We rose bright and early to get to the temple on time. I had a very specific schedule for the day that would allow us to do an endowment session as a family, eat at Campo's for lunch, visit Longwood Gardens in the afternoon, and make it for Peter Pan and Wendy in DC that evening. The best laid plans of mice and men....
We got to the temple right on time and were handed a "9:30 endowment session" card. I guess this is how they work out that there are enough seats for those who want to go through (we keep a running list in Detroit). I actually like the card system, because it's so easy and straightforward although I do wonder what they do with those people who lose their cards between the front door and the door to the chapel....
I was surprised when we walked into the chapel, because there were only two or three seats left in the back. In Detroit, our numbers have been low because of the holidays, so I assumed it would be the same in Philly. Yeah, when I assume....
What we should have done is just admit that there wasn't really room for us to sit, and we should have stood by the door leading to the endowment room because then we would have been in the front row. As it was, we foolishly sat down in the back which meant of the 50+ sisters who were in the session, we got up to the veil almost 45 minutes after the veil started.
Ugh. 45 minutes.
But I'm getting ahead of my story.
As Hannie and I were at the counter getting our rental clothing, Rebecca popped in. I had no idea that she was coming! Ethan had been left outside with the babies which should have been totally fine because we should have been out in less than two hours, right?
Turns out, there were two women (and possibly a man or two) who were taking out their own endowments. These people were Latino, and so I do believe their wards were coming with them. No joke, of the 80 people in the session, I counted six gringos. Headsets were being handed out like candy at a parade, and there were Spanish subtitles on the movie and on a blank screen in the second endowment room. And when the veil director had to give directions, they were in Spanish. WHY THEY DIDN'T MAKE THE SESSION SPANISH AND GIVE HEADSETS TO US GRINGOS, I will never know. But there happened to be several people who obviously don't visit the temple very much because they needed a lot of help along the way....which made for a VERY long session.
But that ignorance played into the fact that it took us 45 minutes to get to the veil. In fact, the veil director finally started two lines--one for English speakers, and one for Spanish speakers. John and Mark, who had gotten into the celestial room with 15 minutes, actually thought that we might have passed them and already left to get dressed. But no, it took us 45 minutes.
(This is where it is VERY hard to be a temple worker and visit other temples. Both Hannah and I (who are both temple workers) saw how things could have been run much more smoothly, but in the spirit of the temple, we exercised our patience.....)
I go to the temple so much now that I feel like I have very few "ah-hah" kind of moments anymore in the endowment session. However, I was really focusing on Eve as I usually do, and I thought again about the choice that she made. With my love of the idea of cages and some aspects of Satan's plan, I don't think I would have had the courage to partake of the fruit, knowing that I would allow my descendants to suffer and/or fail. I think I would rather have stayed in the Garden and let someone else make that choice.
Rebecca didn't spend an extra minute in the celestial room because she was so worried about Ethan, and we left quickly afterwards as well. Not exactly how we wanted to end our session together. When we got out, it was obvious that Ethan was not happy. He had been wandering around Philly for several hours, attempting to entertain the babies.
No time to talk though. We were already late to Campo's, and Hannah wasn't going to let me nix that item off our itinerary.
Thankfully, Campo's was delicious....and in a stroke of luck, there were enough empty tables for us! #miraclesdoexist Hannah bought an epic t-shirt from there (it was only TWELVE DOLLARS), and we all enjoyed our cheesesteak sandwiches (while Brother and Baby horked down homemade macaroni and cheese--the cashier warned us when we ordered it that it was NOT Kraft). I noticed at this point that Ethan was in dress clothes, and I asked him why. I guess he was planning on going to the temple as well, and was thinking that one of us would watch the babies? Yeah, that was not communicated to me, and I felt so badly about it. I would have happily stayed out so that Ethan and Rebecca could go in together :-(
But at this point, we were already supposed to be entering Longwood. Yes, they have timed tickets, and there is a clear statement that if you come late, you might not be allowed entrance to the park. We booked it over there and hoped for the best. Parking was difficult, and when we saw they were parking cars in the grass, John told me to go opposite a one way and drive in, where I was promptly stopped and reprimanded and denied entrance. And I even heard the parking attendants talking badly about me over their walkie talkies....
