To Be, Or Not To Be

I titled this post "To Be, Or Not To Be", referencing the famous opening phrase of Soliloquy in William Shakespeares Hamlet, because in the Soliliquy, Hamlet ponders the meaning of life. He questions whether or not it's worth it to be alive when life is so full of hardships and trials.

Well, this week, I have been helping my husband do his English homework. Frankly, he hates anything to do with reading and writing. So he lucked out because I truly do enjoy English classes and English homework. His teacher gave his class the assignment of finding a problem in their community and writing about their opinions on the subject and how they suggest to fix it. This decision would determine the topic that they will be writing on for the rest of the semester. At first, Luke stared at me blankly like there weren't any problems in the world that he could think of to write about. Then, "People need to change their attitudes."

As we discussed his outline and how he was going to connect personally to this topic, he surprised me. He told me that the three biggest reasons he is walking is because of a lot of prayers, physical therapy, and a good attitude. I then got really excited. This could be a very interesting and moving topic for people to read about. This wasn't going to be your typical, boring English topic like, "my garbage man doesn't pick up my garbage on time," or, "there is too much traffic in this city." No, this would be a real, solid topic that everyone could relate to. Something to help explain Hamlet's soliloquy. Life is DEFINITELY worth living if you have the right attitude about every situation.

I'm really proud of Luke. He worked really hard and this is what we came up with for his first post/assignment on his English blog:

"Change Your Attitude, Change Your Life

My name is Luke Jepson. Two years ago I bought a new truck and my life was forever changed. On my way home from purchasing my new truck I was in a serious car accident which left me paralyzed from the neck down. With the help of intense physical rehab and a lot of prayers, I am now able to walk with the help of a lower leg brace. My paralysis is greatly lessened but I still struggle every day. Among other things, my left hand is still paralyzed and I walk with an obvious limp. This raises some interesting questions for people. I get asked a lot of questions about why I walk the way I do and what happened. 

This does not define me. My definition does not stem from my limitations, or my outer appearance. I am defined by my attitude.The majority of people who go through traumatic events in life become bitter and angry. I use the word “traumatic” loosely.I am not exclusively speaking about those who have become paralyzed. I’m speaking about those who have gone bankrupt, who have lost a loved one, who have received bad news, etc. Life becomes bland and meaningless. In essence, individuals give up and/or become miserable. Our attitudes can either enable us or disable us.

In going through all that I have gone through. I have learned an important lesson. You become your attitude. In all things our attitudes are key. If you don’t feel happy or positive, fake it till you make it. Our lives do have a happy outcome, but we have to make the outcome happy ourselves. We can’t just go with the flow and let events and emotions happen to us. We must take control."

Our Love Story:

A lot of people have asked how Luke and I met. What better way to document our lives than through a blog? Lets start with a little bit of background:
If you know Luke you know he LOVES cars. In September of 2011 Luke bought a truck up in northern Utah and he and two of his friends drove up to pick it up. Instead of staying the night somewhere they decided to drive all the way back down to Hurricane. Luke had worked a long shift shortly before leaving to pick up his truck and hadn't slept in over a day. Just outside of Cedar City He fell asleep. When He woke up he over corrected and rolled his truck on the freeway going 80 MPH (Moral of the story, don't drive drowsy and don't speed!). His best friend Tyler was asleep in the backseat and his friend Rhett followed them in another car behind them. Tyler wasn't harmed but Luke was a mess. I'll spare you the details but because of a neck break and severe spinal cord swelling Luke was paralyzed from the neck down. Over the next year He was in and out of inpatient rehab and worked really hard to be where he is today. As you can see from our picture he can stand now and walks with the help of a brace. The only remaining visible signs of his paralysis are his brace and his left hand that he has very little range of motion in. Dixie Regional puts on a Jubilee of Trees every year and sponsors a department of the hospital. In November 2012 the sponsored department was the Neurology Department. What do you know, Luke was asked to be the special guest! At this same time, I was attending Dixie State as a sophomore. I grew up in Hurricane/St. George so in picking a college it had only seemed like the perfect place to be. I was returning home. I served on the Student Alumni Association as the Director of Community Affairs and Public Relations and I LOVED being a part of the Red Storm (Even if the mascot "Red Storm" Wasn't anywhere near as cool as the "Rebels")! I had being dating someone pretty exclusively for the first three and a half months of college and it wasn't going anywhere anytime fast. So I had decided to go on a mission and told him that we should "date other people" (cheesy I know). Three days later my Aunt Heather called me and asked if i would like to go to a concert with her at the Jubilee of Trees. Since I had just broken up with my boyfriend and didn't have any plans I readily agreed. Even if it was just the Osmonds. As we walked in, there was a video playing. A kid was sitting on a four wheeler talking about an accident he had been in (Luke). I leaned over and told my aunt that I thought he was pretty cute. She got excited and told me she was going to introduce us. I brushed it off thinking that that would never happen! She didn't even know who he was and why would he be here? Well, fate stepped in. Our seats were right behind his! As I walked in front of him i was pleading in my mind, "Please let him look at me and think i'm cute. Please let him look and me and think i'm cute!" Well..... to my shear disappointment, he didn't. In fact, he stared straight at the floor. "GREAT!" I thought (He'll tell you he looked at the floor because he was intimidated). We sat down and of course my aunt took things into her own hands. She reached forward and touched his shoulder, introducing us and asking him if he lived in Hurricane. When he answered yes my aunt asked him how old he was because "My neice Sydney grew up in Hurricane and is going to Dixie State." He's four years older than me so we never went to school together but it was a conversation starter! While my aunt kept Luke's parents occupied we chatted a little. The concert then started and Luke turned around. The whole concert, the only thing I could think of was how I was going to ask for his number. I'm not a forward kind of girl when it comes to relationships, I usually let them come to me. But for some reason I knew I needed to get this kids number. Well the concert ended and Luke and I started talking again. After a few minutes of small talk he said, "So.... Do you have a boyfriend?" A little surprised I answered, "Nope!" and he quickly followed with, "Okay. We're going on a date Monday." Shocked, but really excited I agreed and we swapped phone numbers. We went on a date on Monday and we have hung out every available moment since!