Home

Home: A place where someone feels comfortable, loved and accepted. 
--Tessa's brain dictionary.

  Cokeville is my home. I love it here! I have so many friends and teachers and my parents and siblings and other family here that totally support me and love me and I feel absolutely comfortable being here. I love Cokeville because I can be 100% me and never feel embarrassed or feel like I need to change my personality. I love Cokeville because I knew everyone in my grade, and the grade below me and the grade below that and I was darn good friends with the 7th graders in PE when I was a senior. I love Cokeville because everyone watches out for everyone. If I saw Jonathan outside playing, it was okay for me to just run over there and Mom knew I was there and Mrs. Fiscus was happy for me to come play and she took responsibility for me as much as my mom did when I was over. I always felt safe and I knew that everyone was my friend. I love Cokeville because I had so many opportunities that other people didn't get. A lot of 5'2" girls don't get to start on the high school volleyball team and basketball team or have the opportunity to be three sport athletes. A lot of big schools require specialization. It's volleyball or basketball or track. Don't even think about adding band and choir and show choir and the school musical and student council and National Honor Society. I love Cokeville because I had the opportunity to do it all. I love Cokeville because I could excel in all those things and be a part of all those things, but I had people keeping me grounded and making sure that I knew that those things weren't as important as school and church. My teachers always kept me encouraged to do well and I respected them all so much that I didn't want to get a bad grade. I didn't want to disappoint them. And I feel so lucky that I grew up with teachers and coaches that were all the same religion as me, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was great to go to practice and start with a prayer and to have our coaches encourage us to go to mutual and to read our scriptures. And the teachers were the same way. They didn't ever ask us to go to things on Sunday and they taught good values. I love Cokeville because I can walk to The Store and they know my mom's account number and they know how the teams did and they are my friends. I can walk to the Library and the ladies there know me and I can easily check out books without my library card that I think I lost when I was like 10 or something. I love Cokeville and I thought that I'd never be able to call another place home.

 Our House

Our Town

  I went to college and I was kind of a stinker about being there. I wanted to be home with my friends and my teachers and playing sports and I wanted to be with my parents. I wanted to go Home. The whole first semester, Provo was not home. My apartment was my apartment. I went to my apartment, not home, at the end of every day. Home was only Cokeville and that was that. And I spent the whole semester like that. I wasn't miserable by any means, but it was hard and I was always wanting to give up and go home. Second semester I cried when I had to go back to Provo and leave my home. Then about 3 weeks into the semester something started changing. I realized that I didn't like that I was constantly wanting to be somewhere that I wasn't and couldn't be. I decided to let Provo be home. I didn't replace Cokeville by any means. When I would leave on the weekends to come to Cokeville I said I was going home. But when I left Cokeville at the end of the weekend, I was going home to Provo. And while I was in Provo I would say, I'm going home, which meant my apartment, not Cokeville. And I enjoyed college so much more after I decided that Provo could be home too. I was happy to go home to Cokeville when I got the chance, but I didn't dread going back home to Provo. I love Provo because I had roommates and friends that were excited to see me and I was excited to see them. I missed them when I was away. I love Provo because I had a bishopric, that even though I was only with them for 8 months, I felt more support and love from them than I could imagine. I love Provo because I could meet so many friends in all my classes and even though I didn't have a personal relationship with most of my teachers, they picked darn good TA's that I did develop relationships with, that really cared if I got good grades and helped me to get those grades. I love Provo because I could go to BYU sporting events. I wasn't participating, but I could go and love it! I love Provo because it was so warm... In March! I love Provo because I decided to love it. It is a great place and in the fall, I'll not be leaving home to go to Provo, I'll be leaving home to go home to Provo. 

Provo--That big red brick building was mine!

  This week I am leaving home to go to Alaska. I have been there a few times in my life. My longest trip was 17 days and it was a great trip! This time I'm going for the whole summer! And I'm not going to do what I did with Provo. I'm not going to let myself want to come home, back to Cokeville. From the moment my plane lands in Anchorage, I will be home in Alaska. Grannie's place will be home, not Grannie's house. I'm going to plant myself in Alaska and bloom! I'm going to immerse myself in the single's ward and get to know people and make memories with my cousins and Grandparents and aunts and uncles. Palmer, and Grannie's house are going to be home. I'll leave my home in Alaska to come home to Cokevile. 

Some Alaska family the last time I was there

  For me, Home is where you can feel love and support and safety and be happy and that's all about attitude. It's incredible what the brain can do. I know that I can make a decision to like something and then do all I can to live that decision. I'm always going to call Cokeville home, but there's going to be a lot of homes in my life. The chances of me not living in Cokeville are pretty high. I know I'm going to have to have a good attitude about my location and even if I get planted permanently in Rich County or somewhere else like that (haha), it may be hard, but I'll find all the good and call it home. Life is a happy time and with a good attitude it's easier to be happy. I'm sad to leave home in Cokeville this week, but I'm excited to experience home in Alaska and all the other homes that I'll live in in my life.