A Peek at the Poulsens

I missed church for my Chicago trip, and that just so happened to be the Sunday that they announced a big change: our ward was being dissolved and we were all assigned to one of the two other wards in our building. It came as a complete surprise and I don't think I fully processed the information for at least a week. We met the following week as Trendwood Ward one final time, they released all of us from our ward callings, and we turned in all our materials and keys. It feels completely bizarre and normal at the same time - bizarre because it was so sudden and we're being separated from people we've served with for over 5 years, and normal because the Church is true and the work goes on and ward boundaries are arbitrary when it comes to testimony and personal conviction. My first thought when I heard the news was, "ah! Which of my friends aren't in my ward now!?" and my second thought was, "wait! That means I'll be released!" I couldn't ...

Max asked me if I wanted to go to the John Mayer concert in Chicago in September, and I really really wanted to but didn't think it was logistically/financially possible so I told him no thanks. He texted me the next day asking if money weren't an issue if I thought I could be gone for a fri-sat-sun trip and find babysitters, etc, so I said "probably," and he said, "good, because I just bought two tickets." I'm pretty sure my brain went "!!!!!!!!!!!!" With the financial consideration out of the way, I felt like I could make the rest of it work so I said YES and that was the start of our month-long anticipation of a brother/sister roadtrip to see one of our very favorite musicians and spend the weekend playing tourist in Chicago. It was so fun to plan the trip together, going back and forth on what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go. Our planning paid off because I think it was the smoothest, most streamlined and relaxed itinerary I...