Bringing Glo Home

Surely I have used the title of this blog post before.  I have brought Glo home so many times (and taken her back to school as well), and as I always say, I love the journey.  I was thinking about it before this last drive, and we've seen some things along the way.  One time heading west, we went north and saw Mt. Rushmore for the first time.  And another time, in conjunction with book club, we took the southern route and spent a morning at the WWI museum and an evening going up Gateway Arch.  I used to just pound out these road trips, but they've become little vacations themselves.  This time, I decided we would make it a temple tour, hitting up four different temples, three of which are new.  Our plans got a bit crushed with a last minute decision to host Celebration of the Egg, so we only ended up hitting two temples, but it was still fun.

Glo is a master packer.  I'm not sure which came first--her ability to pack, or us needing to pack up our house twice, but she mastered the skill along the way.  A few weeks before she comes home, we rent a storage space in Provo, and she packs up everything and takes it to the storage space before I even arrive.  When I show up in the morning of one day, she is ready to go by the next morning.  (It's funny--Hannah was telling me last night that she is NOT good at packing.  She just can't throw away things and organize the rest...and I would agree....)  I didn't need to do anything when I arrived except find a carrot cake for her DND friend who was celebrating a birthday.  We didn't find the cake (even though Target said they had one in stock), but we found some of the most delicious cupcakes I've ever tasted which worked great.  Her DND friends helped her pack up the car that evening, and the next morning we were ready to do initiatories in the Provo City Center temple, and we were off.

Glo made a comment about how thankful she is that she's always ready and worthy to go to the temple.  Afterall, we make a LOT of plans that involve temples, but all I could think was how thankful I am that she's always prepared.  She never lets her recommend lapse, she always remembers to keep her temple clothes readily available, and she's always willing.  During COVID, when it was difficult to make an appointment, I would make one for her, and she would always go, even if I completely forgot about the appointment.  She invites her friends and cousins to go with her as well.  Granted, she is a master at taking "temple naps" during the endowment session, but I can't criticize her for that.  She's there.

It was really touching for me to be a patron doing initiatories--I perform so many as a worker, and I can recite the entire ceremony, but there's something about being a patron.  And we had some delightful workers in the booth (yes! the PCC temple is back to using all three compartments in the initiatory booth which means Detroit can't be far behind!)  One older woman was so beautiful that Glo actually commented on her makeup to which she replied, "It's permanent."  When we got in the car, I mentioned to Glo how beautiful her makeup was, and I was delighted to find out that Glo had mentioned it to her.  Another woman (and this is not unusual) commented on my spirit and my smile--I sure wish I had that countenance in the real world, but I guess it's my true spirit shining through, not weighed down with stress and worry.  I thanked all of them for being there for us, because I know temple shifts are long.

When we came out of the booth, there was a beautiful painting of a woman kneeling before the entrance to the tabernacle which is so pertinent to what happens in initiatories.  I waited for Glo to come out and then reheated the scripture from Exodus:  "And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle, and wash them with water.  And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him."  I love that what happens in temples now happened anciently.

We then started our drive because that night we had an appointment at the Fort Collins, Colorado temple.

But we didn't go.  And it was so wrong.  I still feel badly about it.

We arrived in Fort Collins with not enough time to eat before our appointment, but seeing that every restaurant would be closed by the time we got out of the temple.  Glo wanted to go running, so I sent her in the direction of a park...and we skipped the temple to go out to eat.  Yeah, I can't even believe I did that.  But we have a funny memory.  Glo really wanted Brussel Sprouts, and the waitress said they were delicious.  She kept asking me, "Don't you want to try them?"

Listen.  I know my limits.  But, I also never want to get so stuck in my ways that I won't try new things.  So I speared one with my fork, and put it in my mouth before I could think about it.

Oh man.  I had to shut my eyes and just get it down, all to Glo's laughter.  Yeah, certain limits I know.

 

The next day, we had an appointment at Winter Quarters in Omaha, Nebraska.  We made it with plenty of time, and the session was really lovely.  I was amazed at how many rules our temple presidency enforces that were not adhered to in any fashion in Winter Quarters.  I would've thought the rules were set up by the church, but they must be dictated by the individual temple president (like, the officiator and follower were turned towards and watching the movie the entire time!)  The stained glass in the temple was stunning, and at the time of evening that we went, the light was just streaming in.  In fact, I took a photo in the dressing room.  And then there was an open lobby on the top floor with a 4x4 grid of stained glass scenes from church history that occurred at Winter Quarters.  It was emotional and touching to be standing in the place where so many saints suffered.  I tell you, if we lived closer, I would push my girls to get married there, because it really was a stunning temple.

  

The following day, we drove to see Mark, and we were supposed to stay overnight in Champaign and then go to the Indianapolis temple the following day, but we had to condense activities so that we could get home.  It's too bad--I wanted to see both the Fort Collins temple and the Indianapolis temple because they would be new to me, but it's good to know that I'll, for sure, be making the journey again several times over ;-)

And no trip home is ever complete without reuniting Glo with Lake Michigan <3