Pink Note #3
Name: Holly
Why She's Noteworthy:
Holly is one of those kinds of people who can step out of their bubble and talk to and serve just about anyone without a second thought. She is confident and outgoing. From what I have observed, if she sees someone sitting alone who looks like they need a friend or need to be included, she will go right on up to them, talk to them, and start working on getting to know them. In these cases, with Holly, you are pretty much immediately her friend. If you are having a hard time, she is definitely there for you and is generous with her time. When I said that she can step out of her bubble, that wasn't exactly accurate. Holly pretty much doesn't have a bubble most of the time. She gives hugs freely and loves to cuddle. She would even accept help from a homeless guy and then, again without a second thought, invite him to go to General Conference with us. So this is the story of that. Bear with me, it's a little long, I tend to go into detail, and it is a little crazy, but fun :)
Holly invited me to come along with her to take a road-trip this last April to BYU-Idaho to visit our friend, and then to BYU (Provo, Utah) to visit another friend, to see both campuses and to go to General Conference at the Conference Center for the first time (for both of us) . She actually told me I didn't need to pay for gas, because she was going on the trip anyway, and she knows I'm kinda poor. I helped pay for gas a little anyway because I felt like I should contribute.
So, we stayed Friday night in Provo, and got up Saturday morning and drove to Salt Lake City to go to the Saturday morning session of Conference. We were originally going to try and get in on stand-by, but Holly's other friend at BYU had tickets that he was nice enough to give to us, and we even had two extras. Holly had never really been to Salt Lake before, and when we got down around Temple Square she didn't know where she was going to find where our parking pass said we had to park. Eventually we ended up pulling into this parking lot and asking the parking attendant for directions. He started to just tell Holly, but since she had never been to Salt Lake before, she knew she would probably still get lost. Enter homeless guy.
A homeless guy was standing next to the parking attendant and told us that he knew where we needed to go and would draw us a map. So Holly pulled around out of the way, and gave the guy a pen and paper and he proceeded to draw us a map and explain it. When Holly still looked a little worried (she was quite flustered and worried we would be late) the guy suddenly said, "I actually need to go down that way, so why don't I just ride with you and I can just show you where to go?" to which Holly immediately replied something along the lines of, "Okay, that would be really great. Thank you so much!" Then the guy got into the backseat and we started driving again with him giving us directions. At this point, I was feeling just a little nervous and wondering if this was the safest thing. As is my habit when I'm in a situation like this, I said a really quick prayer in my head asking for safety and to know if anything was wrong. It felt okay, and knowing how Holly is, I just went with it.
We got to the parking garage and found a parking spot. When we all got out of the car, we were telling the guy thank you and that we were so grateful he was there to help us, because we might have gotten really lost and been late otherwise. He was really nice and gracious about it.
Suddenly I heard Holly ask him what he was doing right then and if he wanted to come to Conference with us because we had an extra ticket. He asked us how long it was because he has an overactive thyroid and needed to eat really frequently. Holly told him he could take some applesauce cups that we had in the car so he could have something to eat. After that, he agreed to come with us. Once again, I was a little nervous and felt like this was all a little weird, but again, Holly didn't seem to have a problem, so I just went with it.
While we walked to the Conference Center, he talked a lot (he told us he has Aspergers, which makes him see the world differently than other people), and Holly listened to him and was really nice. I kinda just awkwardly kept quiet the whole way. We found out that he had been a member of the Church when he was younger, but had gone inactive as a young adult, because even though it was all very nice, it didn't really make sense to him.
We got to the Conference Center, found our seats, and watched Conference (which was AWESOME by the way! I was so disappointed when it was over). Afterwards he said again that he didn't really believe in the Church, but he was glad he came because a lot of the things that were said really seemed to apply to his life right then. He said he believed this whole thing was very serendipitous. He then offered to show us back to the parking garage. As we were walking, I guess Holly's worrying side finally kicked in because she grabbed my arm and walked arm in arm with me the whole way back, and later told me she didn't know what was going to happen then. Everything was fine, however, and when we made it back to where we parked, we thanked him again, and Holly gave him a note that she had written to him during the session. Later she told me that it basically said that she was glad that he had been there to help us and she hoped that this event had made some difference in his life. He then left, we got in the car, and then I told Holly that she was probably the nicest person I had ever known, because there was no way I would ever have invited a random homeless guy I just met to go to conference with us. I told her I might not have even talked to him. I also told her about how I had been a little worried and said a prayer and just went with it because I figured she knew what she was doing. She told me she hadn't really thought about it, because she was the kind of person that, usually, if something is really wrong, she would definitely feel it. She didn't feel that in this case, so that's why she went ahead and invited him. She also told me she appreciated that I had said that prayer, because it was nice to know I had done that, just in case. Then we drove back to Provo and that's pretty much the end of that story.
