Seeking Authentic Voice

Although I moved fifty years ago, this summer I will return to the city of my birth, where I will stay for three weeks. I’ve come back many times, but this will be the longest visit I’ve ever made.  No doubt the contrast of how I began my life and how I live it now will be prominent in my thoughts. True, I think about this every time I return to Salt Lake City. However this summer, when the Episcopal Church holds its triennial General Convention in Salt Lake City, the past and the present will merge in new ways. More specifically, on Sunday, June 28, when the Episcopal Women’s Caucus hosts its ever popular General Convention breakfast, I will celebrate my fifteenth anniversary of ordination to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. I’ve come a long way from the little Mormon girl I was when my family moved away in 1966. My mother loved to tell the story of my birth. On February 14, 1957, she walked outside on a snowy night, hoping to induce labor, yearning for her ...

A view from the Salt Lake City Cemetery of the mountains that rim the valley. All of my ancestors are buried here. My parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, most of my family are Mormon . Many of them are practicing Mormons. A few are known as “Jack Mormons” because they rarely go to church, smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. I was born in to the church, a child of pioneers who risked their lives for their faith. Taking on the arduous commitment to travel west across an ocean, the Great Lakes, prairie and mountains in 1848, a six month journey. Their former lives reduced to a few possessions stuffed into crates and trunks and loaded onto covered wagons.    I loved the Church. I am enthralled by stories of my ancestors. I remember the exhilaration I felt climbing the mountain trail and arriving at the statue that marks the spot where Brigham Young announced, “This is the place.” The story told is reminiscent of Moses pointing the way to the Promised Lan...

Ruby, our rust colored Viszla, has some interesting traits to her personality. She is very smart, learned how to behave quickly and truly yearns to please. A high energy dog she requires a lot of exercise to off set her natural tendency to be a little anxious. Over time we've come to recognize when she has done something she should not. She paces. Back and forth, around and around. Sometimes she has something in her mouth - a candy wrapper she found somewhere or a piece of plastic from a dog toy. When this happens we tell her to "Drop it" - and she does. It's rather hilarious to observe. On those occasions when I have received difficult news and I feel emotional, Ruby sidles up to me, leans her body against me and puts her nose in my face. It's a bit overwhelming, actually, but she clearly gets that I am upset. She even has a way of looking "worried" or "concerned." I'm doing a little bit of pacing about myself these days. Not li...