Spring Is In The Air

After being treated so kindly by the polygamists, it did not take long for me to realize that I really enjoyed their company, and felt as though I had finally found a home.

One day I was on my way to my cousin's wedding, and I drifted off to sleep for just a few minutes (I was not driving). In my dream I saw a beautiful face. The face of an angel. She turned, smiled at me and said hello. And I woke. The thing with this dream was that I could not get that beautiful smile out of my mind. Every time I closed my eyes, I could see that smile. It never faded like other dreams.

Then a few hours later while at the wedding, I held the door open for a few people who were headed outside. One of the girls stopped in the doorway, turned, smiled at me, and said hello. I was stunned. It was the same beautiful face I saw in my dream, with that same gorgeous smile. So I thought I would put my foot in my mouth. All I could think of to say was, "I saw you in a dream." And the response was, "I've heard that one before."

That was the very first time that my wife and I met. And the very first time that we had ever seen each other in this lifetime.

With a little time and a few more miracles, she consented to spend the rest of her life hanging around with me. It is pretty hard on a fella's confidence to know that he was not much of a catch and needed so many miracles to win a girl's heart, and yet at the same time how could I not feel blessed that the Lord would help me out so much. [Sometimes my dog won't play with me either, unless I have a bone for him. As a child, I loved that ugly duckling story, and I am still waiting for my metamorphosis.]

Married life began as quite the challenge. There were many obstacles to overcome. My own baggage was bad enough, but my beloved had her full share of challenges too. She was raised in a "monogamous" family, who belonged to a mainstream christian elitist religion. There were many terrible things that she had to endure as a child, and out of respect for her I will only mention a small example just to illustrate the difficulties. Her "monogamous" parents did not pay much attention to their children and would ship them out to whoever. Her brother used to bring one of his friends home to ... do terrible things to her. It was so prevalent that her dad would watch TV in the same room and just let it go on. Terrible things were experienced in her own house and even in her own church by too many different people. An elitist church that claims to have the only power on earth to save souls, and yet supports such activity???

With time and a lot of patience on both sides, we overcame a host of challenges and life was moving along wonderfully. At one time I had a 45 minute commute to work, and I always rushed home to see my family. One day, I couldn't wait to get home to talk about a great idea I had, and as I entered the house I saw my wife wiping the tears from her eyes and instantly my heart sank. I asked my beloved bride what was wrong, and quickly looked around the room for the children. They were fine and came bounding across the room to greet me. Again I asked what the matter was, but still got no answer. How could I go on, knowing that something was so terribly wrong, and not be able to help. I persisted, and as her eyes filled with tears once again, my love told me of the cause of her sadness. She said that she was crying because I had only one wife and that she wanted me to enter plural marriage. What could I do? Once again I was caught completely off guard.

I was astonished that she wanted to enter into such a challenging marriage situation. I mean, I loved the polygamists. I loved their kindness, their compassion, their love of their children, and their faith, but I never thought that my wife, who had grown up in a "monogamous" house hold, in a "monogamous" church, and had lived through so much, would have the strength, or even the desire to pursue such a lofty principle.

It takes a noble woman to overcome the covetous nature of the world, all the jealousies and pettiness, that plague the self-centred american culture. In today's culture, most "monogamous" marriages end in divorce, the spouses being so selfish and self centred, cannot even live up to the least of the virtues. And yet, in the midst of that turmoil, there are a precious few wonderful women who strive for the holier aspects and seek the higher virtues. There is no doubt, some of the women who enter into plural marriages are among the most noble of spirits.