Marisa

It's been four years since Marisa's accident.  Sometimes it seems like it was even longer than that, a lifetime.  Sometimes it feels as fresh as a moment ago.

I have the occasional dream about her.  Something will step out at me in my day-to-day life.  The checkout girl at Target.  The girl I met yesterday in my Institute class.  (Although she spells hers with two "s"s.  I mentioned that I had a friend named Marisa, but I didn't have the heart to tell her more than that, or that she was spelling her name wrong.)

I see all the different ways people keep her in their memory and I have regrets now and then.  I should have gotten to know her better.  Should be thinking of her more often now.  But then I wonder what would have happened if positions were reversed.  What if it wasn't Marisa that we lost, but someone else?  What would she do to commemorate a friend's passing?  What if (as morbid and maybe a little selfish as this may seem) it had been me?  What would my funeral have been like?  And what would people be saying or thinking four years later?

Check-Lists.

I'm a check-list kind of girl.  I like having my to-dos prioritized and timed.  I did well with the missionary planner when it was a daily requirement, and on the days when I misplaced it, I really started to freak until I found it again.  The tendency to catalog the things I need to do, say, watch, etc., gets a little overwhelming sometimes.  I catch myself doing something, then checking my list to see if I can cross it off, then seeing I haven't even written it down as a to-do.  So I write it down and then cross it off.

Today was a good list day.  I read my scriptures, walked/ran on the treadmill while listening to next week's Relief Society lesson and French lessons on my iPod.  Showered, researched banks in Utah so I can start establishing residency--not least because I want to get a library card, heh.  Went to Utah Community Credit Union to open an account.  By the way, after about an hour of scanning for the best deals, I'm of the belief that credit unions are far superior to banks.  Less worrying about hidden service and maintenance fees.

Went to Ross and waited in a hugely long line to return a pair of jeans I bought on a whim without checking to see if they actually fit me properly.  Just when I was getting close to my turn, an employee walked casually by and asked if I was here to return.  When I said I was, she said, "You'll have to stay here, then."  (Gee, thanks.  I had no idea?)

Grocery shopping in the afternoon just when the schools were letting out.  Remind me never to go to Target after three thirty ever again.

FHE was fun, and I met a girl who went to BYU and then U of U for the same program I'm going into.  I enjoyed picking her brain.

Things you should check out if you haven't already:

• The Coverville Podcast.  Brian Ibbott puts together playlists of great songs as done by artists other than the original.  I subscribed on iTunes, but you can also find it here.
• (Leading off of that) The Scala Choir and Kolacny Brothers.  Piano-and-childlike-choir versions of hit rock songs.  Fan-TAS-tic.  I'm listening to their cover of Foo Fighters' "Walking After You."
• Mahogany Sessions.  Indie artists that deserve way more attention than the so-called 'artists' people are texting and Tweeting about.  (Can you tell I'm on a music kick?)