So, we stayed Friday night in Provo, and got up Saturday morning and drove to Salt Lake City to go to the Saturday morning session of Conference. We were originally going to try and get in on stand-by, but Holly's other friend at BYU had tickets that he was nice enough to give to us, and we even had two extras. Holly had never really been to Salt Lake before, and when we got down around Temple Square she didn't know where she was going to find where our parking pass said we had to park. Eventually we ended up pulling into this parking lot and asking the parking attendant for directions. He started to just tell Holly, but since she had never been to Salt Lake before, she knew she would probably still get lost. Enter homeless guy.
A homeless guy was standing next to the parking attendant and told us that he knew where we needed to go and would draw us a map. So Holly pulled around out of the way, and gave the guy a pen and paper and he proceeded to draw us a map and explain it. When Holly still looked a little worried (she was quite flustered and worried we would be late) the guy suddenly said, "I actually need to go down that way, so why don't I just ride with you and I can just show you where to go?" to which Holly immediately replied something along the lines of, "Okay, that would be really great. Thank you so much!" Then the guy got into the backseat and we started driving again with him giving us directions. At this point, I was feeling just a little nervous and wondering if this was the safest thing. As is my habit when I'm in a situation like this, I said a really quick prayer in my head asking for safety and to know if anything was wrong. It felt okay, and knowing how Holly is, I just went with it.
We got to the parking garage and found a parking spot. When we all got out of the car, we were telling the guy thank you and that we were so grateful he was there to help us, because we might have gotten really lost and been late otherwise. He was really nice and gracious about it.
Suddenly I heard Holly ask him what he was doing right then and if he wanted to come to Conference with us because we had an extra ticket. He asked us how long it was because he has an overactive thyroid and needed to eat really frequently. Holly told him he could take some applesauce cups that we had in the car so he could have something to eat. After that, he agreed to come with us. Once again, I was a little nervous and felt like this was all a little weird, but again, Holly didn't seem to have a problem, so I just went with it.
While we walked to the Conference Center, he talked a lot (he told us he has Aspergers, which makes him see the world differently than other people), and Holly listened to him and was really nice. I kinda just awkwardly kept quiet the whole way. We found out that he had been a member of the Church when he was younger, but had gone inactive as a young adult, because even though it was all very nice, it didn't really make sense to him.
We got to the Conference Center, found our seats, and watched Conference (which was AWESOME by the way! I was so disappointed when it was over). Afterwards he said again that he didn't really believe in the Church, but he was glad he came because a lot of the things that were said really seemed to apply to his life right then. He said he believed this whole thing was very serendipitous. He then offered to show us back to the parking garage. As we were walking, I guess Holly's worrying side finally kicked in because she grabbed my arm and walked arm in arm with me the whole way back, and later told me she didn't know what was going to happen then. Everything was fine, however, and when we made it back to where we parked, we thanked him again, and Holly gave him a note that she had written to him during the session. Later she told me that it basically said that she was glad that he had been there to help us and she hoped that this event had made some difference in his life. He then left, we got in the car, and then I told Holly that she was probably the nicest person I had ever known, because there was no way I would ever have invited a random homeless guy I just met to go to conference with us. I told her I might not have even talked to him. I also told her about how I had been a little worried and said a prayer and just went with it because I figured she knew what she was doing. She told me she hadn't really thought about it, because she was the kind of person that, usually, if something is really wrong, she would definitely feel it. She didn't feel that in this case, so that's why she went ahead and invited him. She also told me she appreciated that I had said that prayer, because it was nice to know I had done that, just in case. Then we drove back to Provo and that's pretty much the end of that story.
So, long story, but really interesting, right? Especially for our first time going to General Conference. That is definitely something I will be remembering years later throughout my life. I think you can see by this story why I chose my good friend Holly for a pink note. She is definitely an example to me of kindness, friendship, and selfless service.
2 comments:
This is one of my favorite stories, I was so glad you were there. I am forever grateful for your friendship and hope that you'll take the trip with me again when we are able. That or maybe my next trip out there will be to see you at school. Love you dearly.
I would love to take that trip with you again! I think I probably will be going to school before that could happen again, though, so in that case you should definitely come visit me when/if I'm there.
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