As I shut the lid of my washer on Wednesday night, I realized that I may be doing my last load of socks as a single woman--truly, a momentous occasion. It hit me that I'm coming to the end of my list of lasts. It's a list that started with my last Christmas living at home, and it will eventually include my last Sunday in my singles ward, my last FHE with my family as it is now, my last day of relying on my mom's grocery shopping (and having a clear conscience about it), and my last night of having the most comfortable bed in the world all to myself.
But it's also a list that includes my last day going through the daily grind on my own, my last night of leaving him on the doorstep with a kiss, and the last time I can only imagine what he was thinking about right before he went to bed and right after he got up in the morning.
As Mike reminded me tonight, we'll go through a re-birth of sorts when we get married. We'll give up some things, leaving traditions, routines, and parts of ourselves behind as we develop other parts of ourselves that have been waiting for the opportunity to be accessed by such a deep change. It's a leap of faith that will take us to a level of happiness we can't imagine now.
September 24, 2011
September 19, 2011
Like unto Temples
I recently learned firsthand that every detail of a temple is planned out and presented to the First Presidency before any ground is broken for it. The computer program-generated images look as real as a photograph. The intricate gold trim around the floor-length mirror in the Brides’ Room, the potted plant that sits to the left of the recommend desk, and the specific fabric that covers one of the chairs in the Celestial Room—all are included in the preparatory design.
Isn’t it fascinating that our bodies are often compared to temples? Paul asks the Corinthians, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?” (1 Cor. 3:16). Among many other comparisons between us and the temple, here is one that I really get:
“Every star is different, and so is every child,” we sang in Primary. Even twins have different personalities and life experiences. Just as every temple is different, so are we. And to accomplish that difference, the temple designers don’t just sit around and say, “Well, let’s have the dressing rooms switch sides on this one,” or “We’ll get the smaller sized potted plants this time,” and move onto the next temple. From a primary resource, I know that extensive care and research goes into every single architectural and interior design decision. Local traditions are considered, local artists are commissioned, and the “historicity” even comes into play.
When I think about Heavenly Father specifically designing my body from my incredible cardiovascular system that not only keeps me alive, but also does a little dance whenever Mike holds me, down to the hair follicle that graces the knuckle of my pinky finger, I understand a little bit more about how He knows me better than I know myself.
If you start to think about it, the similarities between us and the temple are endless! One that I’m particularly in awe of at the moment as I am on the verge of starting a family (in 2.5 weeks!) is that families are organized in the temple, and families are created by the functions of our bodies. Family, always family, is the height of excellence in the temple and in the body.
There is a lot more to say about the connotations of the Spirit dwelling in both the House of God and in our own temples. I would say that a personal study of this comparison yields the most fulfillment of all, so I will leave you to it.
For some awesome perspectives on temple architecture, check out this blog written by my sister-in-law's twin brother: http://thetrumpetstone.blogspot.com/.
For some awesome perspectives on temple architecture, check out this blog written by my sister-in-law's twin brother: http://thetrumpetstone.blogspot.com/.
September 15, 2011
One of the Best Decisions Yet
To gather addresses for wedding announcement purposes, Mike and I created a form into which everyone input his/her address. Just for kicks and giggles (as Dr. Feighery, Communications professor, would say), I put a optional "Comments" field into the form. I tell you, it really is one of the best decisions I've made so far in this wedding preparation journey. Mike and I have some pretty darn entertaining friends and family. Some comments made us smile and some made us guffaw. It made us grateful for having such a great support system.
Mike served his mission in Japan, and he likes to tell me some of the funny Japanese to English translations he's seen. I'm not sure how the relationship between the two languages came to be so entertaining, but I highly enjoy it. Some examples of Japanese to English translations are "the big happy" (= a yummy beverage), and "I feel peacefulness for this smiling face" (next to a picture of a cat). There are many many more.
We sent announcements to a few people Mike has remained close to in Japan. One woman filled out our form and wrote in the comments section. She wrote in kangi, which I can't read to save my life. Being the curious soul that I am, I quickly utilized the greatness of Google translate to figure out what it said:
"Happy marriage forever!
We find the same joy that your worthy opponent.
Please if you have a great love always deeply widely.
For all the countrymen for all women
Mayumi Matsui friends forever grateful to have met that "
I'm not sure how accurate this is, but I feel really great about how she mentions "forever" and "always." I also like the connotations behind "a great love", "always deeply widely," and "your worthy opponent."
Mike served his mission in Japan, and he likes to tell me some of the funny Japanese to English translations he's seen. I'm not sure how the relationship between the two languages came to be so entertaining, but I highly enjoy it. Some examples of Japanese to English translations are "the big happy" (= a yummy beverage), and "I feel peacefulness for this smiling face" (next to a picture of a cat). There are many many more.
