LIFE

Olivia has been introduced to a bit of "real life," as we like to call it, the past week or so. She has had some really tough decisions to make. The last six months she has been swimming her heart out, conditioning five to six hours a week in the pool. She swims long distances, and is good at them too! She qualified for Silver State in the 500 and was really excited about it. She surprised even herself! And then last weekend arrived. Chris was checking the Silver State schedule of events and found out that her big race, the one that is usually exclusively held on Friday nights, is being held on Sunday. And just like that, she made her decision. I won't swim. There was no waffling, even though a few tears were shed. I love to watch her swim but love even more to see her made the right decision even when it is so terribly difficult.

Fast forward to tonight at the dinner table. Olivia was telling her dad and I what had happened at school today regarding her birthday party. Invites were mailed out a week ago for the bash being held this Friday. Today one of the girls invited asked another girl, who was not invited, if she was going. Of course the girl was very sad and confronted Olivia about it. Olivia did not want to hurt her feelings, so she lied and told the girl, to her face, that she was NOT having a party. She told us she "just didn't have any other choice," to which we disagreed. She said she was feeling terrible inside, worried that her friend would find out about the party and hate her for life and she just wanted us to tell her how to fix it. Ah, yet another opportunity for our girl to make a tough decision! We suggested that she not worry about her friends reaction,since she could not control that, but instead figure out what she needed to do to feel good inside about HER actions. She could not see what she could possibly do about it now and we suggested making a list of all of her options and then deciding which one would make her feel the very best. Teary-eyed, she went in the family room and a few minutes later had a text composed to her friend. Olivia had apologized and said how very sorry she was, that the Holy Ghost had "warmed her" when she asked if she should invite this friend and that she would really like her to come. Of course there was another hour of drama exchanged via text, but in the end, Olivia told the girl she will bring by an invite tomorrow and the girl said she will come to the party. Once again, I am really proud of Olivia. She was able to fix her mistake the best she could by calling upon the Holy Ghost to guide her. She is such a sweet girl, never wanting to hurt anyone's feelings, but tonight she did something even more important than that when she chose honesty above everything else.