Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Nail Salon at the Temple?

You didn't really think I could cover my daughter's wedding in just one blog post.
After the wedding in the temple, Mike went outside to visit with family and friends while I went with Charlotte and Elizabeth to the dressing room to help her get ready for the photos. We did not rush.
In the meantime, there was a party going on outside. Everyone who was at the wedding and everyone who was waiting outside the temple were visiting.
My sister to Mike - "What is taking so long? It's been a while since I have been in the temple. Have they added a nail salon?"
Mike to my sister - "Yeah, they have. It's right next to the coffee shop."
When Charlotte and Reed came out of the temple, Anna was the first to greet Charlotte. Then she hugged me and said, "When Dad came out to see us his eyes were red."
Not surprising.
When Charlotte and Reed were kneeling at the alter, Mike and I were looking at each other. It is impossible to hear people give and receive promises like that, promises that have no end, that we made to each other and to God, and not be moved. Now we have heard Charlotte make them to Reed, and him to her.
It wasn't just Mike's eyes that were red.
So here is something else I learned about Reed before the wedding...
I mentioned we put together a slide show for the reception. We got some final photos of Reed the week before. I noticed that some were of him in pioneer garb with youth groups doing a pioneer trek. As I looked through them, I realized he was playing the part of one of the heroes.
Background information - When some of the handcart companies were crossing the plains to get to Utah in the 1850's, they were caught in some early winter storms. Many died. When Brigham Young heard about the groups that were stranded in blizzards, he cancelled meetings and called on those who could to go and rescue them. Some loaded wagons up with supplies and headed out, some hurried on ahead with what they could carry on horses. Several young men were some of the first to reach the handcart companies, freezing and starving on the other side of an icy river. They went back and forth across the river, carrying those who could not cross on their own. When youth groups reenact the trek, they often speak of this incident. In this group, Reed was one of the rescuers carrying people across the river.
I don't think many of us like the idea of being rescued, or of needing a hero. We want to be able to handle it all alone, be our own superhero. That makes for a limited and lonely life. But we are more than happy to be a rescuer or hero to someone else. I think Mike and I have learned to be that for each other. We rescue each  other, and we let the other rescue back. Mike says I am his hero, and I know he is mine.
I know Reed was playing a part as rescuer, but I think any practice is good.
I like thinking that Charlotte is with someone who will carry her when she can't go on, who will let her carry him when he can't. I like the idea that they could someday see that, together, they can leap tall buildings, be faster than a speeding bullet, and more powerful than a supercomputer (speeding locomotives are too outdated).
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go practice.

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