Postamorphosis

"I'm a beautiful butterfly!!!"

-Heimlich, you know, from 'A Bug's Life'

Take a good long look dear reader... That... was me about a year and a half ago... "Gross... Mustaches aren't really your thing huh?" Well, once upon a time I thought so...

Enjoy this gem while it lasts...

I guess in retrospect or hindsight or whatever you wish to call it, it was a bad idea, but hey, I thought I looked good. At least the mustache. I looked fantastic with beautiful long black locks but that's a story for another day. "Do I even want to know...?" Yeah, probably not. Well, there's a lot you can tell from the pictur- focus, keep reading... Okay, NOW look at it. There's a lot you can tell from the picture like- "That you can't grow facial hair to save your life?" Okay... I get it... It was bad... "Was it Halloween cause it looks like you're wearing those skeleton sleeve things." No, I'm actually that skinny, but that's neither here nor there.  

"So I don't get it. A while back, you told me you were a missionary or whatnot, but that's not what I imagined a missionary would look like. In fact, if someone who looked like that knocked on my door, I would probably laugh at his pathetic facial hair and then close the door." That was uncalled for...  But that's exactly right, I mean, if I saw someone who looked like that, and I did look like that so I know how it looks, I would be kind of freaked too, but that's where the whole change thing comes in play.

Everything I described in one neat picture!

So in the story of A Bug's Life, we have Heimlich whose quote is right up there, and who's likeness I share in no way, shape or form. It's mostly the fact that he's a caterpillar and I'm not. Kind of like in Lion King when Raffiki's all like, "It mean's you're a baboon, and I'm not." "Neither here nor there?" No it's sort of here, but not quite there... So Heimlich as previously stated, is a caterpillar who just can't wait to become a "beautiful butterfly." He's also German for some reason, oh and he eats a lot but if there's one thing I learned from the book, 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar,' It's that they eat a lot. "So where does the whole change thing come into play?" Oh right, so much like every other caterpillar, Heimlich can't wait to become a butterfly cause, well, It beats being a caterpillar and then, at the very end, after being in his cocoon for an indiscernible amount of time, he emerges. Of course it's a kid's movie so he looks pretty much the same but with tiny wings but he's happy so that's important right? "Ehh..." Well, much like in the movie, in real life, becoming a butterfly is important to a caterpillar's life. It's the end goal, but it's not easy, it requires for it to completely change everything about it and there's no going back but it's for the best and therefore, it undergoes a metamorphosis. 

So where does that mind-numbing picture of me come in? "That's a great question, but let me guess, it's neither here nor there?" Actually it's up there. C'mon reader, keep up! "Sigh..." So, rewind a year and half ago and we meet Elder Lopez, pre-Elder, but because I haven't heard my first name in awhile and it sounds weird to me now, we'll refer to me as, Elder Lopez. So year and a half ago I worked at Subway doing tons of Awesome! things with Awesome! people which included, dressing up as a giant sub and dancing in a street corner to attract customers, and no, that's not an expression. Maybe one day you'll see the spectacle that was, Subman, but not today. So there I was being Awesome! looking gnarly and working with not very much desire to go on a mission. As you could tell, I already didn't look the part and I was on my way to Assistant Manager which was a pretty big deal for me cause not only did I have a job, but I was good at it and was climbing up the ladder. But, one day, I received an answer that I should go on a mission which kinda shook my world, so I had to take the necessary steps in order to make that monumental leap.

Now Pause.

So here I am, doing my own thing with the freedom I wanted, and I had to give it all up. Sure i didn't have A LOT, but what I DID have, I valued. "So why'd you give it all up?" Well, dear reader, short answer is that I love God more than I loved anything I had. Yeah, it was a major sacrifice, and yeah I miss some of it but there is never a day that passes that I regret making that decision cause I know that not only was my decision the right one, but it was the decision that God needed me to make. So much like in the scene from 'V for Vendetta', I shaved my head, (and yes, much like Natalie Portman in that movie I wept for the loss of my long beautiful hair) brought a razor to that awful sliver of hair I called my mustache, figured I'd shower for once (that one's a joke, I always shower...) and donned a suit and before you know it, this was how I ended up. Look how happy I look!

What can I say? I clean up well.
Okay... You can stop looking...

In the end, much like Heimlich, well I guess unlike Heimlich, I changed everything to fulfill such a sacred call and like a beautiful butterfly, it ended for the best, but my story isn't an unusual one, it's an Awesome! one, but not an unusual one. For a similar story, click here!
You're still looking at the first picture aren't you...? "I just can't keep my eyes off it... Can I put it in my wallet?" No...