It's going to be hard to get me to go back to Utah.
It's not the snow; the snow is perfect. Really perfect...wind pack, corn snow, powder; the terrain is hard and steep where you need something serious, yet gentle and soft when you just want to play. The snowboarding was supreme--no, I definitely can't bitch about that.
What makes me think twice about going back to Utah was what happened after we got off the slopes. My mom's fiance had a friend who was celebrating his birthday in Salt Lake City. This guy is old; maybe 55 or 60. But he's got kids, and so do his equally old friends. Their kids were my age, but it was weird. All of them had fiances there with them, presumably because a Mormon who makes it to 22 years of age without getting married is considered damaged goods. Indeed, I'm sure their parents raised them under pressure to go on that mission they do and get married immediately, though they taught not by example.
Of the 14 middle-aged people there, only 1 couple was still married. The others had assorted horror stories of divorce, alimony payments, bitter custody battles, a judgmental church, and life-long animosity between the "eternally wedded" couple. Yet in spite of:
being made to give 10% of their income
having to give up countless hours to church "callings", meetings, and study
having more mouths to feed than most americans do
and being taught to turn over their adult lives to the church for direction and purpose
they continued to teach their children that a temple marriage was somehow more of a blessing than a burden to a young man and woman. And with their neighbors and parishioners always silently watching, judging, and murmuring amongst themselves, they were going to make damn sure that their kids got one.
This is where I play my part in the story......more later
It's not the snow; the snow is perfect. Really perfect...wind pack, corn snow, powder; the terrain is hard and steep where you need something serious, yet gentle and soft when you just want to play. The snowboarding was supreme--no, I definitely can't bitch about that.
What makes me think twice about going back to Utah was what happened after we got off the slopes. My mom's fiance had a friend who was celebrating his birthday in Salt Lake City. This guy is old; maybe 55 or 60. But he's got kids, and so do his equally old friends. Their kids were my age, but it was weird. All of them had fiances there with them, presumably because a Mormon who makes it to 22 years of age without getting married is considered damaged goods. Indeed, I'm sure their parents raised them under pressure to go on that mission they do and get married immediately, though they taught not by example.
Of the 14 middle-aged people there, only 1 couple was still married. The others had assorted horror stories of divorce, alimony payments, bitter custody battles, a judgmental church, and life-long animosity between the "eternally wedded" couple. Yet in spite of:
being made to give 10% of their income
having to give up countless hours to church "callings", meetings, and study
having more mouths to feed than most americans do
and being taught to turn over their adult lives to the church for direction and purpose
they continued to teach their children that a temple marriage was somehow more of a blessing than a burden to a young man and woman. And with their neighbors and parishioners always silently watching, judging, and murmuring amongst themselves, they were going to make damn sure that their kids got one.
This is where I play my part in the story......more later