MY FAVORITE DAY...

M A Y  1 7th

May 17th is my favorite day of the year....hands down!  For me, it just stands out as the epitome of everything that is good and beautiful in life.

I've always loved the month of May.  Memorial Day is my favorite holiday--what a shocker that it's in May, huh!  May signaled the end of school, the return of flowers and leaves, the continuing of an incredibly blue sky overarching all of the Springtime green below, and a whole expanse of summer stretching ahead.

When I left for Brigham Young University, I can't remember whether it was actually stated or an implicit directive from my parents NOT to call "collect".  (Remember times were way different then.  Each long distance phone call had to be paid for and, until shortly before that, placed through the operator.)  Collect calls still had to be put through the operator though and they were, not only more expensive, but the person you were calling had to agree to "accept the charges" and pay for it on THEIR phone bill.  You can see WHY it was a no-no.  There were classic stories of horrendous phone bills college students ran up calling home and also making long distance calls to their friends.

But my mother DID tell me that I owed it to her and  my dad to write to them every week.  A promise I made AND kept, though sometimes it was 10 days gone by, and the letters were often perfunctory and not all interesting....I am guessing.

On May 17th in 1968 just days before I graduated from BYU--yes, 50 years ago this month!--it was such a beautiful morning in Provo (I hadn't been too keen at all about having to live in Utah for four years) and my heart was just so very full.  With the certain knowledge that finals were over, I had passed all impending requirements, and I was REALLY going to be a college graduate.. I wanted to share how I was feeling.

I wanted to do that "in the moment", not struggle to hand write that in a letter and take the risk of not being able to convey my feelings with pen and paper.  So I got brave, took a deep breath, and called 307-324-2894  COLLECT!  I was hoping my mom would answer in case there was a lecture, but it was my dad who, after accepting the charges, wanted to know if I was okay.

I started to cry with thankful emotion for the experience they had helped me acquire and for the final realization that my college career had been successful and was OVER.  I told my dad what a beautiful day it was and that I hoped I would always remember that moment as something remarkable in my life.  And I have.

I had several times said I wanted to get married on that day.  I had told my roommates that it was such an important day I wanted to be married on that date.  But May was soooo far away when Ross and I decided to get married, we settled on January 17th because we had met on the 17th of September and  got engaged on the waning end of November 17th.  So, I said I would like to have a baby on that day.  Missed that, too, by one in April and two in June.  And when I mentioned May 17th for when Louis and I got married, my kids told me if I wanted them to show up I'd better pick a Saturday and not a Thursday so they could get off work.  (Louis and I got married on May 12th.)

Last Thursday when I thought about what date it was, I had that same flood of emotional gratitude for a singular experience at that time fifty years ago.  Plus after all these years I still have the same fondness for May 17th. 

I had the day off this year--quite by accident.  I went to the temple and later to the monthly evening Relief Society meeting.  At Curves that morning, the counter on number of visits turned over to 1400.  

It was a very good day...50 years later ala 2018!