HARMONY ON A GRAND SCALE....

Ross and I were still living in an apartment on Grant Street in Denver during the time I was pregnant with Brice.  That was back in the day (1971) when the yearly Stake Relief Society Spring Event used to feature a special speaker—usually someone famous in the Church from Utah—and a very dressy and elegant luncheon.  It was a big shindig and was always well-attended as life was simpler then.  A singular meeting of this type was a priority for most of the women.

That particular year I do not remember what the theme was, but there was a “Fashion Show” slated as part of the agenda.  Any family member could be a participant.  The only criteria was specific: whatever garment was going to be modeled had to be an item fashioned by sisters in our stake.  The articles could be knitted, crocheted, or machine stitched.

I was sooo excited!  Now that I was a stay-at-home mom and we were on a tight budget, I had been perfecting my sewing skills which I had learned years before in 4-H classes.  My splurge after the invitation arrived was a beautiful piece of soft blue polyester knit fabric (YES! Remember clothing made out of that non-breathable material?)  My plan was to make myself a new maternity dress for Easter and model it in the Relief Society Fashion Show.  The sketched woman on the pattern envelope was wearing a scarf around her neck as an accessory.  I wanted to look just like that, too.  So, I bargain shopped for a silk scarf and finally found one I could afford with a blue and pastel pink stylized daisy print.  Oh, I was going to look so fabulous!

My hair had been short for years by the time Ross and I got married. He had asked me if I would grow it long.  So, I did.  By this time it was almost shoulder length, and I imagined that it would be so stylish if it were fashioned in an “up-do”.  But there was no money for a trip to the beauty shop.  However, there was a Beauty College not far from where we lived, and I made an appointment to have my hair done the morning of the luncheon.  Because we had only one car and it was too far for me to walk to the chapel where the luncheon and fashion show were being held, Ross said he would come home early for his lunch hour and take me to the hairdresser and then to the big event.

It had not occurred to me to have my hair styled once before as a trial run or even ask for a “senior” student as my stylist. In consequence I was assigned to a new student, an earnest young man who vainly tried to fashion my hair into the sophisticated style I had seen in my mind’s eye for several weeks.

The clock on the wall ticked past half an hour, forty-five minutes, an hour!  I was panicked!  Ross’ lunch hour was OVER, and I was still in the beautician’s chair.  The panicked look on his face clearly showed the student was almost as upset as I was!  After an hour and a half when at last the stylist was finished, I didn’t look anything at all like I had requested for the fancy hairdo I had in mind. 

Nevertheless, Ross rushed me to the Denver Stake center so I could still be in the “Fashion Show” even though I knew I had missed the luncheon.  We raced through cross-town traffic only to arrive and find out that the fashion show was over, too!  It had been staged concurrently while the women had been enjoying a delicious lunch.  It was time for the speaker to begin her remarks.  I was devastated and didn’t even want to stay for the rest of the program. 

As I stumbled into the car, I fell into Ross’ arms and cried and cried in disappointment as he drove me home.  (I’m sure pregnancy hormones added to that!) I’ll never forget how he never said one word about all the long time he had had to wait.  On top of the wait, he was three hours late getting back to work after he dropped me off at our apartment.  Ross knew how much I had been looking forward to this special event.  He wasn’t one much for verbal consolation, yet I could tell from his tender treatment of me that he felt bad, too.

This experience immediately came to mind when I read our Visiting Teaching lesson for August in preparation for the monthly letter I write to the no-contact sisters on my route.  The lessons this year are based on “The Family:  A Proclamation to the World”.  This month our focus is nurturing families together. 

These gospel principles are simple.  No mystery about them at all.  Loving and caring for one another invites the Spirit into our homes.  Sacrifice and acts of love bring harmony on a grand scale.  A quote from President Russell M. Nelson's April 2008 General Conference talk pinpointed the whole message: “The home is to be God’s laboratory of love and service.”    

I like to review my “success stories” with this principle. I have been proficient at love and harmony on a grand scale before.  I can be again--over and over and over.

Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;  Romans12:10 

I love this scripture.  It is a good reminder that family nurturing should be so constant and so natural that we prefer our family to any other relationships.  After all, our family is our most important neighbor!

POST SCRIPT:  Though the big picture in my life now isn't from the screen play I wrote years ago, I truly felt loving harmony that day and on numerous occasions during the 29 years Ross and I were married.  That day I was given a gift of love and service.  It has remained one of my bright memories of Ross, who often did the small, quiet things that added up to a significant difference in my feelings--and our lives. And I still have that pretty silk scarf.  Every time I come across it in my drawer, it is a happy memory of love on a grand scale!

Easter 1971-- Georgia 25  (7 months pregnant with Brice) Harold 18 months and Ross 30

in Grandpa and Grandma Nichols front yard 7570 W. 48th Ave. Wheatridge, Colorado