All last week, I was feeling like I needed to visit Glo in Utah, but I kept pushing the feeling down because a) it's expensive, b) I don't like Utah, c) Glo and I don't always get along when I go out to visit her which makes me question the decision in the first place, and d) John doesn't like me gone. However, Saturday night John turned to me and said, "I think you should go visit Glo next week."
Now granted, some of this could've come about because John had questioned me traveling with the girls this spring which led to a large fight between us, and possibly he was feeling guilty. However, when he suggested it, I felt like it was the Spirit pushing me to do what He had been suggesting I do for the past week.
I was exhausted from a shift in the temple, but I pulled out my laptop and like magic, everything came together in about an hour. I had enough e-credits on Delta that the $1,200 last-minute flight only cost me $226, John had enough points saved up on his IHG account that I only needed to pay for two nights in a hotel, and unbelievably the car rental was inexpensive. And it sure was amazing to look at my schedule for the next four days and see almost nothing on it. What a blessing!
An addendum to this story: I also had been feeling a huge push to get to the temple as a patron. It's tricky for us working two days a week to feel like we want to spend another evening at the temple here in Detroit as patrons, but knowing I would be in Utah, I knew I would have my choice of days to attend. So I packed my entire temple bag (which ended up taking up half of my suitcase).
And another tender mercy? John and I had just applied for the Delta Skymiles credit card, something I've wanted to own for a very long time. It comes with three free tickets (after charging $3,000 on the card) along with more immediate perks like three free bags (two checked, one carry on) and the ability to upgrade to Comfort+ or First Class. So I charged the entire trip (not even close to $3,000, but it's a start) and got to board early and with a better seat. Yes, that's right, I am no longer sitting by the bathrooms in the back row!
The next morning, I got up, went to church, came home and ate roast with John, and in a crazy turn of events, he drove ME to the airport! Glo seemed excited for me to come, but I reminded her that we both needed to be on our best behavior to avoid any conflicts. She agreed.
Four days with my girl. Because it was so last minute, Glo was pretty sure that she would only be able to spend part os Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with me, and basically none of Thursday, but she worked out everything with her schedule so that we had maximum time together.
And I hate to even write this (#eggshells), but we were working Gordon into our schedule as well.
Sunday night, when I landed in Salt Lake City, there were no more of my class of rental car, so I was upgraded to a Hyundai Santa Fe which I kinda loved, and I was more thankful for it when I hit snow on the road at the "point of the mountain". I texted Glo to stay at home and not come to the hotel that night, but turns out she was already at Gordon's so I met her at the hotel around midnight. She looked so good, and it was nice to see her happy and smiling.
The next day, she and Gordon had classes in the morning, but while Gordon was working in the afternoon, Glo and I tried on three temple dresses I had ordered for her from a place called "One Loved Babe". I had bought two sizes of one dress, and one size of another. She ended up not liking either of them, so we drove to Lindon to return the dresses. The boutique was the size of my kitchen (if that big), and I could see immediately that it was not in any shape or form our kind of clothes; it was full of trendy, Utah clothing (and if you know, you know). I put our returns up on the counter and told the girl we needed to return them to which she said, "I'm happy to give you store credit. Just a minute."
Hold the phone.
I don't want store credit because in all honesty I would never buy anything from here.
She told me again that she could only give me store credit for my $226.00 of dresses! I told her that I would never have ordered two sizes of the same dress if I had known that, but she told me that they go through their trendy clothing so quickly, they can't have a long return policy.
I told her I hated that policy....and she told me that "they do too". I mean, who is "they"?
So, Glo and I turned around and grabbed anything that Glo could possibly deign to wear. There were some overalls...too short or with too wide legs. There were some blouses...with puffy sleeves that would've thrilled the heart of Anne Shirley. There were dresses....most barely long enough to cover any Utah girl's be-hind, or so wide in the neckline that the shoulder sat on the edge of the arm.
Poor Glo, putting on those clothes. They looked terrible on her, and that's not a reflection of my size 2-4 girl. It's just not us. Finally, Glo said to me that she would take the one temple dress--"it's good, Mommy"--and we found a dress that actually is very beautiful and garment appropriate. I then figured that I would take the XL of the same temple dress because it's very loose, and the "small" was big on Glo. Crazy enough, I had to lay down $20 more on my Skymiles AmEx....
We then went and picked up Gordon. I was really excited to see him again, and I was so happy when he BEAR HUGGED me hello. There was no weirdness and no awkwardness--it was an authentic hug full of love and appreciation. We then headed to Black Sheep Cafe in Provo, a very delicious Native American restaurant. I had the most delicious buffalo burger (as did Gordon) and Glo ordered some amazing looking tacos. Honeycomb ice cream was on the slate for dessert two doors down, and then we were off to pick up Liv, their DND friend. I was hoping Glo would drive them all to DND in Orem, but laying into her last childness, she asked me to drive her and her friends to DND...and to pick them up at 11:00 that evening.
Of course I drove them. And of course I went back to the hotel in Springville and passed out for a good hour and a half, waking up at 10:45 to go and pick them up.
Throughout the day, I had been trying to nail them down on their schedules for the next day--the Birthday Day--and boy did they come through.
Gordon was supposed to work all afternoon AND take a test, and Glo had a music history test scheduled at 3:30, but they moved everything around (and got out of work) so we could start our Birthday Day celebrations at 1:00! Seriously, that kind of commitment MEANS something. And I was so happy that they had made it work so that Gordon and I could celebrate our identical birthday (minus 30 years ;-))
At 1:00, we were in a theatre in Vineyard, Utah, watching "The Life of Otto". I have tried reading the book twice and couldn't get through it, but the movie will end up being one of my favorites. It was so touching and beautiful. And I loved seeing Glo and Gordon all curled up in the "luxury loungers". They sure are sweet looking together.
