One moment of anxiety.  Another moment of smiles and laughter.  The next, sobs of grief.
  Cheer.  Rehearsals.  Cheer.  Research project.  I was on the verge of bursting with the load, my nights sleepless with worry.  Today we waited for hours as we all tried out and then the judges tallied the scores and arranged the teams.  I was scared.  Though my cheers and jumps were tight, I was animated on the dance even during slight errors, and I standing-tumbled without a problem, I panicked and had to do the running tumbling four times before I through anything, even with a spot, due to a little mishap with my tumbling on Monday.  But in the end, I was thrilled to make JV with a bunch of my friends.
  Laughter, relief, thinking of which movie we could watch after the kids went to bed.
  And then we get that call.  Rachel and I walked in to find Dad grim-faced and Adam and Mom's faces streaked with tears.  Even before they started to explain what happened, I just knew that someone's life had slipped away.  Images of all my loved ones raced through my head.  It was Liberty, our dog.
  Liberty is an English golden retriever. I remember that day when I went to the airport with Mom to pick her up, holding her on the way home as a sweet pup.  As she started to grow, she began to be very wild.  Lively.  Animated.  She drove us crazy like no other living creature I have ever met!  But she was filled with love.  About a year or so ago we sent her to live with a family in our ward who has more property.  There she, with some other dogs, lived a life of adventure.  Unfortunately, I never had the chance to get to know her very well.  Yet I was completely stricken with the news of her passing.  The family who cared for her don't know what happened; today she was completely full of energy, and then suddenly they found her, lifeless, without a mark.  She was going to be two years old in just a few weeks.  That is the prime age, right when she is fully matured and happy and healthy!  The other dogs licked her sadly, her caring friends, also taken aback by the sudden death. 
  Life.  It is only so long, and we only have so many opportunities.  We don't know when our time will come to pass over to the better place, but now is the time to prepare.  I just made cheer.  Thus, I need to use that to learn, to make friends, to have fun.  On Saturday I need to take the stage and shine.  And just in general, I need to try my hardest to demonstrate to others how important the Gospel of Christ is to me.