The summer after we got engaged, I had a job at Cloth World in Orem (Provo's "sister city") and decided to stay at BYU to work and get some classes in before we got married. The best thing for Robert was to go home to California and live there and work, so he could save money. It was probably one of the hardest things we've ever had to do, to be apart for 3 whole months. Luckily we both kept busy, and we had much preparations to do for the wedding. Robert got a good job in California and I was able to pay the bills and get groceries b/c of my part time job, while the VA paid for my schooling. The best part about that summer was that Robert's parents got a great deal on airline tickets and I got to go visit them 3 times. Every month I looked forward to that trip. When we were apart we talked every night on the phone (and this was when you paid by the minute for long distance!), and wrote each other most every day, too. The invitations/announcements were really nice. We chose a simple one with a pencil drawing of a girl and boy holding hands in a field with the caption, "This day I will marry my
friend, the one I laugh with, live for, dream with, love." It was perfect. It described exactly how we feel about each other, and how much we look forward to sharing our life together. I don't remember much more about that summer, except Katie (Robert's big sister) taking me to get groceries (I didn't have a car), hand-addressing 500 wedding invitations in double envelopes (pre-printed addresses are for wimps!), planning with friends and family about the logistics of the wedding stuff, including my first time going to the temple for Endowments, and general impatience. Robert and I also went to the temple in LA and did a very special baptism there, and when I went to the temple for my endowments, Robert was proxy for that person's endowment also. Oh, and my best friend, her sister, their mom, and another very good friend threw me a bridal shower 2 days before the wedding. It was a blast.the wedding (bittersweet):
Weddings are a beautiful thing. A sweet couple who are at least trying the best they can comes together a pledges their love and devotion for the rest of their lives. In our church, it is even better. Not only do the couple pledge their love and devotion to each other, but they also make sacred covenants with God that they will do their very best to continue loving each other forever. They are sealed together forever. It is not "'til death do you part", it is for time and all eternity.
The catch is, you must be a baptized member (for at least a year) and be in "good standing", meaning you are doing your best to keep the commandments and repenting as needed. My parents are not members of our church. Robert and I could have chosen to have a wedding ceremony outside of the temple, then get sealed later in the temple. We did not. We chose to do what we know was right, not a counterfeit. Maybe THAT was the hardest thing we've ever had to do. It was a beautiful wedding. And we know that our marriage will last forever, because we have made that choice, and we make it again every day.
Who wouldn't want to be together forever with their best friend and soul-mate and the cutest sifties in the Universe?
1 comment:
I love your wedding announcement! Very sweet. I'm sorry your parents couldn't be in the Temple. That would be so hard. But that says so much about your devotion to each other and to doing what is best and right. What a blessing.
Post a Comment