last night i went to the virginia wedding reception for triest vanleeuwen and ross graham, her new husband. they were married last week in utah and had a second reception here in mechanicsville where both grew up.
i taught both triest and her sister maddie 10th grade english several years ago, and i have kept up with triest over the years via email and occasional phone calls. she has just graduated from BYU rexburg and completed her mormon mission this past august. i met ross for the first time over this past xmas holiday when the two of them came to school to visit and i met them for lunch at the local mexico restaurant.
they seem to be a match. ross obviously adores her. they grew up together in the same church, but it took a few years and a lot of miles before triest saw ross with new eyes. how lucky is that?!
triest and maddie were part of the mormon "gang" that i taught over several years. every year i had at least one happy mormon kid in my class, including three of the six rainock kids and lots of others. then all of a sudden, no more mormon kids. and i miss them. my mormon students were the happiest, most well adjusted kids i taught. they may not have all been the best students, but they seem to have a sunniness that the other non-mormon kids did not.
i think i got a better understanding of that when i went to the reception. i was a little apprehensive. while i was looking forward to seeing triest and ross, i knew i likely would not know anyone else there. as it turned out, maddie and two of the rainock girls were there and i chatted briefly with them. i stood in the food line with mama rainock and chatted with her as we waited for the food (which had been made by two of the sisters of that ward, and it was quite wonderful.
i taught both triest and her sister maddie 10th grade english several years ago, and i have kept up with triest over the years via email and occasional phone calls. she has just graduated from BYU rexburg and completed her mormon mission this past august. i met ross for the first time over this past xmas holiday when the two of them came to school to visit and i met them for lunch at the local mexico restaurant.
they seem to be a match. ross obviously adores her. they grew up together in the same church, but it took a few years and a lot of miles before triest saw ross with new eyes. how lucky is that?!
triest and maddie were part of the mormon "gang" that i taught over several years. every year i had at least one happy mormon kid in my class, including three of the six rainock kids and lots of others. then all of a sudden, no more mormon kids. and i miss them. my mormon students were the happiest, most well adjusted kids i taught. they may not have all been the best students, but they seem to have a sunniness that the other non-mormon kids did not.
i think i got a better understanding of that when i went to the reception. i was a little apprehensive. while i was looking forward to seeing triest and ross, i knew i likely would not know anyone else there. as it turned out, maddie and two of the rainock girls were there and i chatted briefly with them. i stood in the food line with mama rainock and chatted with her as we waited for the food (which had been made by two of the sisters of that ward, and it was quite wonderful.
i took my plate of food and sat in a chair along the wall hoping i would not be too conspicuous. i watched the video and slide show of triest and ross and then a nice gentleman with his granddaughter sat down next to me to introduce himself. he didn't know that i knew him...i recognized the granddaughter as belonging to lorel rainock. he apparently recognized i was not one of the ones that knew everyone, and i thought to myself, what i kind gesture. i told him i had taught three of his children, and he sat there and talked to me for several minutes while the new grandbaby chewed on his tie. he was very calm and patient, as he guess you would have to be if you had raised six children!
while i was eating and people watching, what i noticed the most was the sense of community. all of the young ladies seem to be about the same age and all obviously knew each other and were enjoying visiting and getting caught up. all the young husbands were handsome and seem to be on the way to many different careers..law school, medical school. most had spent at least some time in utah or rexburg attending one of the BYU's. the young ladies were now young mothers, some with multiple children. and they still seemed to be happy, centered adults. it seems that most of them are lucky enough to be able to stay home and be mothers . everyone looked happy.
it was quite the change from what i have been observing as of late, which has been so much negativity, selfishness and apathy. it made me particularly miss the absence of the sunny mormon children from my classroom. it made me happy for triest and ross and the others and gave me a little hope. i imagine living in utah would be sort of a little utopia if you were in a state where most of the people have the same value system that you have and it is practiced collectively. whether or not you aspire to the mormon church, you still have to admire the devotion and dedication to family values. you hear a lot about it these days from the politicians, but you rarely see it in action. i am sure, as with any religious community, there are problems and drama. but at least for last night, i didn't observe any.
even though i don't have the youngsters in the class anymore, i have the privilege of having watched the ones i taught grow into fine young people. that is one of the bonuses of being a teacher...:)
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