Best Buddies "This is Me" Fireside

I am sure this has happened to you.  You make a plan to do something nice and it seems doable and reasonable at the time you made the plan---but then during it--everything goes wrong and you wonder what you were thinking...and then in the end, it was amazing and worth all it took to make it happened!  Yep--that is how Tuesday night went for me.

I left work early to head down to Provo to take Jena and her friends, Megan, Sara, and Emily to the Best Buddy end of the year fireside entitled "This Is Me."

First problem was that it was rainy which led to some small crashes and BIG traffic delays.  What should have taken me around an hour took 1 1/2 hours...and that just got me to Panda Express in Provo...

where the next frustration occurred.  I had ordered dinner from Panda Express to celebrate the ending of the semester.  We had done this last year and Jena wanted to do it again.  I had ordered the food by phone and then had called when I got off the freeway to confirm I was still coming but delayed because of the weather.  They said everything was good.  However when I got there, they only had half the order ready--only one family feast instead of two...and one of the entrees I had ordered they no longer carried.  I choose a replacement and after waiting about 10 minutes more, I asked what the hold up was and they said that they were just starting to cook more of the entree--a few more minutes...which turned out to be about 10 more minutes....now I am about 40 minutes behind...

Luckily, the girls were all dressed and were excited for their Panda Express dinner which they ate in record time.

Then when we headed out to the car, it started pouring down rain and very dark.  The suggested parking was in a standard visitors parking across campus from the Tanner building where the event was being held.  The Tanner building was a new building (to me) but I decided to risk parking nearby which turned out to be a trick as spots were hard to find.  We finally parked about 7:10 (the event started at 7:00 with treats and then the program at 7:30.) walked into the building and started the search for the room.  Unfortunately we went the wrong way and circled the west side of the building, before we found someone  (a friend of Jena's we ran into during our search)who directed us to the Auditorium which was over a bridge way, through some doors, down the hallway and back into another area of  the atrium and into the auditorium.  I took off when everyone following behind...only to arrive missing one of the girls.  I made Jena and the others promise to sit tight while I returned back across the bridge way to find the missing girl.  After a quick search, I thought to call her and she was in a nearby bathroom.  She was not feeling well and had to make a quick dash to the bathroom without telling anyone. Whew...ran back to the other three girls and got them into the Auditorium...back and wait by the bathroom for girl #4 and finally by 7:35 we were in the auditorium watching a video of all of the fun activities Best Buddies did this past year.  And between the photos, the speeches, the thank yous, and the rest that went into the evening, it was a great event.

 And the last thing we did was stand and sing the song from The Greatest Showman "This is Me":

Now personally, I am not a huge fan of the movie, mostly because I read a short biography of P.T. Barnum prior to seeing the movie and I didn't agree with much of his approaches.  However, despite all of that, some of the music is quite moving.  I have put all of the words below, but the parts that hit me the most were these:

I know that there's a place for us
For we are glorious

And then--

I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me

...This is me

Imagine being in a room where about half the people are those with outward and clear cognitive difficulties and the other half are amazing college students who volunteer their time to be friends and to advocate with them and a few parents sprinkled in the middle of it all--read those words and imagine the tears in the eyes of those parents and college students--that is what it was like and then some!  And I was so glad that I was there despite the rain, the mixed up order, the lack of parking, hard to find room, and the lost girl! 

Life can be like that--the storm before the clearing, the dark before the dawn--it happens on some days, so we know it can happen in all things.

After the event, the girls spent time getting their pictures taken with a variety of their college friends who were there.  Like with Show Choir, I am so amazed that college students would choose to use their limited free time to serve others.  How awesome is that! 

The whole set of lyrics--

I'm not a stranger to the dark
Hide away, they say
'Cause we don't want your broken parts
I've learned to be ashamed of all my scars
Run away, they say
No one will love you as you are

But I won't let them break me down to dust
I know that there's a place for us
For we are glorious

When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me

Another round of bullets hits my skin
Well, fire away 'cause today, I won't let the shame sink in
We are bursting through the barricades
And reach above the sun (we are warriors)
Yeah, that's what we'll become

Won't let them break me down to dust
I know that there's a place for us
For we are glorious

When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
Gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me

...This is me

And I know that I deserve your love
There's nothing I'm not worthy of
When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
This is brave, this is proof
This is who I'm meant to be, this is me

Look out 'cause here I come (look out 'cause here I come)
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum (marching on, marching, marching on)
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me

I'm gonna send a flood
Gonna drown them out
(...this is me)