Then we drove up to The Melting Pot in Salt Lake City for dinner. Thankfully we had a really terrific waiter, and the food was just so good. Plus, sitting across from them just made me insanely happy. I know it's not a sure thing with Glo and Gordon, but I sure like the idea of having a son-in-law someday. If it ended up being him, that would be even better, but again #eggshells.
Finally, we drove back down to Provo for an escape room at GetOutGames. Man, the three of us sure did try to finish, but we asked for almost no clues, and we opened the door right as our game master was about to come in and tell us we hadn't succeeded. I have to say--I've done escape rooms with different men, and I was worried that Gordon might be one of the bossy ones, but he was super easy to work with which was so nice.
Because it was our "happy birthday day", I had presents for Gordon back at the hotel. At dinner the night before, he had had a lot to say about several of our book club books (and even asked if he could join our book club), so I went to Barnes and Noble and bought him five of our book club books. Glo had also told me that he had created a art wall like hers, but he didn't have any photos for it. So I picked 37 (!) prints of her off of my phone, sent them to CVS, picked them up and gave them to him as well. He was very touched by it all which was heartwarming to see.
Wednesday morning, I headed to the Provo City Center temple while Glo was in class. I'm always a bit intimidated by that temple because it's labyrinthine, but I think I have it on the run now! Park in the parking garage underground, walk in and the dressing rooms are on that floor, go up a floor to the chapel and the first endowment room, and go up one more floor for the second endowment room and the celestial room. It was nice to be a patron instead of a worker and just sit back and let the Spirit wash over me.
I was planning on going on a second session immediately after, but that morning I had tried on the temple dress that I had bought from One Loved Babe, and it needed to be returned....for store credit. In fact, while trying it on, I was reminded of the girl I heard in another dressing booth, asking her mom to help her get the dress off her head. I was in the same predicament trying on my XL--I couldn't even bring my arms down because it was so tight on my shoulders! Anyway, I headed back to that stupid store again, found a gorgeous dress for my girl (she needed a MEDIUM in their stupid tiny sizes) and ended up paying $4 more. Well played, One Loved Babe. I hope to never see your store again!
That afternoon, Gordon was holding a review for Math 334 (or some number), Math for Engineers, and I wanted to see him teach. I mean, he's told me numerous times that if teaching paid well, that would be his top choice of job because he loves it, and because he's really good at it. I've encouraged Glo to go watch him, but she's not that kind/thoughtful/giving so I decided to support him and go watch.
Unfortunately, it was a tiny classroom off the math lab, and I was entirely too intimidated to walk in, but instead tried to buoy my courage with a phone call to Glo, describing what I was seeing. At the same time, Gordon rushed past me, late and not encouraging me AT ALL! I was ready to leave, but Glo told me I couldn't leave, or not at least without telling Gordon. At this point, I saw a counter, looking into the glass windows of the classroom with an open seat next to the open door. I tried my hardest to hide my 52-year-old female self, wearing my red Valentine sweatshirt amongst the young-20-something-guy-math-nerds wearing nothing but black and grey. As soon as I sat down, I pulled out my Games Magazine to try and look like I was doing something smart as I heard all kinds of smart math conversations happening around me in the lab. Thankfully, Gordon saw me and didn't close the door, so for the next hour, I watched him work his magic.
He's a terrific teacher! He comes prepared, he answers questions, he jokes with the students and keeps everyone laughing. And he does it all without any shoes. In his words, "shoes are dumb". I wished in that moment that Glo would come watch him at some point seeing as his teaching days are coming to an end this semester. It offered a dimension to him that I hadn't yet seen.
After an hour, I drove back to the hotel. I could feel a cold was coming on, and I needed to rest. As soon as I crawled into bed next to Glo, Gordon texted that he was done....and I rolled right back out of bed, put my shoes on, and we were off!
Glo and Gordon were supposed to have DND again that night, but one of the girls was sick so it was canceled. My lucky day! (although I did feel badly for Gordon and Glo). We went to the loudest Texas Roadhouse I've ever been to (but tasty as always) and then went back to the hotel to play board games. As soon as we walked into the room, Gordon pulled a gift out from behind his back for me. (Seriously, where did he hide it that whole time?) I'm not really a gift person, but I always remind myself that any gifts are symbols of love...which make me appreciate them so much more. John isn't just buying me diamonds--he's buying me something that he thinks reflects my beauty ;-) And the same went for Gordon's gift--he bought me a tin of Pepperidge Farm cookies (seriously, did Glo tell him that I LOVE those), and a postcard. I could read in the card that his feelings run deep and that he is the humblest of persons to appreciate what our family has given him. THAT is the best gift of all.
I didn't really get to say goodbye to him because he hopped out of the car at the end of the night with Glo, but I told myself that I would see him again (...maybe....) However, the next day, I headed to the temple after seeing Glo for lunch, and in the ten seconds of the hallway where a person coming FROM a session could meet up with a person going INTO a session, I heard "Hey!" I looked up and there was Gordon, coming from a session. I threw my arms around him because I was so happy to see him again.
I saw Glo one last time--we drove the highway looking for a music book that she thought she might've left on the top of the car, and I was off to the airport. I ended up getting bumped up to Comfort+ for the ride home and felt like I had accomplished whatever reason I had felt prompted to go to Utah.
When I got home, John was waiting for me at the airport--I was so happy to see him--and he had chicken noodle soup, more Pepperidge Farm cookies, and flowers waiting for me. I sure love him and the gift that he gave me for my birthday <3
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