Life in the Sexy Lane: The Story of Rosie

2 Weeks!!

Today, I wrote the last letter I will write Rosie while she is on a mission. How neat is that??

Today when I was running, I realized that you blog followers know that Rosie is my greatest pal who is on a mission, but you probably don't know the story behind mine and Rosie's friendship. So here it goes, story time!!

When I was a Freshman in college, Rosie moved into my apartment complex. She was had some mutual friends with my roommate, so we decided to invite her to start doing stuff with us. We all thought Rosie was SUPER legit, because she had just gotten back from modeling in JAPAN! Yep, she is legit like that. From the time she was like 15, Rosie modeled for Elite Model Agency in many areas of the world. We all loved to brag about our model friend, and she loved having new friends so it all worked out great! Throughout the semester, Rosie and I hung out daily. We were the only ones out of our group that didn't have a job, so we sat around A LOT (oh to be a Freshman again...) and goofed off. We all loved Rosie so much that we asked her to move in with us our Sophomore year.

Sophomore year came and we all moved in together. Rosie and I got off to a rough start. We didn't click AT ALL. We were in many of the same classes, and we were both SUPER competitive. We would argue and annoy each other constantly. There were times when I would straight up tell Rosie not to talk to me, because I had no interest in engaging in a conversation with her. I even told her that she was my arch enemy. We just didn't click and we saw the world VERY differently. I struggled that semester, because Rosie and I had so much friction at times. Halfway through the semester, I decided to implement a new strategy. I was going to fake it until I made it...meaning I was going to fake loving her until I actually did love her. This was VERY tough for a few weeks...but pretty soon...I LOVED my friend Rosie. We had a BLAST together and became very close friends when I moved back up to Utah County that next semester.

My Junior year in college, I moved up to Logan. This year was one of the hardest years of my entire life. I struggled with many challenges and lost many friends. During this year, the only constant person I had was Rosie. Rosie and I would talk daily about my struggles and we would discuss what I could do to change things. She didn't necessarily fix my problems, but she gave me the support that I sought for in a friend. She loved me unconditionally, which was EXACTLY what I needed at that point. The last 6 weeks before she went on her mission, we were BEST PALS! We goofed off and went on many adventures. I became her "dating coach" and taught her how to flirt with guys. We would go to random parties in Provo and make new friends. It was one of the funnest times of my life. After Rosie left, my life distinctly changed. I don't really know what happened, but people started telling me how happy I looked, and I was! I had learned how to be happy and gained a testimony for the first time in nearly 5 years since Byron died. Rosie was a great example to me and by her example, I changed my life and became a happy person again.

I don't know if Rosie knows how much she changed my life just by loving me and being my friend, but she truly did. Our friendship worked, because it was built with love. It wasn't easy to love Rosie at first, but when I opened my heart to the opportunity, it was harder NOT to love Rosie. Our friendship contains a mutual love and acceptance for one another...which is what everyone truly wants.

So if you learn 2 lessons from the story of Rosie and I, learn these:

1. Never pass up the opportunity to love someone by deciding to hate them first.

2. You never know how much unconditionally loving and accepting someone can change their life.

Okay, enough jabber. Here are some fun pictures of Rosie and I: