Married With (or without) Children

Today I went to church.  Not a particularly big deal since it's Sunday today, and I always go to church on Sunday.  But this church was a little different, for two reasons.

1.  It was a Stake Conference (multi-congregational).
2. The congregants were made up entirely of young married university students.

Daughter #3 and her true love (a full-time student) just presented their one-year-old daughter with a baby brother.  Their hands are a little full right now, so I booked a flight to try to help out.  I'm staying with them in their small apartment in the married student housing complex at BYU.

While attending the church meeting today,  I found it quite entertaining to watch all these young married couples.  Here are a few of my observations:

• I've never seen so many young married couples all together at the same time!
• For the most part, everyone looked happy.  As the meeting wore on, they started looking a little tired, but still happy.
• Some of the couples looked so young!  And of course they probably were.  Latter-day Saints, on average, tend to marry younger than their non-LDS counterparts.  
• The couples without children seemed to really be paying a lot of attention to the children of the couples who had been fruitful and multiplied.  Perhaps they were taking notes for the future.
• The men were very "hands on" with their children.  This is a welcome improvement from how it used to be.  
• The family in front of us had a young son -- about 3 or 4 -- who held my attention for quite a long time.  Not only was he a great little singer, displaying perfect pitch as he quietly hummed a vast repertoire of children's songs, he was also extremely polite to his baby sister when she found his colouring book and marker.  Instead of ripping it out of her hands, he said, "No, please don't".  
• There was more kissing going on than in a regular congregation.  Nothing passionate and out-of-control, of course, but I still witnessed several little quick pecks around me which made me smile.
• I decided there's a match for everyone.  In my opinion, there were some pretty unlikely marriage candidates, and yet, there they were sitting with a spouse.  And probably kissing them.

It appears life is good as a young married university couple.

Dixie

"If I Can" (Said in an Apathetic Whiny Voice)

On more than one occasion, when I was a young girl, I thought I wanted to be a Scottish dancer.  One of my family lines goes back to Scotland, and our family even has our own tartan.

So, becoming a Scottish dancer sounded like a good idea to me.  Perhaps I thought I would have actually been talented enough to keep up.  Hah!

I recently had the privilege of attending a Highland Dance competition -- one of my young friends was competing, and I went to watch her.  She was adorable in her bright blue kilt.

I loved watching the competition, and even learned a thing or two as she and her mom filled me in on how everything worked.  

And this sweet girl even came away with a couple of medals.

One thing's for sure, those dancers were working hard -- definitely a great aerobic workout!  All their huffing and puffing made me realize this whole Highland dancing thing probably wouldn't have been for me after all.  Too much work!  

And at that thought, I discovered that I've probably got more of my clan's bloodline in me than I previously thought.  Our family Coat of Arms sports the phrase "Si Je Puis".  Translated to English, it means "If I Can".  I laugh every time I think about it.  

While other family mottos pledge far more courage or valour ("To the Death" or "Fight With Honor"), mine simply indicates that I will if I can.  Kind of like the original forbears weren't really willing to put any effort into it.  Kind of like me and the Scottish dancing.  

So for now, watching my friend at her dance competition is probably the closest I'll get to becoming a Scottish dancer.  I suppose I'll have to find a different way to honor my Scottish family name.  Perhaps I'll make shortbread cookies on a weekly basis or enrol in a caber-tossing competition.

If I can.

Dixie

P.S.  And can I just say.....listening to the bagpipes for four hours straight is about as much as anyone should be expected to endure.