(Image above: Me in a field of flowers on Y Mountain)
Dear Family,
A few of my Willis relatives expressed a desire to stay updated with my life while I’m away at college. I’m flattered that you all still want something to do with me even when I’ve given you the perfect excuse to forget I exist by going away to college. I love you all and I’m excited to present my branch of the Famlet. Warning: it likely will not be as well written as Ari’s or Dad’s branch. It will likely largely resemble my weekly emails from my time as a missionary, but I will do my best to provide informative and enjoyable updates to anyone who cares to read them.
Many of you know what I was doing at the beginning of this month as you were with me at the Willis family reunion in West Virginia. Just prior to this reunion, I completed my internship with RiskSpan, the company that my dad works for. I spent eight weeks of my summer researching modern financial technology in the secondary mortgage market, drafting blog posts for the company website, and explaining to Dad’s coworkers why I, an English major, was interning for their company. I loved working with Dad all summer and I feel that I learned a lot under his instruction. His coworkers are all lovely people who make RiskSpan feel like a family and interns feel like they actually have something meaningful to contribute.
I finished my internship just in time to join the Willis families in West Virginia for our family reunion. The Sunday in between my last day of work and my trip, I broke the news to my new friends in the Strathmore young single adult ward that I would not see any of them for quite a long time, save those who would shortly be joining me at BYU. It turned out to be a surprisingly unexpected announcement, considering that I had been telling people that I would fly to Utah August 11th for the entire summer, but I suppose I should be glad that no one was counting down the days until my departure. I also forgot to inform everyone that, while my flight to Utah was on that Friday, I would be leaving on Monday for the Willis reunion. So I said my quick goodbyes to a lot of wonderful people who made me summer incredible. When I went home to Maryland for three and a half months in May, I didn’t expect to meet so many new and wonderful people, but they are one of the many unforeseen blessings of my time back at home.
So, after a magical four days in the destination location that is northern West Virginia, I flew out to Utah and moved into my new apartment. I noticed on the day of my flight that I had a little sore throat, but didn’t think much of it, as I hadn’t slept much the night before and didn’t have much to eat or drink. Don’t ask me why, but I seem to see traveling as an opportunity to take virtually no care for my health. So I unconcernedly enjoyed watching over the shoulders of the three men I sat next to over the course of two flights as they watched various movies and TV shows, most notably “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” When I wasn’t watching other people’s media, I was memorizing the capitals of African countries. Geography is a burgeoning hobby of mine, feel free to be impressed.
I quickly realized when I moved into my new apartment, however, that my sore throat was not just a symptom of fatigue. Two days of being in Utah convinced me I had a cold, but nothing except for the text from my mother in the family group chat confirming that one of our cousins had just tested positive for covid convinced me that I might have something a little more sinister. I received this text in the middle of my second hour of church and immediately (and very inconspicuously) put on a mask. It didn’t take long for anyone who had spoken to me at church already to learn that I probably had covid, so I think we can safely say that I made a first impression of some kind on my new ward.
I tested positive for covid and isolated for the recommended five days. Luckily for me, Grace also had covid and we were able to entertain each other by completing our mission to watch all of the Spider-Man movies together. Our consensus: Andrew Garfield is better than Tobey Maguire and watching Spider-Man 3 is a waste of time. I try a little harder than my father not to say controversial things, but I just wanted to put that out there. Out of this entire covid experience though, my greatest regret is those three men who I sat next to on the airplane. I think about them sometimes, and I hope that they didn’t get too sick.
Once I came out of isolation, my new roommates were very welcoming and I’ve decided that I love them very much. They are so kind and inclusive and I hope to learn a lot from the way they treat me and everybody in our ward this semester. Two of my roommates are girls who I already knew: a mission companion from my time in Ukraine, and a former roommate from my freshman year at BYU. We’re an odd mixture of personalities to be honest, but there are few people more loving and inclusive, so I am excited to be a part of our group. I have already played a few invigorating rounds of a game called “Donner Dinner Party” with them and I can confirm that our relationships with each other can recover from betrayal and shouting matches over who in our party is an undercover cannibal. I imagine we can recover from most other things too.
Many people who I talk to nowadays ask me something along the lines of, “What have you been up to since you got here? Working?” I swear I’m trying to find a job guys, I really am. However, for now I have just been catching up with all the people who I left here to go to Maryland, reading a lot of books, and getting everything in order for the start of the semester. It has honestly been keeping me busy, if you can call it that. I’ve found it incredibly rewarding to spend as much time with as many people as I can. I’m convinced that anyone is 90% more likely to accomplish something that God wants them to accomplish when they’re in the company of even just one other person. (The percentage is negotiable, but I’m sticking with the general feeling of my assertion.)
This philosophy comes in part due to a realization I had a few months ago when I made a new friend: you never know when you’re going to meet the next important person in your life. I think this principle is incredibly relevant when serving a mission, but I’ve noticed that it applies in the regular world as well. It’s amazing to look back on experiences when I’ve made new connections and close friends, and they were rarely on days when I expected someone new and impactful to come into my life. Sometimes a new coworker is hired and assigned to shadow you at work; sometimes you run into someone you kind of know but haven’t seen in a long time at church or on campus; sometimes you need to get a covid test 24-hours before being evacuated from a country in eastern Europe that’s about to be invaded by Russia, and someone just comes into your life and stays there. I think that those unpredictable mercies are some of God’s most beautiful gifts, and I hope to make the most of them this school year.
All of this is to say that I am currently unemployed, but I still think I’m using my time productively.
I hope you all enjoy this next month as we jump back into school and other related activities. I will still be studying English teaching and will consequently be reading a lot of Shakespeare and many novels (at least 32, to be more specific; pray for me, please). I’m excited to get smarter and keep you all updated on the no-doubt exhilarating months to come.
All the love,
Sophie
Senior Contributor to The Famlet Monthly