Our First Anniversary

It is springtime in Muncie, Indiana: the dogwoods are blossoming, tornado warnings are sounding, and love is in the air. Blake and I celebrated our very first wedding anniversary today. We celebrated yesterday by going out to dinner. Blake picked a place to eat based on advertisements in the phone book. So we went to this little cafe that we'd never heard of in a nearby town that sounded nice and small-town-y and even advertised live musical entertainment! What could be better? Well, it turned out that this was a Christian cafe (it was called The Lighthouse Cafe....and I should have been able to figure out that it was something Christian-y, given the fact that the only lighthouses in Indiana are in fact churches) and the live entertainment was a family gospel band who mostly sang karaoke. It was quite entertaining. We stayed for a bit, but left before the spiritual message interlude between the performing groups (the first was a family called Chain of Righteousness and the last was going to be an Elvis impersonator). Anyway, totally not what we expected, but still fun anyway. We also walked to Muncie Frozen Custard (just opened for the season and only a hop, skip, and a jump away from our apartment) for ice cream (or custard, if you are particular). It was a lovely anniversary, and we even celebrated in the traditional way: with paper. Blake drew me a picture, and I made him a handmade book with a poem inside.

I realized something as we sat in that café. People in general really are more the same than they are different. A few weeks ago I received word that my brother, Tyler, who is just younger than me and about to be married, was very, very sick. He had this golf-ball sized growth on the side of his neck. Well, everyone’s first thought was that it might be cancer. So he went to the doctor and had some tests done, and thankfully it turned out to just be badly swollen lymph nodes. At home he was given a priesthood blessing and he has since been recovering nicely. When Blake and I went out to celebrate our anniversary, the Christian band who performed sort of bore their testimonies of various things in between each number. One of their testimonies was regarding the youngest singer in the group who, when she was 8 years old, shortly after God told her that she should sing, became very, very sick. In fact, as they described her illness, it turned out to be exactly what Tyler had. I perked up as I noticed some interesting similarities: my brother was given a priesthood blessing, she was blessed by her pastor, both people and their loved ones relied heavily on their Heavenly Father for healing and comfort, both could now bear testimony of the fact that divine help aided in their recovery. The only thing that really separated us was the fact that we enjoy a fullness of the Gospel. I thought, wow, we really are more alike than we are different. I really have no right, if I were to teach the gospel to this family, to tear down their beliefs until I could provide them the fullness that we enjoy. We have more in common that I think meets the eye on first glance.