Happy National Coffee Day.
If I were joining you in a cup of Joe,
I think my coffee of choice might look like this.
I, however nicely you may ask, will not be.
Having a cup with you I mean.
To quote a famous movie from the late 1980's--
"It's choice, man, choice."
When I converted to Mormonism, (--side note here completely unrelated--did you see that article yesterday put out by the Pew Forum? If not, see here--Mormons get 4th.. http://pewforum.org/ I took the test and only missed one (93%). The average US woman got 48%...what is happening with the sisters? Blog for another day.)
Let me start over.
When I converted to Mormonism, the thing I remember hearing most from other folks was everything I wouldn't be able to do. Drink, smoke, drink coffee or tea, have sex, do drugs, dance (that is an urban myth...Mormons can dance...have you ever seen So You Think You Can Dance? Mormons dancing everywhere on that show...) I wasn't doing those things anyway so I didn't mind to let them go. Especially the dancing...yeah, you ever see that Seinfeld where Elaine dances...I think it looks a little something akin to that spectacle.
True, I didn't know they shy away from Rated R movies (which was a bummer when Schnidler's List came out).
True, I didn't know that when weekends came along, I would sort of be giving up half of it in regards to possible fun outings (I would take what is nicely put as a hygiene break on Sundays before I started going to church).
I did know church was 3 hours, in the morning which was fine, but I didn't know multiple congregations might be using the same building and we might even get the 3-6 pm shift. Not a fan of that so much.
I did know many of their pioneer ancestors used to practice polygamy. That of course was 150 years ago, so it has nothing to do with me. Frankly I could use another "sister wife" in my life now for the days I want to sit in bed and eat truffles and she could fold the three loads of laundry currently finding home on the kitchen floor...just kidding, don't freak out.
Another thing I did know is they churn out some pretty remarkable folks.
These are people whose faces smiled and shined when you talk to them.
They were kind.
They didn't swear (a strange concept to a girl from AK who is still struggling to convert to that pure language styling).
They were smart. Mr. Fun used to have points of difference discussions with our social studies teacher while we were in high school, and he always had a valid point.
They showed love and kindness.
They treated females with respect.
They seemed to be trying to make the world a better place, along with themselves.
Strangely, I felt like I had come home when I went to church there. Most importantly to me is that I do better living this way.
I cannot speak for the LDS Church or even any other member of it except myself, but let me state for the record I could have a cup of coffee with you this morning if I wanted to.
No one would be monitoring me. No one is watching me from across the street, noting my every move. No one calls me daily or have me recording my wanderings and activity.
I will not joining you because I choose not to. Choice, man, choice.
I heard once that over 90% of Amish kids who have lived in the "world" for a year end up returning permanently to their Amish way of life. One could argue that they only return because they were raised that way and don't know anything different. Which said, I am sure there is validity there.
However, applying that same logic to me, a convert to my religion, that theory doesn't work.
I wasn't raised this way. As a matter of fact, I was raised to be very open minded which I think was instrumental in my journey to become a Mormon. Strange eh? I am sooo appreciative for the way my parents reared me....so I could live like this way now.
I would like to close with this great little true story from LDS history. One of the presidents from church history is David O McKay (isn't he handsome?)
What I take away from this is that the McKays didn't freak out when the Queen asked them to join her. They just politely declined. She didn't freak out that they declined. They still hung out and I am sure had a lovely chat.
Never be afraid to invite me out for a "cup of coffee." I would love the company, and am a big fan of a mean glass of raspberry lemonade. :)
