Life as an M&M

People occasionally ask the question, "If you were an animal, which would you be, and why?" Today I'd like to explain my life in the form of candy - the classic M&M.  These small chocolate-coated morsels were first made for soldiers in WWII  to have something sweet that, as the motto goes, would "melt in your mouth, not in your hand."  The "M's" stand for Forrest Mars, Sr. (founder of the Mars company), and Bruce Murrie (son of William Murrie - the president of Hershey Co.).  I have a mug on my desk that I picked up in NYC earlier this year with the sassy green M&M character which is fitting for two reasons: 1) green is one of my favorite colors and 2) as far as I know, the green M&M is the only one with a XX chromosome.  And luckily, green made the original cast of colors.  To go along with that was brown, yellow, orange, red, and violet.  What can I say? It looks like I'm an original!  Little did I know in February that in September I'd make some deep insight into my connection with a piece of chocolate.

So, on with the analogy to my life.  There are many situations I find myself in where I have to maintain my "hard candy shell."  It's a choice, actually.  Whatever you choose to call it - a thick candy shell, or maybe just a thick skin - it occasionally comes in handy.  It's saved me in some difficult run-ins with reality and allowed me to get back on my feet and move forward.  My most recent experience with this was saying goodbye to my dear friend Penelope Celeste just over 24 hours ago.  This dear friend is taking off tomorrow to start a new adventure in London to receive a Master's degree.  As excited as I am for her, I'm really sad that she'll be on a different continent for a year.  I gave her a big hug and thought I was fine (hard candy shell kicking in at this point), but in reality (which kicked in on my drive back to Provo), I was a slight emotional wreck (soft on the inside).  Dear friends seem to have that effect on me - bringing out the tender side.  The situation was slightly ironic because I remember at my farewell before leaving on my mission Penny's dad told me in church that the best goodbyes should be like pulling off a band-aid: the faster the better because it's a lot less painful.  I tried that yesterday with a quick hug and exit, but still, it hurt quite a bit.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing.  I'm also not saying that I consider myself feigning strength to cover up weakness - that's just not true.  But sometimes your heart strings are stirred a little deeper with certain experiences and you come to realize what you're made of.  I quite like the analogy.  I would much rather be an M&M than say a "Now & Later" that will eventually break a tooth, or something dreadful like that.  And heaven forbid that I may have turned out to be a sour-patch kid!!!  

So, after all is said and done, here's to all you M&M lovers out there - may you always enjoy this sweet little candy that has a punch of personality.  And Penn - here's to you my dear - may all your adventures be swell in the UK!