Tax

The post-Celtic Tiger financial district rises high above the River Liffey where the Dublin docklands once bustled with commercial activity. Today these multinational corporations represent an important part of the Irish economy, just as the docklands did in early Irish history.  PwC Dublin claims a stake on the modern quay where voices from the 1916 rising still echo in a nation deeply rooted in rich cultural heritage. My week in Ireland has launched me into preparing for business in a global economy. As my clients start to look across borders and overseas, I am ready to support their international business needs with a global network inside the world’s leading professional services firm.

Upon arriving in Dublin, I drove through Merrion Square past Leinster House (the national parliament of Ireland) and discovered a bustling maritime town with classic Georgian architecture and brightly colored doors. Gold-lettered pubs below red brick buildings shared traditional Irish folk and cotemporary sounds. Beyond the Samuel Bridge and further across South Dublin, I found Dublin Castle—a strong reminder of 1922 when the Republic became a ruling reality. I took a stroll down the lively Grafton Street where modern designers and street performers entertained locals and tourists alike. I wandered through the long corridor of the Old Trinity College Library that houses the oldest and most well-preserved illuminated manuscript of our time: the Book of Kells. I appreciated one of Ireland’s most famous collections of private contemporary Irish paintings housed at the traditional Merrion hotel. I visited the National Museum of Archeology where shriveled and leathery bodies of Ireland’s early Celtic ancestors preserved by the acidic, oxygenless, and cool environment of peat bogs can be seen on display.  A historical tour of the old Kilmainham Gaol (Jail) taught of Irish political heroes who had been imprisoned or executed there under British colonial rule. I visited the breathtaking Cliffs of Moher on the Western Irish coast. I also visited Galway, an old Irish seaport, where the horse races were on that weekend and woman flocked the streets in ornate portrait hats and fascinators.

On the last day of my experience, I had the opportunity to address the Irish Interns at their final internship competition. As I stood on the seventh floor, with a beautiful view of the harbor beneath, I felt Irish. “Everyone is Irish if you go back in their history far enough,” said a manager on my team. But if you can’t seem to find your Irish heritage on paper, the people will accept you just as you are--that’s the Irish way. 

Business in Dublin

Think green. Yep. Bogs, fog, rain, sea mist. It’s all here, and I’m here to--to see it and to realize that this trip has been in the works for 11 years. Who would have guessed that 2014 would bring my first international assignment? I’m working in Foreign Direct Investment for multinational tech. We live in a world of integrated global structuring, and I’m jumping right into the thick of it.

This trip is teaching me to believe in things you can’t see … yet. If you can dream it, it can happen. And the best time to start dreaming is now. Eleven years ago, I was so close to coming to Ireland. So close that I could have made it happen if I was willing to give up just one thing. But I decided not to give up this conviction. Instead, I decided that I would let Ireland surprise me one day when I least expected it. Little did I know that would be when I most needed it.

“Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they come.” – Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Get Up

It was dark so my eyes had trouble adjusting, but I could hear the waves crashing close. I walked to the top of the driveway and sure enough there was the most beautiful view of the water. Uninterrupted. It was in that moment I realized how in tune my Father in Heaven is with what I need.

I have never had a semester at BYU like this last one. Never. In fact, it came straight out of a nightmare I've had before. Although nightmares rob us of decent sleep, we eventually wake up. As I starred out into the dark, I realized that I had finally woken up.

And each day since then I have been waking up to surf. I can lie in bed and watch the surfers. Oh and I've started equestrian riding again. I laughed as I tried on my old show helmet and looked for my chaps. The chaps are gone and the helmet is definitely the right choice for America's average five-year-old head. Sometimes new beginnings can happen somewhere you've been before. I grew up here. This is the beach of my childhood. These are the tides I remember. So much has happened since then, and its because God has loved me enough to let me fall down. Literally.

But if there is one thing I know, when you fall you have to get up. If you fall on a horse and don't get back on immediately, the horse knows he's won; he has a way out. So when you fall, you have to get up and get back on that horse. That's what I have been telling myself for the past three months. There were times when things would get so difficult that I would just repeat over and over in my head, "I'm not going to give up, I'm not going to give up." What seemed pathetic at the time worked.

I'm up and I'm back to riding horses. And just time for all that's waiting. :) This summer brings castles in Dublin and scuba with the fish swimming around Papua New Guinea!