Nauvoo Bells

Excerpt from The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square's Peace Like a River CD booklet, page 1:

Peace Like a River begins with the tolling of the Nauvoo bell - itself a symbol of hope and constancy amid change-which originally graced the Mormon temple on the Mississippi. Mormon pioneers brought this memory of their former home across the plains to their new home in the Rockies, where today it faithfully chimes the hour on Temple Square.

I knew The Chateau would be quiet, so I searched high and low for a Nauvoo bell to haul from 680 West with me. I found two! Wallpaper scraps and hardware. I had just enough length of my old kitchen wallpaper to showcase a full illustrated medallion; I also pieced together a stripe of the nursery's hot air balloons for the boys' new room. Seeing these swatches made me feel like was home. I also swiped the hardware from my old built-ins; they winked at me nightly in the dining room. Ding dong. But somehow things weren't constant enough.

So I threw a party.

I sent out invitations

To summer guests.

I collected together

All my friends.

Loud talk

And simple feasting:

Discussion of philosophy,

Investigation of subtleties.

Tongues loosened

And minds at one.

-Ch'eng-kung Su, 3rd-century Chinese poet

I invited my old circle of trust to my new home and filled it the best I could. Many were out of town or had conflicts but they were still in my heart. My PD1 lifeline was the Nauvoo Bell I needed. I have spent many nights looking out the window at silent mountains, my heartbeat echoing in my pillow, missing all the people that got me through. She pieced Archer's quilt, he saved me at the gas station. She blew bubbles so our kids would smile in the canyon and he froze it on film. They rolled homemade pasta and layered red and bechamel sauces for me. She sat on a swing with me while I unbottled even though she was super nauseous. They cried for me and with me. He home taught me and she stuck caramel in my fridge when I wasn't looking. She taught me every skill I know except for howling at the moon. They pulled up in dueling white and chrome horsepower and hauled half of our garage the night before we moved. She encouraged me to loosen up, she inspired me to do IVF a second time. And so many more. My weavers, my armor, my field of flowers. I remember President Mitchell saying that moving shouldn't change your friendships; I needed memories of my favorites in my new home. I have them now. 

It's also good to throw a party now and then so you can toss the rancid cocktail peanuts that expired in 2013 from your pantry. Hypothetically speaking.