Saturday, February 2, 2008

The Family Sacrafice (with a little bit of cheating)

I decided that I was dead set on going to President Hinckley's viewing. It didn't happen on Thursday, so we decided to go on Friday. Brian got off work early so we could be there before everyone got off of work and be there the max 3 hours. We were wrong.

We drove downtown and had no idea where to park. So I suggested to park at Gateway and ride Trax into Temple Square. Shae loved the TRAX! A moving vehicle and she is not pinned down and it looks like a train.





When we arrived at the Conference Center it was completely overwhelming with how many people were there and the line never ended.

This picture does no justice to how many people were there. I could not get high enough, and the hardest part was you could not tell where one line ended and the other one started. There were 2 lines, an express lane where you had no bags and the regular line. We had dressed up in our church clothes and it was bout 30 degrees outside. Shaeler was having a hard time. Brian kept saying that we should go and this is not fair to her. I would ask her if she wanted to go home or see Gordon B Hinckley and every time she said she wanted to stay. To me that said her little spirit knew the importance of a Prophet.




Jordan decided to join us and thankfully brought a blanket with him. We were so happy to see hime because 1. He had a blanket for Shae and 2. We really enjoy his company. We talked doctrine and laughed and shared stories. I cannot tell you how much we love and appreciate him. Love ya BFF!



Shaeler got to a point where she was really cold and started to cry. So I took her over to the North Visitors Center while Jordan and Brian stood out in the cold. We had a blast in there. Her spirits were lifted and we had a ball looking at the exhibits and the pictures of the Savior.




I took her up to see the Christus. Both she and I had a reverent peace when we sat there in front of the statue of the Savior. Surprisingly throughout this entire experience, Shaeler acted so much more mature than she normally does. She was calm and reverent and had lots of questions about the Christus and the paintings on the wall. I took a picture so I can always remember that moment of peace that I shared with my daughter.


I finally get a call from Brian that they made it to the door and to hurry over to get in. Shae and I ran to get over to door 15 and saw Brian and Jordan waiting for us. We stood there another 10-15 minutes but it wasn't bad because we could feel the heat from inside. Jordan makes the comment, "Once we are inside, it will be a lot quicker." That statement right there was the jinx. We finally made it inside and weaved through more lines. I notice this steady stream of people heading up the escalator and I knew the Prophet was on the highest level, but my line was not even close to getting to that escalator. The speed of the line really picks up and we are taken into the conference center itself and I notice that they are seating people. Jordan talks to one of the ushers and he informs us that they are seating people to get them inside and to get warm. So we file in like everyone else and start enjoying the birthday video they showed of the prophet. Brian and myself start looking around and seeing all of the sections that we seated before we got there and figured all of those people will go before us. We timed the sections on their clearing out and it was 15-20 minutes a section. We started counting the sections ahead of us and we had at least another 2-2 1/2 hours to go.

By that time, it was 7:45, we had been there 4 hours and Shae was finally breaking down. She was tired and hungry. We sat there feeling discouraged! We had been there for 4 hours and now we were going to have to give up seeing the prophet because Shaeler was hungry and waiting another 2 hours was not an option. That would have put us at least into 10:00 pm. I turned to Brian and said we are going. He turned to Jordan and said we are going, are you staying or coming with us. He decided to come with us.

When we stood up, in my mind, we were not going home, I was finding a way to the top of the building. We start walking past all of the doors that we had passed coming into the center and my mind realizes that these doors would lead us right to the escalators. So I took it. With Shae on my hand and Brian and Jordan behind me, I headed straight for the escalators. They were going to have to tackle me to the ground to stop me and I knew with Shae by my side that my odds were more favorable that they would not. From the time we made the decision to leave and I was standing in front of the prophets casket was about 2 minutes.

There I was and I was overwhelmed with so many feelings. There was the prophet of God before me and this was the closest I have ever been to him. I was amazed at all of the Security around him and he was absolutely beautiful.

So at this point, I bet you are wondering, was it worth the 4 hours and why on earth would I put my family on such an adventure?

TO BE CONTINUED AFTER THE FUNERAL!!!!

4 comments:

Ann Marie said...

You were brave to bear the lines!

It will be a memorable day for her, that you took her " sight seeing " as well.. I'm exited to hear about the funeral!!

The Dorsey's said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Dorsey's said...

Vhad layed on my keyboard which entered my first post half-done. Here is what it was suppose to say.

"Awwww, I hate to be continued....you are just a meanie.

Just teasing, I am envious of you in so many ways.

First that you were able to have the opportunity and perseverance to go (no way my brood would have done it) and two that you were able to be that close to him. I met Mrs. Hinckley once at Little America, boy was she a sweetheart, but never President Hinckley.

Give Frissies to Miss Shae, rumor has it she may be coming down for a visit. Wish you would come to, they sunshine is a lifesaver."

Jenice Henrie said...

I hope no one got sick. Thank goodness for Jordan and his blanket.

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