After that gorgeous hike (that I gushed about in the last post), I got to go greet these two kids after their work:

Max is working for the summer with some kids with special needs, a really good fit for him right now, and Abby is working at Built (protein bars).

I loved getting to be in their stomping grounds and loving them up.

We went out to dinner and talked and talked and talked. Drove back to their apartment and talked in the car for another hour and a half. About men and women and roles and also Heavenly Mother (again…such an interesting topic for me right now!).

It was such a good conversation and my heart just filled up with so much gratitude for these two. Together and separate. They sure have their fair share of worries. Sometimes here on the blog I make it sound like everything is perfect and hunky dory, but everyone has their own boulders to overcome.

I slept on their couch (trying to utilize the time together as much as possible) and really didn’t sleep hardly a wink, mind racing.

In the morning we went to yoga:

Got acai bowls, walked around downtown and found cool stuff like this:

(We even happened to find my cute niece who is living there right now.)

I really wanted to take some graduation pictures for Abby.

Dave and I never did that and I think it’s a milestone that should be documented! (She graduated in Anthropology by the way…I know people will ask.)

But for the life of me I couldn’t find the graduation cap and gown I thought I had right ready back at home, so these are the pictures we came up with:

Ha! Not quite what I had planned, but that actually seemed to fit her better than anything else:)

(She and Max were both relieved when I didn’t really ask the other girl who was there taking pictures if we could borrow her cap and gown for a few pictures. Ha!…I really would have done it and she looked so nice she probably would have been happy to share 😉

We went to Abby’s favorite home and garden spot to marvel at all the beauty there and got the most delicious pizza before I had to leave them and head back to the airport. I left so filled up with gratitude that I got to be with those two, short and sweet, but with a bigger window into their life.

Love them more than I can say.

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17 Comments

  1. Obviously you don’t have to go to college in Hawaii to walk around barefoot… 😀

    Congratulations to Abby!

  2. You’re giving max and abby (and all your kids) a truly beautiful gift by documenting these trips as well as your thoughts. They will so cherish them when they become parents themselves, and I’m sure their own kids will love to read these someday. We should all be so lucky to have a family so loving.
    Hope you’re having a lovely summer, shawni! Looking forward to seeing your adventures as places begin to open back up.

  3. There isn’t a “Heavenly Mother” but I know in the LDS church they believe that. Most religions have completely shut down any female goddess worship and sadly more have kept women down in all ways including and especially the LDS church.
    Shawni is cool. She reads Richard Rohr, he is a good friend of mine. I suspect his daily meditations are opening up her mind to the idea of more than mormon doctrine. Good for you Shawni! Nope, no heavenly mother and father, no old couple sitting in heaven. I know the LDS believe in the actuality of this but the divine feminine is real and alive and sacred, she is Holy Wisdom!

    1. Interesting we all have different perspectives on this. I do believe in a feminine divine. I don’t feel like I need to know all the details because I don’t, of course, but I think there is so much beauty in that thought. It is interesting to study all of this as a woman and try to figure out my own take on it all. I feel so empowered as a woman in my religion and I’m so grateful for that. I know in the world there is so much work trying to make sense of women’s roles and I think it’s such a positive thing.

  4. Rachel Stenblik and Carol Lynn Pearson recently did a virtual RS fireside about Heavenly Mother that was lovely – and recorded if you want to watch it. Definitely a topic that is generating a lot of interest and searching among women right now!

    1. No she is going to Columbia but did it remotely this year due to Covid. Strange freshman year this year! She lived in Provo but will be heading to NYC in the Fall!

  5. Looking forward to your take on Heavenly Mother – especially considering too much discussion of that entity has helped get a few LDS people excommunicated. I was taught that leaving women out of the Godhead, church history and church leadership was about showing respect, preserving femininity, and honoring motherhood; but it’s really about the subordination of women. There is no Mormon doctrine on a female god, and I couldn’t make up a parallel religion of my own adding and subtracting things to make Mormonism more comfortable.

  6. Congrats to Abby! Looks like you all had a fun time celebrating together. Time with adult “kids” is precious.

  7. Congratulations to your daughter-in-law! And working with special needs kids sounds very rewarding. I hope their worries lessen as time (and life experience) kick in.

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