Dimple's Discoveries

           As a teenager I used to love to read LDS romance novels. My parents would drive us to the library once a week and I would leave with a stack of eight or nine books tucked under my chin, and I would lose myself in a world of heroines who were carefree, laid back, and breezy with a problem or two, but she would eventually triumph after a seemingly short five or six chapters, and it always wrapped up so very neatly (and of course, with her on the arm of a handsome new beau)! I imagined that life would go like that, and that I was indeed that heroine. I would never have dreamt that I would be the 24 year old that would scrub her bathtub when she was stressing over something, or carefully packing two weeks ahead of an upcoming event (yes, I have done that!) I know that I am a control freak, and I'm actually proud of it. It's part of why the events on and since May 13th have been so difficult for me.      ...

When I was in Junior High I knew an amazing girl who was struggling with a lot on her plate. These struggles went far beyond boy trouble or puberty complaints. Even after all these years I remember the courage and strength she exhibited in surviving all that she did. We separated for a time, and we have recently started talking again. After seeing her story unfold from my perspective I wanted to know what it was like from hers. I have asked her to share her story, in the hopes that one day, someone, somewhere can be bettered by what she endured. This is her story, in her own words: "To say I understood how it all happened or why things turned out the way they did would be a lie. I don’t know how or why anything happened the way that it did. At 15 life seemed like it was at its all-time low. Things at my home were not ideal, years of verbal abuse finally pushed me to my breaking point. I was lonely and wading through pools of pain and darkness. Being a 15 year old I didn’t know h...

There are many reasons for grieving and hurting in this life-heaven knows we have all experienced some pain on varying degrees, whether it be a dull aching pain or a stabbing agony, we have all felt some sort of discomfort. It's a part of life-a necessary part, however hard that lesson is to learn. Over the years I have watched thousands of family members deal with some sort of frustration when it comes to a loved one-from the frustrations of a parent who refuses to shower to the loss or crippling illness of a beloved family member, I've seen it all. Psychologists have decided on five steps people go through when grieving in some way, it's called "The five stages of grieving" (go figure) In a psychology class I took they showed us a youtube video that has always helped me remember these stages as well as laugh in the process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_Z3lmidmr In all seriousness however, grief is real. I'm going to list the five stages of grief, as ...