Home Again

It's good to be back! We just returned from a few weeks in Salt Lake City. Latter-day Saints who have never been there tend to think of it as a kind of paradise, where everything is wonderful and there are so many important things to see and do. But when you've lived there for a while, you start taking the opportunities there for granted. And, for the most part, it becomes a regular city just like anyplace else. Your house is there, you go to work, you go to school, you go to church...the difference being that you can walk to church and most of your neighbors are there, too. But there is plenty of normalness about Utah and Salt Lake City that you'll find anywhere else. There are stores there, there are good people there, and there are also people who do things they shouldn't. Just like anywhere else.

For those of you who aren't familiar with my background, I grew up in Oklahoma and attended a small branch that we had to drive half an hour to get to each way. My parents still go to church there, though it has grown enough that it's now a ward. But the drive's the same. I was one of only a few Latter-day Saints in my high school, or in any other school I attended, and I didn't know any other way. After I'd been married a few years, we moved to Salt Lake City. Talk about culture shock! Here I was, used to being one of very few Latter-day Saints in the area, and SLC was swarming with them! But we grew to love the city and the people...and, I admit, we got a little spoiled having our church and the temple so close, and having many of our friends and associates being LDS or at least understanding who Latter-day Saints were.

And now we're living in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It was a little jolt to our systems to be away from "all the Mormons" again, but the circumstances here aren't anything we haven't seen before. The nice thing is, the Church is true wherever you go, and you don't have to go too far anymore to find a Latter-day Saint congregation...and home.

A Really Quick Entry

I'm posting a bit irregularly because we're on vacation right now. But through the miracles of modern technology, I can still write when I get a chance. Isn't the Internet cool?

We're visiting Salt Lake City for a couple of weeks, and I've been travelling to many of the LDS bookstores in the valley and meeting the managers and employees. I've been impressed with how friendly and helpful these people are, and how many great LDS books are available on the shelves. Of course, I am a book junkie and sometimes wish I could spend all my waking hours perusing bookstores and buying books. If I could actually do that, I think I've found some great ones to spend those waking hours in. I did come away buying more books than I originally meant to. (Don't tell my husband. ;-)

Till next time...

Katie