the end is coming
All of the hype about the world ending next Saturday the 21st doesn't have me worried at all. I had a great 14 mile run today. One of my friends who ran with me will do a marathon next week and we talked about how he might come back to SLC and find that it is gone - a smoking mess of destruction (or is it mass?). Everything will be gone, except of course, the LDS Temple. The rest of us heathens will burn and we will rue the day when we didn't invite those missionaries into our house and start taking lessons. I used to invite missionaries in but only to offer them my telephone to call their moms. Missionaries can only call their mom's on Mother's day and Christmas and I felt sorry for those moms. Besides, I promised them I would never tell anyone and the moms would secretly thank me. So embedded is their training that not one of them has ever taken me up on my offer. And if they did, I am sure Brigham Young would come back from the grave and make me become another of his wives or something. After living here so long, the missionaries have given up on us and usually skip our house, looking for more promising prospects.
I don't mean to make fun of my LDS friends (and even family members). They are great people even if they believe coffee is evil.
The whole end of the world thing made me think of the reason why I moved to Salt Lake City in the first place - after graduating from college and never having been west of Minneapolis. It was only my second plane ride too. It was back in the day where you dressed up for a plane ride and you were served real food (Chicken or Lasagna usually were the choices) and sometimes free wine.
It all probably began when my college room mate at Northern Michigan University and I started taking mail order lessons from a group in California. For about $17/month we received instruction on self awareness, and realizing that we had all the power we would ever have....heady stuff for college students in the early 70's but maybe not...the 70's were big on self-actualization. It also involved coloring tarot cards (really) and sacrificing irritating people in the dorm (not really). Actually I enjoyed the lessons and they are not much different in many ways, to modern self help programs I believe....it was a lot about loving yourself....as Whitney Houston sang (wish she would straighten herself up) "Learning to love yourself...it's the greatest love of all". The company still exists, but I don't want to use their name for fear of ....something.
I am not sure how the end of the world got tied into these lessons, but it seems like it may have been related. The world was supposed to end in August of 1975 and the safest place to be was Provo, Utah (see maybe I am right about the Mormons...or maybe they are right).
I jokingly told people I was going to move to Utah. Then I started thinking "What the hey?" I had broken up with a boyfriend. I wanted to do something daring (never had done anything really daring beyond riding a car on railroad tracks). And there were a few other reasons why I decided to do it:
1. My mom said "You will never move that far away". Of course at 21 if your mom says that, you have to do it to prove to her you are serious.
2. The ex boyfriend said something similar and added "I hope you break your leg skiing there". I did break my leg, but not skiing and it took me 35 years to do it.
Anyway I moved to Utah (but not Provo) despite warnings that I would never have a job because I wasn't Mormon, and that I would end up being married to a guy with a few other sister wives. Both ended up being untrue. I got a job, and after all this time, the missionaries even gave up on us. One of the things that kept me from considering converting to being a Mormon was that no one could adequately explain the ban on drinking coffee "Hot caffeine" is out, I was told. But yet they drink hot chocolate. "Caffeine is out" I was told. But it is okay to drink coke and diet coke by the gallons. I can't believe that I would be a bad person for drinking coffee, so I remain a Methodist, where we have coffee in the Fellowship Hall after each church service! The only rules in my church are to be good and do good for others.
So here I remain and it's a beautiful place. August 1975 came and went, just as I assume May 21, 2011 will. I will plan an "End of the World" run just in case. Might as well be doing something I love during the Apocalypse.
I don't mean to make fun of my LDS friends (and even family members). They are great people even if they believe coffee is evil.
The whole end of the world thing made me think of the reason why I moved to Salt Lake City in the first place - after graduating from college and never having been west of Minneapolis. It was only my second plane ride too. It was back in the day where you dressed up for a plane ride and you were served real food (Chicken or Lasagna usually were the choices) and sometimes free wine.
It all probably began when my college room mate at Northern Michigan University and I started taking mail order lessons from a group in California. For about $17/month we received instruction on self awareness, and realizing that we had all the power we would ever have....heady stuff for college students in the early 70's but maybe not...the 70's were big on self-actualization. It also involved coloring tarot cards (really) and sacrificing irritating people in the dorm (not really). Actually I enjoyed the lessons and they are not much different in many ways, to modern self help programs I believe....it was a lot about loving yourself....as Whitney Houston sang (wish she would straighten herself up) "Learning to love yourself...it's the greatest love of all". The company still exists, but I don't want to use their name for fear of ....something.
 |
| Sue and I, drinking beer and riding on the railroad tracks somewhere in Marquette in the 70's. Don't we look self-aware? And don't ask what is in the bag. |
I am not sure how the end of the world got tied into these lessons, but it seems like it may have been related. The world was supposed to end in August of 1975 and the safest place to be was Provo, Utah (see maybe I am right about the Mormons...or maybe they are right).
I jokingly told people I was going to move to Utah. Then I started thinking "What the hey?" I had broken up with a boyfriend. I wanted to do something daring (never had done anything really daring beyond riding a car on railroad tracks). And there were a few other reasons why I decided to do it:
1. My mom said "You will never move that far away". Of course at 21 if your mom says that, you have to do it to prove to her you are serious.
2. The ex boyfriend said something similar and added "I hope you break your leg skiing there". I did break my leg, but not skiing and it took me 35 years to do it.
Anyway I moved to Utah (but not Provo) despite warnings that I would never have a job because I wasn't Mormon, and that I would end up being married to a guy with a few other sister wives. Both ended up being untrue. I got a job, and after all this time, the missionaries even gave up on us. One of the things that kept me from considering converting to being a Mormon was that no one could adequately explain the ban on drinking coffee "Hot caffeine" is out, I was told. But yet they drink hot chocolate. "Caffeine is out" I was told. But it is okay to drink coke and diet coke by the gallons. I can't believe that I would be a bad person for drinking coffee, so I remain a Methodist, where we have coffee in the Fellowship Hall after each church service! The only rules in my church are to be good and do good for others.
So here I remain and it's a beautiful place. August 1975 came and went, just as I assume May 21, 2011 will. I will plan an "End of the World" run just in case. Might as well be doing something I love during the Apocalypse.
Comments