Mochi and the Chicago Temple

After my fun and family-and friend-laden summer, I knew that September was going to be hard on me.  Fall isn't my favorite season (horrors, I know), and it's usually kinda stressful with the majority of Kennedy birthdays "fall"ing squarely in it, and with Glo leaving for school, I knew to expect that I wouldn't be feeling super great.  Also, I'm going through a bit of a mid-life crisis, trying to figure out what I'm going to do with myself for the next 40-50 years (if my family longevity plays into my life as well)--I always figured I would be busy with in-law children and grand babies, but so far, that isn't panning out.  So, I tried to convince Mark to come on a trip to Latvia with me, and I almost had him convinced, but in the end, he backed out.  And with the temple closed, and no calling on the horizon, I knew I needed a FOCUS.  Dianne Armbrust, the breeder of Dodge, Cherry and Maize, was advertising her last litter of puppies for the season, and I shot her an email.  Three days later, I was driving to Minnesota to pick up a pup.

I have always wanted a black tri Aussie.  In fact, whenever I see one, I will stop the owners and ask to pet the dog.  I think they are the prettiest Aussie (followed closely by the red tri).  Dianne had two black tris left, both female unfortunately, but I couldn't resist.  I chose one.

Let me say here:  this dog will not be mine forever.  I don't want to live another 12-15 years with a dog.  Roxy is on her last legs, and Rebecca had said that she wants another dog in the future...a dog "just like Rox".  So I thought, "Let me raise a pup to be as good a dog as Rox, and then I'll give it to Ethan and Rebecca."  And if that doesn't work out, I have no doubt that some other Kennedy child will take her, Glo especially.

I decided to split the trip into two days, because even for me, 16 hours of driving in one day is too much!  And the halfway point for the eight hours to La Crosse, Wisconsin is Chicago.  And what's in Chicago? The TEMPLE!  And with the Detroit temple under renovation at the moment, I was nervous to check and see if the temple had any availability, but thankfully, they did!

So, knowing this might be my last moment of peace after getting the puppy, I drove straight around Lake Michigan and headed to the temple!  Before Detroit was built, Chicago was our temple.  We went there while we lived in East Lansing and successfully met our goal of visiting the temple once a month as a couple.  It was Crazy-Town though.  Once Mark was born, we would need to roll down the windows of the car and blast Def Leppard to keep him from screaming/crying the entire time.  And with babies, it was a hand-off in between sessions, and back then, the endowment sessions were long.  We could rarely get there on Friday night before it closed, so we would relax and play in the nearby Courtyard by Marriott hotel.  First thing Saturday morning, one of us was out the door, driving to the temple to catch an early session.  The one left back in the hotel needed to get the boys ready and check out of the hotel while getting ready to go in the temple ourself.  We would exchange babies for a temple bag in the temple parking lot, and the one with the babies would entertain them in the car (we had a Toyota Corolla back then) and on the grounds of the temple.  It was our goal though, and one thing about John and me--we're pretty good about meeting any and all goals we set ;-)

I remember during this time, reading about Jesus when he was a boy, and how his parents would bring him  to Jerusalem to the temple.  We had "friends" who actually lived in our same apartment complex who would sacrifice one member of the two couples to miss out on conference (or going to the temple) to watch the kids while the other three went.  While I envied the three who got to have that more quality experience, I felt, like Joseph and Mary, that it was important to take our children to the temple with us and for them to see the importance of us going.  However, I didn't realize what an amazing feat this perhaps was until I posted a little something about it on FB:

25 years. It’s been 25 years since I last stepped inside the Chicago temple. Between 1992 and 1996, John and I were living in Michigan while he went to medical school. At the beginning of that time, we only had Ethan, and by the end, Mark had joined us. John and I had nobody but each other to hold onto—nobody, but us and the Lord. We made a commitment then to visit the temple monthly, a four hour drive to the Chicago temple with babies in the car. Mark tested our resolve by crying the entire time UNLESS we rolled down all four windows of our Corolla and blasted Def Leppard. Then and only then was he quiet And it was a circus, staying in the nearby hotel while one of us went in and then handed off babies while the other did. But we persisted. And it became a pattern of our married life. Going on vacation? Check if there’s a temple. Taking college classes? Set aside a day to go BEFORE the week’s business rolls around. Find yourself with all four children grown and away? Start working in the temple. I wish I could tell those young 20 somethings that what they were doing was SO right and SO good, because dang, it wasn’t always easy—like their temple, we are a bit dated and worn around the edges. But 25 years later, the fruit of that effort is so sweet <3

So, little did I know that the new stake social media specialist (who is the wife of the guy who does our floors) saw my post, but she contacted me before I had even left the temple parking lot and asked if she could share my post.  Honestly, I had posted it because I was happy to be back in the Chicago temple again (or frankly in any temple again), but re-reading my post, I could see it in the way she did.  She asked if she could share it on the stake FB page, and I told her, "Of course!"  The missionaries actually took it and followed it up with the question, "How have you made time for the Lord?"

Yeah, I guess that's what we were doing so long ago.  We were making time for the Lord.  And I guess this message resonated with a lot of people because on that page alone, I received 108 comments and 26 shares, and looking at the shares, they each have more comments and more shares.  I don't say that to think of myself as anything special, but the fruits of some of the choices I have made in my life continue to bear fruit--if in no other way than in encouraging others to keep going in the gospel!

Anyway, it was crazy returning to that temple.  Because it has the same layout as the Frankfurt temple, it all felt very familiar, but it was also sad to see that the surrounding neighborhood has not maintained itself very well, nor as the fence that separates the temple from the busy road in front of it.  I had forgotten about the time difference in Illinois, so I showed up almost two hours early for my session, but I put on my "customer service" face and begged to attend the earlier session.  Hallelujah for temple workers who understand the spirit of the temple training movies we all watch, because there was no hesitation in making that work, and in fact, the matron stepped right up and walked me back to the dressing room!  Turns out, she lives in Kalamazoo, so I threw out some names from times of yore, and she knew every single family I mentioned!  It's always such a small world in the church!

I really didn't want to leave the parking lot if I'm being honest, but I continued the drive up to La Crosse, Wisconsin and cozied up in my hotel room for the night.

The next morning, I was hoping that Dianne would arrive as early as possible because I dreaded the traffic back down around Chicago, but she showed up around 11:00.  It was good to finally meet her after communicating via email and telephone for the past 15 years!  She pulled Mochi right out of the car, and poor pup, I could tell she was so stressed.  She had that crazy panting that comes from anxiety, and she had dried vomit on her beautiful, fluffy white ruff.  Every pup I've taken from Dianne comes with no socialization, and Mochi was no different.  She didn't come when called and just seemed out-of-sorts.  But I popped her in a kennel in the back seat of Reddi, and we were off.

What a dream.  She stayed quiet the entire time.  Every three hours, I would stop to let her out and to play with her, but when I would put her back, she would settle right down.  And what a little thing she was!  Turns out, she was only 7 weeks and 2 days old when I got her...legally too young to sell, but I completely get it.  I was always ready to get rid of the pups early!

I'm excited to start life with a new pup.  Seeing them learn so quickly and so easily in the beginning in really amazing.  Am I dreading the sleepless nights until they learn to sleep through the night? Yes, but hey man, I've got nothing else going on in my life--may as well do this! ;-)