A sense of community

I recently accepted the Facebook invitation to attend the Mother's Day meeting at the UVUU (Utah Valley Unitarian Universalist Church).

This will be only my second time attending. I went two weeks ago for the first time. My kids were more than a little bit nervous about it. My eldest son, Logan, said as we approached the church (which is a presbyterian church) "Let turn around. I don't want to go in".

And when they split out the classes for my kids to go with all of the other kids, none of them would go... well, Shea would go if someon e would go with her (she's up for adventure), the rest were stuck to their seats.

Afterward, we had a potluck dinner, and we were able to mingle a little bit more, so it was a little bit nicer. I met some really nice folks who were really into this Medieval re-enactmants and fighting with swords, etc. But it was wonderful to sit and mingle with folks going through similar trials that I was. Everyone was a former Mormon in various stages and heavy ties still in the community.

They gave a very warm welcome to us as we shared their food. We brought brownies because we didn't want to come with nothing to the occasion. If any of them are reading this, thank you so much for your warm welcome and sharing your community with my family.

This mother's day though, I don't know if anyone is going to come with me this time or not. We'll see. I'm excited for the little boost of energy I got from going last time. It was very upbeat, and incredibly educational, as the speaker was from a female couple sharing her struggles to navigate the complex state laws preventing her from establishing a family and all of the laws connected with it.

Understanding her struggle on a personal level went a long way to sway my vote on issues related to establishing family units in relationships like hers.

See, a whole new world, right here in Utah County. Who would have guessed!