Opposition in all things
Last week, my mom and I had a wonderful opportunity to visit the temple construction site of the new Gila Valley Temple. Our stake’s Girls Camp was last week, and our Stake President wanted the young women to focus on preparing for the temple. He requested the young women stop at the temple site on their way to camp (traveling to camp takes six hours, and the temple site is two hours from home, so it was a good spot to get out of the car and stretch). Our Stake Young Women Presidency reserved the Thatcher Stake Center and put together a program about Preparing for the Temple. We also provided muffins and juice to the girls and leaders. We showed the Mormon Messages video from YouTube about temples (beautiful video), gave a five minute talk about preparing now for the temple, and then had the girls sign a banner to show their desire to go to the temple. That banner is their ensign, their standard to the nations. After the program, the groups traveled to the temple site and took some pictures before traveling the rest of the way to camp.
Because I am the Secretary in the YW Presidency, I was part of this program. My mom wanted to see the temple site, so she came with me. She and I left home at 6am, traveled the two hours to Thatcher, and arrived at the stake center a little before 8am. We passed two (possibly three) ward caravans along the way (I know…I speed). I hadn’t been to Thatcher in about ten years (I graduated from Eastern Arizona College in 1997 and then went back a year or two later when our excellent choir director retired…it was an EA choir reunion of sorts. I haven’t been back since. I loved it there, but there really wasn’t a need to go back and visit since then). Anyway, I didn’t bring a map with me…I was trying to rely on the map in my brain (I really do have a map in my brain…I remember directions REALLY WELL. I was testing myself to see if I still remembered after 10 years). I had to u-turn twice…only because the town changed a little and my landmarks were different. But I found the stake center just fine...I was pretty pleased with myself for remembering the directions as well as I did. :o)
We knew the wards would arrive at different times, so we thought it would be best to have each part of the program rotating between different rooms. That way more than one group could go through at one time. Since they still had a long drive ahead of them, we didn’t want to delay them any longer than necessary. I was able to take two groups through, so I gave my little five minute talk twice. I think the morning turned out really well. I heard good feedback and the spirit was really strong in the different rooms. Everyone was excited about signing the banner.
After all the groups left the stake center, we cleaned up, locked the building, then headed over to the construction site. The temple will be right along the highway. It will be so beautiful! There is a very peaceful feeling in that valley already, and the temple will add to that.
The Temple Frames and the Meeting House
Another angle of the temple and the meeting house behind it.
Here is a website that shows the current construction progress. Just a week later, the temple building has already changed A LOT. When we went there, just the iron frame was up. Now the walls are being installed. Wow! What progress: http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/gilavalley/construction/
I wasn’t able to attend Girls’ Camp this year, because I didn’t have the vacation time from work. But I was able to take the one day off and enjoy this beautiful day in Thatcher. My mom and I walked around the very different Eastern Arizona College campus before getting some lunch and heading home. It was a very good day.
But you can’t expect everything to stay good, right? Especially when a temple is involved. Opposition in all things, remember?
The next day I went to work. I was accomplishing a lot, but that all changed when I received a phone call from my mom at 11am. She sounded really shaken up, but she asked me to call her hair stylist to cancel the appointment because she just got in an accident.
WHAT?
OK…deep breath.
I called Penny, the hair stylist, then I left work to go help my mom. I drove to the intersection where she had her accident, parked at a nearby Jack In The Box, and walked to the scene. When I had talked with my mom on the phone, she told me she was okay, but she was waiting for the police to come. As I came around the building of the restaurant, I saw the paramedics like ants around the open doors of my mom’s car. Then as I walked closer, I saw my mom in a neck and back brace and the paramedics were wheeling a gurney to her open door.
Um…that doesn’t look good.
I was really shocked. I started hyperventilating a little because of the flashback it produced when another parent was taken away in an ambulance not too long ago…that one didn’t turn out so well.
At first I didn’t know if I should approach the accident. But I kept putting one foot in front of the other until I made it to her car. One officer looked at me really funny, so I simply pointed and said “My mom”. That’s all I could say. I was trying to be stoic and calm, but apparently all my emotions were showing on my face because my mom said “Erin, I’m okay…it’s just a precaution.” Then a paramedic came up to me and told me exactly what they were going to do and why...that she was doing remarkably well, but they just wanted to make sure everything was okay. Then another officer reassured me. After my mom was taken out of the car and put in the back of the ambulance, I was given a task. The car was not drivable at that point, so I needed to take all personal items and valuable stuff out of the car. I did my task to the best of my ability, but I still missed the garage door openers to our three houses (later, we had to go to the car lot where it was towed to fetch those things). I saw the huge dent on the passenger side back door…it looked pretty bad, but the airbags did not deploy, so the accident was not too terrible.
Then I was told I could go and I followed the ambulance to the hospital. Our “wonderful” ER (I say that very sarcastically) left me sitting in the waiting room for over 30 minutes before they finally took me back to see my mom. The husband of the women in the other car (who was 9 months pregnant) also had to wait. He was NOT HAPPY!! Why would a hospital deny a husband from being with his very pregnant wife? I’ll never understand.
By the time I got to see my mom, she was pretty well ready to go. We just had to wait for a few more tests and the policeman to come and get her report. That took about two more hours.
No one was cited in the accident. My mom and one witness said she turned on the green arrow, and the other car ran the red light and hit her. Another witness says all lights were red so both people ran the red light. Because there was conflicting witnesses, the officer did not cite anyone. I am not sure what that will do with the insurance, but even they say it is not my mom’s fault.
Luckily, my mom still has my dad’s truck, because it will take a month to fix her car and the insurance does not cover a rental. She still has a mode of transportation.
And by the way, my mom is just fine. No lasting effects from the accident. It just scared us all.
This week has been an adventure, to say the least. Ups and downs. Highs and lows. Opposites. But going to see the temple somehow makes it all worth it!
