eternal

On Thursday night, I sat at a table in the Old Spaghetti factory listening to my dad tell the story of how he tricked my mom into singing for him and the other firemen at his station when he first met her. My mom has always had a terrible memory, even back then. So when he asked her if she was still on for that night, she responded with a blank stare. "Remember," he said, "you promised to come and sing for me and the other firefighters, tonight at 7." "Oh yes," bluffed my mom, "I remember." So she went, she sang, and then my dad walked her out. It was standing next to her car that he told her that in fact he had never actually asked her to sing, and it was just a joke...

And then he told her that the pants she was wearing made her look GOOOOOD. He still remembers what color they were, by the way, 32 years later. And that is awesome. I guess she forgave him, because it was after that they decided that they had better start going out. And the rest is history. Or I guess, our family.

It was my dad's birthday on Thursday, by the way, that was the reason for the dinner. And after we'd done filling our faces with pasta, we drove over to Draper to walk through the temple open house. I had my children with me, and my family around me, but I still felt lonely. I missed having a date on my arm. And I sat in the chapel of the church listening to the video they showed about Temples, and their importance to us Mormons. And I cried, because I have a testimony of the temple. Then we rode a bus over and walked through the new Temple and I looked at the different rooms, and how beautiful they are, and thought about how sacred what we do there is. And I felt grateful. Because I have a testimony of eternal marriages. And I am grateful for my own, especially now that my spouse is so far away from me, alone in a city where he knows no one, and might be living in some really bizarre temporary housing...

And I thought alot about how the family is what it's all about, this journey we take here on Earth. I thought about it all night, listening to my Dad talk about how cute my mom's bum was in those pants, to the Prophet talk about the blessings of covenants, and reminding myself what it was like to kneel across the alter from my husband and join our lives forever.

And I felt close to him, and happy. Because our marriage is beautiful. It is Eternal.