Once Upon a Time...

as our beloved friend Sebastian the crab from The Little Mermaid said oh so eloquently, 

"the human world...it's a mess."

a'int that the truth. 

our world..our nation..even our state is a wreck.

I was originally planning on writing about Robin Williams' death. I was going to selfishly remind you about my own journey through the dark tunnel that is depression. I was going to remind you of the things people who suffer from depression HATE to hear. I was going to give you the perfect and simple tools on how to be a good friend to someone who is Sad. (capital S because I hate overusing the word "depressed.") But I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to keep shoving words about this awful thing down your throat like so many people on social media networks have done (myself included..) 

Instead? I'm going to tell you a funny story. you may not actually laugh out loud..but if you crack a tiny smirk? that's better than reading an article and walking away feeling like someone punched you in the stomach/soul. (that's how I've felt for the past few days.)

Okay so growing up my best friend Jessica and I did pretty much everything together. one summer we went on a trip to the great state of Iowa to see and spend time with her grandparents that live there. there are many parts of this trip that I will never forget - an INSANE amount of flower gardens, sleeping (kinda) in the back seat of their truck with my legs intertwined with Jessica's, giggling at night listening to grandparent snores that LITERALLY sounded like a chain saw, etc. 

the one event that I will NEVER forget happened the day her grandparents dropped us off at a small water park for the afternoon. we were so excited. FREEDOM! we made the rules, we decided what to do, and we got to flirt* with cute boys.

*stare awkwardly at boys until they caught us staring then giggling and looking away*

*also kind of follow them around at a safe distance but act like we weren't*

we felt so old, independent, and ALIVE.

the park had a wave pool - so fun! so we hung out in the wave pool when we weren't going down slides or following cute boys. if you paid extra, you got a wristband and you could use an inner tube in the wave pool. we did not have wristbands, but because we were on our own, making our own rules, we decided to REBEL and surreptitiously float on a tube with our wrists in the water so the lifeguards couldn't see that we in fact, did not have permission to use the tubes. 

living LIFE on the EDGE, people. 

as brilliant as our wrist-in-water plan was, it did not work. we got caught and yelled at which I absolutely hated. so we were now Those Girls. the Fugitives. 

we decided to stay in the pool and just swim around. at one point I decided to start being a mermaid - duh - and began diving in and out of the water picturing my wildly beautiful fin behind me. 

Ariel would have been SO jealous of my sweet mermaid moves. 

the next 2 minutes (probably not even that long) are going to be burned into my memory for the rest of life. 

I was under the water. swimmin' along, feeling the simulated waves push and pull me through the water. I had my eyes closed - I hated when they would get red from the chlorine - and I was just the happiest little mermaid. the need for air came upon me so I started to swim toward the surface. (as I'm sitting here typing these words I am literally giggling from the absurdity of what happened next.) I can tell I'm almost to the surface when I feel myself having to push against something. in my head I'm thinking, "oh I must be right in the middle of a fake wave and that's making it more difficult. I should just keep pushing because man, I need to breathe." so I go with my gut and keep. on. pushing.

when I get to the top of the water, open my eyes, and look around I am super confused. right in front of me are a pair of swim trunks/legs that are attached to the torso of a boy my age. behind his torso I see the yellow colored inner tube that Jess and I tried to float on earlier. then I see that the torso is connected to a head of one of the cute boys were flirted(ish) with earlier. then I see the look on his face that read, "what are you doing?" then I hear his words, 

"ummm.....I was here first."

I was in his inner tube. my head had popped up from the water INSIDE HIS INNER TUBE. he had just been laying in his tube, enjoying the push and pull of the fake waves, when suddenly this girl's head POPS UP FROM THE WATER INSIDE HIS TUBE. 

In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word "mortify" is defined as "subject to severe and vexing embarrassment." there could also be another definition added - 

"like the time Hannah Morgan's head popped up in cute boy's inner tube"

I don't really remember what I said to him. I probably stuttered an apology. I then quickly went back under water and desperately searched for Jessica and my dignity. 

I found Jessica.

///

I tell you this story because I still crack up just thinking about it. 

I tell you this because it truly is my most embarrassing moment, and sometimes it's good to be vulnerable and be open about the times you wanted to crawl into a hole and live there the rest of your life out of sheer humiliation. 

I also tell you this to hopefully lighten your day/afternoon/evening.

 I hope that you laughed or least smiled. 

I love making people laugh. I think besides showing people the love of Jesus, teaching, and being the best mom to Monster, making people laugh is one of the most important life goals I have. 

I love you. Please go have a fantastic day. if the headlines, articles, etc. get too heavy for you - take a break. put your phone down. log off Facebook. go outside. take a deep breath. think of 3 things you are thankful for, and then move forward. I'm definitely going to try it! 

xoxo,

H