Yesterday we went out to dinner at Chopstix, a local Chinese buffet that is pretty good. It is our family choice whenever we have something to celebrate, especially regarding Minsy. No, the food is not really anything like what we ate in China, but it's the thought that counts. Since yesterday was Minsy's fifth birthday we headed there for a fun family food fest.
...and I made a pretty interesting/disturbing discovery about my family.
We were almost finished with our meal when we looked over and saw that the missionaries from the other ward had stopped in for dinner. We had not met either one of them yet, so they didn't know who we were yet either. We were just sitting around and talking as we prepared to leave, and we thought that we would tease the missionaries a bit and pretend to be someone interested in investigating the Church. We were just being silly. I don't think we would ever do something like that. But as I gazed around at my family I realized that we were not going to be able to pull that one off. Why?
Well ...
- Laney was wearing her well worn EFY 2012 wristband.
- Savannah was wearing a BYU college t-shirt.
- Spencer was wearing a BYU rugby shirt.
- Katie ... okay Katie was free of any LDS themed clothing, so she might have been able to swing that.
- Hyrum and Joseph would be okay until they mentioned their very churchy names. Either one of their names might not have revealed anything, but the two of them together make them seem suspiciously Mormonlike.
As I looked at all of my kids I started to realize that we could almost be labeled as church nerds with all of our LDS and BYU themed apparel. Or our church inspired boy names of Spencer (Spencer W. Kimball), Hyrum (Hyrum Smith), and Joseph (Joseph Smith). Or Laney's newly discovered and somewhat unnatural obsession/enthusiasm for BYU football. (Seriously, last week she stayed up late to see the details of the BYU game on the internet since we no longer have cable/satellite. It was 12:30 am, and I told Laney that she needed to get off the computer and head to bed. "But Mom! There are only three minutes left in the game!" Yes. There were three minutes left, but BYU was winning by more than 20 points. What was she going to gain by watching until the very end?)
You know, I've never really seen my family as church nerdy, but maybe we are. That label actually might have bothered me at one point in my life. In fact, when I was in college there was an RM who I had kinda sorta liked at one point, but he really ended up turning into a bit of a loser, so I'm glad that we never ended up really dating. But he did end up in a relationship with my best friend at the time. It started out pretty good, but he ended up making some poor decisions, and my friend didn't feel as comfortable dating him as she had originally. But she told me that he used to make fun of everyone in our little university branch. "Did he make fun of me?" I asked her, horrified to think that there was an RM out there making fun of me. "Yes," she answered. "He thinks you're a church nerd."
A what?????????
Let me tell you, I was absolutely aghast that he would use those words to label me. I felt like I was running from the label of nerd my entire life. I made really good grades in school, and I went to a pretty small school. Everyone had to have a label, and those who made the good grades and weren't sports stars or cheerleaders or something like that ended up with the big "N" label. I sure hated that. A lot. I never felt like I was ever in any sort of George McFly territory, but it hurt to think that people thought that I might be like that simply because I excelled at school. So I fought against that label, sometimes by making some seriously boneheaded life choices. And now to find out that after coming to college and getting away from the pervasive social labels that dominate high school social politics, that I was only to be labeled a nerd again, this time with the Church? Oh how it upset me!
But that was then, and this is now. And I have to say that Paul, the bad RM, might have been totally right in his label. I think I just might be a church nerd. And my family is right there with me. Because you know what? I love the Gospel. A lot. I don't have all the enthusiasm for all things BYU that Laney has, but I don't have any problem with her feelings. I am happy that she is looking at attending one of the church schools for college next year. I like that we have big church discussions in our family. I love to talk about our beliefs with friends and family who are curious to know exactly what makes a Latter-Day Saint tick. I love my calling that allows me to wake up super, super early every single school day to study the scriptures with high school students an hour before they head to regular high school classes. I love the opportunity that we have as a family to sacrifice and serve others through our callings and "just because." I love to take our kids to General Conference after they turn twelve so that they can get a "big picture" view of what the Church is all about. I love being there with thousands of other people who believe as we do. I love what the Church does for my family. I love how the Church has blessed me and changed me and helped me to discover exactly who I am. I am a daughter of God with a divine purpose on this earth.
If that makes my family labeled as Church Nerds then I say ... Bring it on! I accept the label!
No comments:
Post a Comment