Super Saturday & Sunday in SLC

One of the main reasons Mel and I timed our trip as we did, was to attend the LDS Church Conference, which I had secured tickets for prior, from the Traverse City District Secretary.. good thing, as it is near impossible to get tickets in Utah, and hundreds of people stand in line for hours to wait for the unused seats, which are released 30 minutes prior to each session, beginning at 10am and 2pm on both Saturday and Sunday.

I was fortunate to get tickets for the opening session on Saturday and the closing session on Sunday, and the Priesthood (Men only) session on Saturday night. Prior to the trip, I had asked Klixi to go with me on Saturday, since she was leaving Sunday to go home, and promised Mel I would take him with me to the evening Session.

Another Mormon “Singles” tradition is a huge “Dees Dance” on Saturday night, where the Ladies dress to the "nines", since the "eligible" men come dressed up in their white shirts and ties after attending the sacred meeting.

Mel and I met up with Klixi again, and drove to the site of the dance, hosted at a nicely decorated Banquet hall, featuring a scrumptious buffet, and a professional DJ, with strobe lights and the whole works. It was quite a contrast to the more laid back dance from the night prior, including the age group and attire of the attendees.

Sylvia met us at the dance, and she looked great, and I was "smitten" by her good looks, and fun personality. We had fun dancing, eating and talking, and getting to know one another better, and I was hoping she was as attracted to me, as I was to her. Although I knew I was heading off to Idaho in a few days, and had not planned to start a "relationship", I wanted to spend more time with her, so I invited her to attend conference with me the next day, and she generously accepted.

In the meantime, Klixi was tearing up the dance floor with different guys, and Mel got into it too, and made a new friend named Hannah. We all had a blast, and on the way home, it was apparent by her comments that Klixi was watching Sylvia and I, as she mentioned how it appeared there was some “chemistry” between Sylvia and I... I was certainly hoping it was true!

Waking up Sunday morning, I had a small dilemma, as I had planned to go to Dax’ mom’s home for a gathering of her friends to watch the morning session of conference, then meet Sylvia for the afternoon session. But what to do with my buddy Mel, who was staying with me at Dax’ house, with no vehicle, and no plan?

However, Mel was fine with me leaving him there, and as it turned out, his new friend Hannah (from Saturday nights dance), came by to see him, and they even had dinner with Dax and his wonderful family…. while I spent the day with Sylvia at the Conference being spiritually fed, and gettting to know her even better!

At one point, in the middle of the session, I can't remember exactly when, I felt a calming spiritually feeling that impressed upon me that I was exactly where I needed to be at that moment...sitting next to the person the Lord had led me to be with....that he had prepared me to be worthy for, and to be with the rest of my life.....what a sweet spirit I felt at that moment, as the feeling came over me and spoke to my heart and said…”here she is, I brought you two together, now its up to you”.

If you have ever had a feeling like that, it is hard to deny...however, the "natural" man in all of us, begins to question whether it was real, or just our imagination, or doubt the validity of that impression... but I cannot deny that it happened, and I looked over to Sylvia and thought to myself...."Okay, but what if she has other thoughts or plans?"

My feelings the remainder of the conference were sweet and tender, especially towards Sylvia, whom I now believed was a special gift from my Heavenly Father, and I certainly hoped she would come to feel the same way.

Following the conference, we walked over to the Visitor Center, and as we sat on the 2nd floor, near the statue of Christ, a woman came over to us, and as Sylvia bent down and looked in her purse, she said "do you mind if I sit here... Sylvia?"

It was Sister Crites and her family, a dear friend who had moved 2 years ago to California from Holland Michigan. What a joyous reunion it was, as Sylvia reminisced how she used to have the young girls over for “dress up” parties where they wore her furs and collection of shoes. The photo above is of their family at the Visitor Center, before they hopped in the car for their 12 hour journey home.

After a nice visit with them, we drove back to her car in South Jordan, and sat and talked for quite awhile about our personal journeys, and how we both were led by the spirit to move out west. At one point, we shared our first kiss, and it felt “electric”, and we had to stop the momentum, in fear of it leading to places neither of us wished to go... (being mindful of our temple covenants!).

There certainly WAS some "chemistry" between us, so before we left that night, we promised to meet the next day, before I headed off to Idaho, and she to Canada to visit her mom later that week.....which turned out to be quite an "enlightening" journey for both of us!