And then, when I pulled up the tickets, I realized that I hadn't bought tickets for Ethan and Rebecca. OH MY GOSH, STOP! This situation was just getting worse and worse. Thankfully, a very kind Longwood employee saw me wandering aimlessly, and when I told her what had happened, she walked me up to the ticket office and explained that we had driven from Michigan to come and would they allow me to buy two tickets even though they were sold out? Bless their hearts for saying "yes".
Looking back on it now though, we probably could have skipped Longwood. It was pretty miserable. Brother for one thing was terrible. Rebecca wanted him in the stroller, but he didn't want to be in the stroller (he wanted to walk), so he was screaming like a banshee when she put him in it. Screaming all the way up to the greenhouse.
Then when we walked in the greenhouse, it was literally wall to wall people. I can't even imagine what would happen if a fire occurred. We couldn't walk any faster than the horde of zombies in front of us. And with 20 minutes before the organ concert began, we just headed there. Good thing we did because what should have taken five minutes took fifteen. We couldn't even see the displays on either side of the walkway because they were covered with people admiring them.
The concert was good--Brother didn't cry and we Kennedys love to sing.
Next, I wanted to take Baby to see the bonsai trees and the room with the trees decorated by local children. Bad idea. Again, the zombie horde walking there, and I'm not sure any of it meant anything to Baby. After that, with the clock ticking down and a performance of Peter Pan that wouldn't wait, we skipped everything else and just went to the children's garden. How frustrating it was that random people were just walking through the garden--people who didn't have children!! Seriously, I wanted to stomp them out the doors! But this was the first place that Brother was finally happy--he could play in the fountains to his heart's content...until we had to leave. We knew he was going to give the blood-curdling screams of the damned, so we swooped him up, and ran out, down the walkways and through the door. Even when we got outside, he was still screaming and people were staring. Yeah, I've never been so happy to leave Longwood.
We didn't even get to see much of the fountain light show. There was just too much stress.
So we piled back in our separate cars, and I told the other car to find their own dinner. The goal was to just get to Peter Pan in time....
We got to the temple right on time and were handed a "9:30 endowment session" card. I guess this is how they work out that there are enough seats for those who want to go through (we keep a running list in Detroit). I actually like the card system, because it's so easy and straightforward although I do wonder what they do with those people who lose their cards between the front door and the door to the chapel....I was surprised when we walked into the chapel, because there were only two or three seats left in the back. In Detroit, our numbers have been low because of the holidays, so I assumed it would be the same in Philly. Yeah, when I assume....
What we should have done is just admit that there wasn't really room for us to sit, and we should have stood by the door leading to the endowment room because then we would have been in the front row. As it was, we foolishly sat down in the back which meant of the 50+ sisters who were in the session, we got up to the veil almost 45 minutes after the veil started.
Ugh. 45 minutes.
But I'm getting ahead of my story.
As Hannie and I were at the counter getting our rental clothing, Rebecca popped in. I had no idea that she was coming! Ethan had been left outside with the babies which should have been totally fine because we should have been out in less than two hours, right?
Turns out, there were two women (and possibly a man or two) who were taking out their own endowments. These people were Latino, and so I do believe their wards were coming with them. No joke, of the 80 people in the session, I counted six gringos. Headsets were being handed out like candy at a parade, and there were Spanish subtitles on the movie and on a blank screen in the second endowment room. And when the veil director had to give directions, they were in Spanish. WHY THEY DIDN'T MAKE THE SESSION SPANISH AND GIVE HEADSETS TO US GRINGOS, I will never know. But there happened to be several people who obviously don't visit the temple very much because they needed a lot of help along the way....which made for a VERY long session.
