April 2012
Hey Everybody!
It has been a LONG TIME since I have posted on this blog and it is about time that I started again, because my life has taken quite the dramatic turn in the last year. On April 19, 2012 I graduated from Brigham Young University Cum Laude in Violin Performance.
Me and other graduating violinists (yes. . . I am the only guy)
Top left to right: Denise Holbrook, me, Danielle Lewis, Elyse Hudson, Catie Soffe
Bottom left to right: Sini Tulia-Vineyard, Sarita Powell
After five years with two added years of a mission in the middle I graduated. Five years of intense learning and self discovery that I will always cherish, my home away from home: BYU. In my five years I changed majors from composition to violin performance, I discovered a great love for the violin that I never realized I had before. I learned so much in the world of music academia and beyond, but when I graduated there was something else I realized I had developed over the years that was the hardest to leave: my friends and family. BYU is filled with wonderful people that have truly affected my life. In my last month there I got emotional in a way I hadn't felt since I had left for my mission. I realized that I wouldn't see a lot of these people again and if I did see them again it wouldn't be for a long time. Even though the list of people I was going to miss was long, there was a particular group of friends I spent a lot of time with before I left.
Here they are:
From left to right: Jacelyn Smith, Mack Burton, me, Tamera Schmidt and Kristin Savage
Ironically, this group of friends truly developed in the last month of my BYU experience and I had a difficult time leaving them. To make the most of our time though we spent a lot of late nights playing games and talking. We also went up to the canyon and had a glorious time.
It was awesome and it was so nice to have a solid group of friends to hang out with. I mean, I am a social butterfly at heart that longs for friends to do stuff with. I like to be alone at times, but if I go too long without social interaction I will go crazy. I truly love these people and miss spending time with them, but that chapter of my life had to come to an end. We definitely stay in contact and I cherish that friendship that I have long distance.
On top of leaving my Provo friends, I had to leave my Utah family. I have always had extended family in Utah, but the people I really spent the most time with were my two siblings and their families. I am very grateful for the many weekends and holidays I spent with them.
MY SISTER ALENA, MIKE, NEAL, and DEAN
MY BROTHER JONATHAN, ERICA, MADELYN, EVAN, AND LUKE
My wonderful Utah family. If you are reading this, I hope you know how much I love you and how much you mean to me. You were there for me in my years at BYU more than anybody. Thank you for coming to my concerts, having me over for dinner constantly, inviting me over to babysit, taking me with you on vacations, giving me advice when I most needed it, comforting me in my trials, being incredibly generous with your time, your homes, your money, and so many other things. It was a long journey, a journey that was filled with mistakes on my part. Please forgive me for any hurt I may have caused. Please forgive me for not spending more time with you especially in my last year. It was a busy year where I lost sight of a lot of what was most important in my life. I love you all and will miss the frequent interaction that I got used to over the years.
Yes. It was hard. Utah had become a new home to me and then, suddenly, I had to leave it and move on. BUT, it was time for a new step in my life.
