A few weeks ago we met my brother Solomon at our old stomping grounds, the Garden Park Ward, in Salt Lake City, Utah for family photos. The truth about family photos is that there is nothing pretty or easy about getting six people out the door cheerfully looking well groomed and on time. I am so happy to have these precious moments preserved for our family memory book, at this time, in this moment, these are our children. This is our love. This is our laughter. This is the opportunity we have to nurture and grow our family.
It is no surprise that I love Garden Park Ward. I grew up here. The first house I lived in was my great grandparent’s house on 1200 East. It is the house that my grandpa grew up in, and we lived in the basement apartment until I turned three, when my mom bought the house I lived in until I got married. My grandparents Dave and Joy met while they were living in the Garden Park Ward as youth. My great uncles lived in the neighborhood, I knew them, I knew their children and some of their grandchildren. My great grandpa David W. Evans was in charge of purchasing the land that the Garden Park ward is built on. When I go here I feel my roots. I love this land, I love the people who are here in my memory and in my heart. I love the leaders I had growing up, who taught me faith, and love and acceptance. I love the ducks in the pond that I grew up chasing; the lessons of hard work, persistence and patience that I gleaned from watching and participating periodically in the great under taking of caring for the beloved grounds at the ward. I love the gigantic trees that hang over the land, probably alive for more than 100 years, the tower over this great landscape, and offer solitude, serenity and peace. Oh how I love this place! I love the sanctuary I found with my friends, and my faith.
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And now, as a mother, I feel tired. But so grateful that I can show this place to my people, to my children. I am so grateful to be able to teach our heritage to their eager minds, and show them the opportunity that we have to appreciate our roots and expand our wings.
I believe that one of humanity’s greatest needs is to find and nurture connection to others. This connection happens immediately following birth, with mothers and infants bonding. The need to feel valued, validated and important is insatiable in all humanity. I believe our drive to dull our senses stems largely from a starvation to authentic and raw connections to those in our midst. Connecting to ourselves, and to those around us is as essential to our survival as is food and water.
I am grateful to my ancestors, to my family members, and to my friends. The physical land of my childhood conjures up feelings of safety, pride, and belonging. In all of my doing for my own children, my greatest desire is that in their experience, in our home, that they too feel a sense of belonging, to their roots, to their foundation, and that through the belonging authentically and unconditionally, they will aspire to become their greatest self.
