On our most recent anniversary, Cathy suggested this hand photo. We are each wearing our "kelibet," which is the Ethiopian word for engagement. In Ethiopia, the first phase of the wedding is the kelibet ceremony where rings are exchanged. At this stage of proceedings, you are engaged to be married, but not actually married yet. […]
In 1 Nephi 17:1, Nephi described the adversity he and his family went through as they traveled in the wilderness after their exodus: "And we did travel and wade through much affliction in the wilderness; and our women did bear children in the wilderness." Yet his prevailing thoughts were overwhelmingly positive and hopeful. Immediately following […]
This couple dated in high school. They graduated, went their separate ways, and married other people. Fast forward 30 years. Both David and Lori were divorced and had been disappointed in love more than once. I knew both of them because we had competed on the same speech and debate team in high school. (I […]
I remember a talk given in a singles ward about "spreading it to the edges." It referred to sandwiches, or toast such as this that I made for my son this morning, as a metaphor for spreading goodness to the edges of our lives, to make our life experience as delicious as possible. Since then, […]
"About a Boy" is a popular 2002 film starring Hugh Grant and Nicholas Hoult. It begins with a self-centered mid-single man named Will (Grant) who lives off of the royalties of a Christmas jingle his father wrote. So he has no job and doesn't need one. He insists that he is an "island" and doesn't […]
During my mid-single years, I often heard the phrase "I hate dating." I even heard it from people who were actively making an effort to date--maybe even especially from those people. If I asked the reasons, I heard disparaging comments about the opposite sex, feelings about having hearts broken in the past, negative comments about […]
In case you wondered, this picture doesn't show how I got Cathy to marry me -- though if it was, I'd never tell. Saturday, Cathy and I went to the Desert Star Theater and saw a play entitled "Harry Poppins" about what might have happened if a disgruntled Harry Potter had been fired from the […]
We celebrated our anniversary this past weekend by treating ourselves to LIVE theater for the first time since Covid shut it down. Desert Star's first show opening back up was "Harry Poppins," a fun spoof on Harry Potter, Mary Poppins, and even Star Wars. Cathy knew their amazing pianist (Tracy) from back in her pageant […]
We've posted content from Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife before in our Love In Later Years Group on Facebook. But, we are trying to undo a lot of damage that has been done by the way our culture almost always pairs sexuality with sin in our common discourse. For many of us, that even played a part […]
