So, we’re moving back to Utah.
I am experiencing a full spectrum of emotions.
I am sad yet happy.
I am depressed yet hopeful.
I am relieved yet stressed.
I am excited yet contemplative.
I have been planning and organizing yet reflecting and pondering.
No wonder why I just want to stay in bed all day.
My mind and body are exhausted, and I haven’t even started cleaning or packing.
We love our home in Knoxville, Tennessee.
We especially love being members of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
in Tennessee.
Our fellow church members are close-knit.
It becomes cliche,
but we really are
family.
One great big family.
We have to stick together.
As we are attacked on all sides.
The other inhabitants of
The Bible belt
actually believe all kinds of falsehoods
about us.
So,
we are very much a refuge
for one another.
We know we are not polygamists.
We know we are not a cult.
But most of all
we know
We
are
Christian.
In fact,
if you ever visit
a meetinghouse
on the first Sunday of the month,
you will hear
some of the sweetest
testimonies
of
Jesus Christ.
And
you may be surprised
that these
awe inspiring
words and feelings
come from
the Mormons
in the Bible belt.
They will bear testimony
of their love of the Bible.
They will testify of
the Savior of the world,
Jesus Christ.
They will talk about
their love for fellow man
Christian and non-Christian alike.
They will also talk about their love
for one another.
And the support
they receive from one another
in their goals
of living
Christ centered lives.
So,
thinking about leaving
our home of
eight years
is very
heart wrenching.
It is here
where people
have planned
“it’s great to be 8”
firesides
just for our daughter
and her best friend.
As they were the only
kids in the congregation
looking forward to
that momentous
birthday
in the same year.
The year they are old
enough to accept baptism.
And take upon them the
name of Christ.
It is here
that we are
always kind of surprised
but absolutely joyful
when we run into
another member
of our church
while shopping.
It is here
where our kids
were sometimes
the ONLY
Mormons
in their whole school.
And sometimes
the only Mormon
that people had
ever met in their life.
It is here
in
Tennessee
that we
as a church family
and as a family family
stood strong
together
against
adversity
of all sorts.
And I now know that I
am going back to another place that I love.
But in that place it is pretty sheltered.
I worry about my kids
understanding the actual world.
I have to admit that when I think
about the fact that
I will only have two
people from church to check in on
instead of 6 on a monthly basis,
I am a little relieved.
I am downright ecstatic that I will
never have to wake up my teenage
aughters at 5 am
for their 6 am Bible study
before school.
In Utah’s highschools
they have this thing called release time
where the kids get to cross the street
during a period of the day and
study scripture
at the LDS church across the street.
I may never feel like the people at church
are really family,
as most of them actually
are surrounded by real biological family,
but I will also know
that I have a very vast support system,
even if they aren’t as close to me.
The news coverage
may all be
from a Mormon’s
perspective,
but I will also get news that
I want to hear about,
that I can’t get here.
I will get to walk into
Mormon bookstores
instead of Baptist ones.
And buying my kids
a modest baptism dress
or a CTR ring won’t be an ordeal.
In Utah there aren’t any
dogwoods,
or
wreckers,
or
magnolias,
or
Vol fans,
or
riding mowers,
or
humidity,
or
fireflies,
or
smoky hills,
or
snowdays,
or
awesome
Southern Storms.
I will
miss them all.
(well maybe not the humidity)
But I will appreciate the things
that Utah does have
that Tennessee doesn’t.
Like
snowplows,
and
sidewalks,
and
temples,
and
caselot sales,
and
rocky mountains,
and
smooth gardening soil,
and
great camping weather.
I am sappy lately.
I am gonna miss being different.
It’s gonna be hard to go back to
a place where I am just
like everybody else.
O.k not just like everybody else.
Cause let’s face it.
I’m an original.
I don’t totally fit in anywhere I go.
And I prefer it that way.
I am also gonna miss my
mother-in-law and my sister.
A lot.
My mother in law, Faye, is the world’s best babysitter.
and one of my best friends.
And Shannon, my sister, is my best cheerleader.
My entire life she has watched out for me.
Thank goodness for
webcams,
jetplanes,
cell phones,
with
unlimited long distance,
and
wait for it
…..
facebook.
God knew I couldn’t leave
without having those.
alice w. gold 