But that ignorance played into the fact that it took us 45 minutes to get to the veil. In fact, the veil director finally started two lines--one for English speakers, and one for Spanish speakers. John and Mark, who had gotten into the celestial room with 15 minutes, actually thought that we might have passed them and already left to get dressed. But no, it took us 45 minutes.
(This is where it is VERY hard to be a temple worker and visit other temples. Both Hannah and I (who are both temple workers) saw how things could have been run much more smoothly, but in the spirit of the temple, we exercised our patience.....)
I go to the temple so much now that I feel like I have very few "ah-hah" kind of moments anymore in the endowment session. However, I was really focusing on Eve as I usually do, and I thought again about the choice that she made. With my love of the idea of cages and some aspects of Satan's plan, I don't think I would have had the courage to partake of the fruit, knowing that I would allow my descendants to suffer and/or fail. I think I would rather have stayed in the Garden and let someone else make that choice.Rebecca didn't spend an extra minute in the celestial room because she was so worried about Ethan, and we left quickly afterwards as well. Not exactly how we wanted to end our session together. When we got out, it was obvious that Ethan was not happy. He had been wandering around Philly for several hours, attempting to entertain the babies.
No time to talk though. We were already late to Campo's, and Hannah wasn't going to let me nix that item off our itinerary.
Thankfully, Campo's was delicious....and in a stroke of luck, there were enough empty tables for us! #miraclesdoexist Hannah bought an epic t-shirt from there (it was only TWELVE DOLLARS), and we all enjoyed our cheesesteak sandwiches (while Brother and Baby horked down homemade macaroni and cheese--the cashier warned us when we ordered it that it was NOT Kraft). I noticed at this point that Ethan was in dress clothes, and I asked him why. I guess he was planning on going to the temple as well, and was thinking that one of us would watch the babies? Yeah, that was not communicated to me, and I felt so badly about it. I would have happily stayed out so that Ethan and Rebecca could go in together :-(
And then, when I pulled up the tickets, I realized that I hadn't bought tickets for Ethan and Rebecca. OH MY GOSH, STOP! This situation was just getting worse and worse. Thankfully, a very kind Longwood employee saw me wandering aimlessly, and when I told her what had happened, she walked me up to the ticket office and explained that we had driven from Michigan to come and would they allow me to buy two tickets even though they were sold out? Bless their hearts for saying "yes".
Looking back on it now though, we probably could have skipped Longwood. It was pretty miserable. Brother for one thing was terrible. Rebecca wanted him in the stroller, but he didn't want to be in the stroller (he wanted to walk), so he was screaming like a banshee when she put him in it. Screaming all the way up to the greenhouse.
Then when we walked in the greenhouse, it was literally wall to wall people. I can't even imagine what would happen if a fire occurred. We couldn't walk any faster than the horde of zombies in front of us. And with 20 minutes before the organ concert began, we just headed there. Good thing we did because what should have taken five minutes took fifteen. We couldn't even see the displays on either side of the walkway because they were covered with people admiring them.
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| Markie and Baby skipping was pretty dang cute :-) |
The concert was good--Brother didn't cry and we Kennedys love to sing.
Next, I wanted to take Baby to see the bonsai trees and the room with the trees decorated by local children. Bad idea. Again, the zombie horde walking there, and I'm not sure any of it meant anything to Baby. After that, with the clock ticking down and a performance of Peter Pan that wouldn't wait, we skipped everything else and just went to the children's garden. How frustrating it was that random people were just walking through the garden--people who didn't have children!! Seriously, I wanted to stomp them out the doors! But this was the first place that Brother was finally happy--he could play in the fountains to his heart's content...until we had to leave. We knew he was going to give the blood-curdling screams of the damned, so we swooped him up, and ran out, down the walkways and through the door. Even when we got outside, he was still screaming and people were staring. Yeah, I've never been so happy to leave Longwood.
We didn't even get to see much of the fountain light show. There was just too much stress.
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| We had to get the hand stamp in honor of Glo <3 |
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