Hey.

Aubrie and I were talking the other day, and decided that the sign at the entrance to town should say, "Welcome to Kimberly, home of the judgmental cowboy Mormons".

Don't get me wrong, I love Kimberly. But when I graduate I am out of here.

(Disclaimer: In this post I am expressing my personal opinions and desires. Live your life however you want to.)

I love the gospel and everything about it, and my testimony is strong. Whatever the Lord has planned for me is what I will end up doing.

But.
Mormon culture right now is sometimes a box. That is a fact. So many things are misunderstood and generalized. And it's not exclusive to my religion either. I think as a whole, a lot of humanity is just losing their ability, or maybe just their desire, to see things with an open mind.
I will not be the girl that gets married 2 months out of high school. I feel like the times between high school and marriage, marriage and kids are all important and different. I want to experience all of them thoroughly. Similarly, I want to live life as largely as possible. While my classmates are going to BYUI I want to go somewhere that scares me. Because the best things to do in life are those things that scare you.
Mostly I just want to live my life immersed in culture. I want to see the world and know things other people don't. I want to have a testimony that I know is real because I've tested it, not because I've hidden it from everything that could be a threat to it. I want to leave a legacy of kindness that my great-grandchildren will hear about. I want to never be scared of a flipped paradigm, and even though its extremely difficult, I will learn to stop judging people on first sight. I want to make the most of each talent that was given me, and share these abilities whenever possible. I will teach my children that diversity is not only okay, but necessary, and that being wrong can still be a success. I will trust in the Lord and realize from the start that things will be hard, but they will be for good. I want to be recognized for being different, for nonconformity and acceptance. I will travel and understand and count my blessings. Rather than tearing down, I will build.

Luke 1:37.