Mimi-Lynn

I first really got to know Mika when she was a sophomore and I was a senior in high school.  Yes, we'd lived together our whole lives, but it wasn't until then that we became more than sisters; we became friends.  Mika and I were given 2 weeks to tie up our lives and move across the Pacific to a foreign country.

We started out living with our dad in his hotel room, going down to the Denny’s-type restaurant below each morning for breakfast, and then heading off to school (I can’t even remember now, but I think we caught the bus).  Since our dad was usually at work, and at school we knew no one, we really had to rely on each other.  I remember being SO grateful that I had her at lunch, because that was the scariest part of the day and I didn’t know how I would’ve done it alone.  Even after she started to make friends (of course, with her friendly, outgoing, effervescent personality, she did this quickly), she let me tag along with them until I had made some friends of my own.

It wasn’t long before an amazing woman in the ward (her name is Aunty Lahapa)  heard that we were living in a hotel and, having just sent her last daughter off to college, asked us to come stay with her.  I remember I was always running late (I know…hard to believe, but true ; ) in the morning, but I’d come downstairs to find my breakfast waiting on a paper towel so I could eat it on the go, and my backpack packed and ready to grab.  Like really?!  What little sister does that?!  But I wasn’t even surprised at the time (extremely grateful, yes, but not surprised) because it was such typical Mika behavior.  She loves taking care of other people.  She’s always had such a strong nurturing, motherly instinct (I know, lucky little girl she’s having), and even though I’m the older sister, I’ve often gotten to be the recipient of that.

Fast forward a few years (don’t ask me how I got by without her during this time, but somehow I survived = ) and we were together again.  This time, she was a freshman and I was a junior, and I was so excited to be reunited with my friend!  We did everything together that year (again, she let me tag along with her friends = ) and really became best friends.  Mika had a dining plan, and so generously treated me to salads and wraps, soft serve cups with rainbow sprinkles, the best rice crispy treats ever, Cannon Center breakfast buffets (oh man, those killed me every time since I LOVE breakfast foods, but I guess I‘m a glutton for punishment because I returned time and time again…haha), and…the best…Fast Sunday dinners, complete with Creamery ice cream.  Even when she got so scared and upset during a certain rice crispy treat incident, she didn’t ban me from dining with her = )

Which brings me to Mika’s forgiving nature.  She’s always been a step above the rest of us earthlings.  She was the perfect child, and as much as this infuriated me growing up, it was something I grew to admire SO MUCH!  Mika didn’t have to make stupid decisions so that she could learn valuable lessons; she was able to learn from the mistakes of those around her (ahem, her older sisters).  She was a little bit more patient, a little bit more humble, a little bit more loving - a little bit more like our Savior - than the rest of us, but that never made her think that, or act like, she was better than us.  Even though I did things that Mika never would’ve because of her good nature, I never felt judged or looked down upon by her.  Rather, she has a way of pulling up those around her to higher ground.

That’s not to say that Mika’s not fun.  In fact, Mika has always had SO many friends (sometimes it was hard to share her with all of them) because you just have a better time when Mika’s around.  And so you can imagine how much fun that year was for me, since I got to be with Mika practically all the time = )  Almost every weekend you could find us at a dance, whether a BSU campus dance or an off-campus “rager”…haha…and still today, it’s hard to have fun at a dance without her.  She’s an incredible dancer and an awesome singer, but you wouldn’t know it because she’d rather cheer on others than steal the limelight for herself.  And we loved hosting people at the condo for movie nights, dinners, “parties,” etc. (Mika’s also an amazing cook, so I guess it was more like she hosted people at the condo, including me = )

I have always looked up to my younger, shorter sister…haha…and am so grateful to have been the blessed recipient of her wonderfulness! = )