July Celebrities

I think my title of choice will make sense as the post goes on. I'll share my memories in the order that the birthdays happen in the month of July.

I don't actually recollect meeting Tim - I was young enough when he and Sarah started dating that he just kind of appeared. :D Tim is a celebrity because it seems as though everyone that meets him adores him. Seriously. My first memory of Tim was actually in that six-month period between his return from his mission and Sarah's return from hers. Mom talked about him pretty often partly because she was worried that he wouldn't be available for Sarah when she came home. She had heard reports or something that he was dating some gal in his parents' home ward (I happened to know the young lady a little). Clearly there was nothing to worry about really, since Sarah & Tim's future together was pretty well settled within a week of her return. I also remember very clearly the first time we took Tim out on the boat. Pretty sure it was Mom that asked him if he had slalom skied before and he said that he had a little bit. I think we were all prepared to give him tips if it didn't go very well for him. But he got up just fine and showed us how it was done! It totally changed the way we skied - true story.

Andrew John. Oh my goodness - he was an adorable little boy and I can't help thinking that he's still adorable even though he's taller than me now. :) One of my favorite memories of Andrew is when he was really young he called water, 'lapo'. If ice was in it then it was, of course 'ice lapo'. He was very insistent on calling it that for a long time. There was no conflict in his mind when everyone else called it water. We joked that maybe that's what water was in the Adamic language. Another favorite memory of Andrew is his nickname for me. He called me Ra-ree . . . although he said it more like 'Wa-wee' because he had trouble with the r's. It's my favorite nickname ever, and in fact the only nickname that I ever offer as an option if people want to call me something other than Rachael. I find the nickname 'Rach' horrifying. Yick. Just because I've expressed that I bet that Tim will start calling me that . . . but please restrain yourself. :) Andrew's a celebrity because he certainly seems to be a bit of one in Preston and he certainly was that, if only briefly in Nauvoo.

And finally Sarah. From a very young age I wanted to be like her. In my mind she was practically perfection. She was beautiful, had a lovely voice, and was a great dancer. As I got older my view of her changed, but I still totally thought she was awesome. She was outgoing, positive and funny. Before her mission she lived at home again for a year working at the store. After she left I really felt like people sought me out just to ask about Sarah (see, another celebrity). Every time I worked I was asked by at least one person how she was doing and I was instructed to send her some kind of greeting. It astonished me how many people knew her and loved her - and she had lived there for such a short time! I still wanted to emulate her in a lot of ways, and my efforts to do so had a really positive effect on me. I don't think I've ever really expressed it, Sarah but thank you for being such a great example to me. You and Tim are really an excessively awesome couple. :D