Our Wedding Reception?

2/1/94

Dear Mom and Dad,

Guess what? I got an exciting letter in the mail yesterday! It was addressed to Gale Russell Ashcroft (though I have no idea how they knew that was my name now) and was signed by President Benson, President Hinckley, and President Monson. Guess what it was? Permission to be sealed in the Temple to Moe! I am so excited ! Hurry home soon so we can go together and do that. I can hardly wait!

It was so exciting to get that letter. I had asked to have my previous sealing canceled as soon as Moe and I got engaged, but something that important, which had to be reviewed and approved by the Prophet and his counselors, obviously took time. Our Temple president advised us to go ahead and be married, in the temple, but just for time, then when the approval came we could be sealed for all eternity, as well.

Our wedding was wonderful, but I sure missed having my parents there. They were still serving their 18 month mission in Germany at the time. I really, really wanted them to be with me when I got sealed.

We'd planned on having a small open house a few weeks after our wedding, but it didn't take long for me to realize that Moe wasn't really looking forward to it. He didn't like parties, let alone being the center of attention at one. Plus, even a simple open house cost money, at least for invitations, postage, and refreshments. The logical thing to do was forget it and get on with our life; after all, we were already married.

Moe didn't understand at first why I even wanted to have a wedding reception. He didn't mean to be insensitive, he just had no idea how important celebrating our wedding was to me. After all, we'd both had traditional weddings when we married our first spouses, why would we even want one now? Then he was asked to be best man for a friend. They weren't close, and he didn't want to do it, but he felt kind of obligated since this fellow didn't have many close friends. When he found out he had to take off work so he could go to the wedding and he had to pay $75 to rent a tux and stand in line for three hours he was sorry he'd said yes. Worst of all, his friend asked him to speak at his ring ceremony and say all kinds of nice things about him.

I thought it would be kind of fun to go to the reception. I even rationalized getting a new dress since Moe got to wear a tux, and I thought maybe we could have our picture taken in front of their backdrop. Maybe it would look like a wedding picture. It took me awhile to realize that one of the reason's Moe was unhappy about going to the reception was because he was worried it would make me unhappy since I didn't have one. He didn't show me their announcement for three weeks because he thought it would make me feel bad. He'd finally begun to notice how other people did weddings, and he'd started to understand that ours was pretty unorthodox. In the end, I wasn't able to attend the reception with him, anyway, and he had a terrible time. I told him it was OK, but he still worried.

When the approval finally came so we could be sealed, I was totally excited, but also torn. Part of me wanted to run down to the Temple immediately, part of me wanted to wait for mom and dad to come home, which was only two months away. Perhaps after our sealing we could have a little gathering at our house, with just our family and close friends. We could take pictures, and maybe even have a simple wedding cake. It would be my wedding reception. I know it was selfish, but we decided to wait for mom and dad.

Then, the last week of February, Moe heard some interesting news at the Temple. There was a brand new church policy regarding men who had been previously been sealed in the temple. They now had to get permission from the First Presidency before they could be sealed again, the same as women. So, not only were we waiting for mom and dad to come home, but now Moe had to send a request to the Prophet for permission for him to be sealed again in the Temple. It sure seemed like Heavenly Father was trying to teach me patience, all over again. One of these days you'd think I would learn.