We sent announcements to a few people Mike has remained close to in Japan. One woman filled out our form and wrote in the comments section. She wrote in kangi, which I can't read to save my life. Being the curious soul that I am, I quickly utilized the greatness of Google translate to figure out what it said:
"Happy marriage forever!
We find the same joy that your worthy opponent.
Please if you have a great love always deeply widely.
For all the countrymen for all women
Mayumi Matsui friends forever grateful to have met that "
I'm not sure how accurate this is, but I feel really great about how she mentions "forever" and "always." I also like the connotations behind "a great love", "always deeply widely," and "your worthy opponent."
August 10, 2011
Creation: Choose your Media
In the last few weeks of my Book Arts class, there was much talk of which forms we were going to use for our final projects. Some people decided on the traditional folio form, while others chose to create a book in the very loosest sense of the word (see the following for clarification on that last category: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Yam_(artist%27s_book, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brian_Dettmer_New_Books_of_Knowledge.jpg). On the description card that was to accompany our final projects in the library display, we had to indicate the media we chose to use to create our projects. The media and the form were to be rooted deeply in the significance of the project.
The word "media" is one of those words that keeps the same meaning but has a different significance in every genre, generation, and general subject category. Media are the tools people use to create and communicate. In a workshop I attended this morning, we talked about influences of "the media," referring to music, TV, movies, commercials, and other techonologic forms. We can certainly discuss the negative in media today, and we often do so.
Providing examples of good media, the man leading the workshop showed us clips of a movie with good values and a movie that exposed the behind-the-scenes of fahion/pornography media. Then he clicked through his presentation to pictures of nature. "The earth is God's media," he said. "It is the expression of His creativity." His creativity comes in the perfection in nature, the scenes that take our breath away, the elements that keep us alive, and the places we seek to be uplifted, enjoy solitude and receive inspiration. And here is my interpretation: If we are training to be like God and use our creative powers as He intends them to be used, we will follow the hints of nature as the results we're going for.
To create is to have power. I'm spending lots of beautiful time with my new niece, Genevieve Harmon. It's recently struck me that God trusts us enough that we're given the God-like power to create life. Women are even given the power to sustain it for the first little while.
To create is to use our talents. We have the potential to create every day. I feel blessed that I am wordsmithing text every day to be used by the Humanitarian and Welfare projects of the Church. Grounded firmly in the simplest of doctrines, my writing is meant to communicate the joys of service, the fruits of faith and action, and the miracles that come from hand of the Lord and through His earthly servants.
To create is to give.
So folks, choose your media. Choose the media you use for inspiration and entertainment, and choose the media you use to create. But choose wisely; what we are exposed to becomes our preparation for the bigger and better things we are destined for.
July 19, 2011
Is this real life?
You know those times when you are positive that things are too amazing to be true?
Like today, when I:
- interviewed a Creole-speaking man over the phone about his inspiring journey toward self-reliance
- opened my eyes to wake up and my room was still clean!
- looked over at Mike driving us to the library and squeezed his hand as we listened to Mexican radio
- taught my co-worker a few weeks worth of digital photography class in less than 30 minutes
- got positive feedback on my article
Like today, when I:
- interviewed a Creole-speaking man over the phone about his inspiring journey toward self-reliance
- opened my eyes to wake up and my room was still clean!
- looked over at Mike driving us to the library and squeezed his hand as we listened to Mexican radio
- taught my co-worker a few weeks worth of digital photography class in less than 30 minutes
- got positive feedback on my article
July 13, 2011
His Side of the Story
by guest blogger Michael Wesley Olson
Kathryn has done her customary brilliant and thorough job in telling our story. The only thing I can add are the feelings that were going through my mind at the time. I never once thought that I would be blessed enough to find a girl as genuine or as beautiful as Kathryn Harmon. Since returning home from the mission I served in Japan, I had seen many different girls, and none of them seemed to have IT, you know. I began to think that I’d have to compromise my values if I wanted to marry. I never dreamed I could be lucky enough to marry someone with both brains and beauty, someone I could really connect with. The girl of my dreams. My best friend. And this is how it all started…
I began preparing to study abroad at the BYU Jerusalem Center. I had my heart set on visiting the Holy Land for a summer semester. Little did I know that the Lord had other plans for me. He carefully led me into a different path. Several factors combined to hedge up the way and I began to realize that I was not going to make it to Jerusalem. I still had the itch to study abroad though, and after a few talks with Heavenly Father I walked into the U’s Study Abroad Office and began looking at the England pamphlets. One thing led to another and I found myself in an information meeting for the London program. I looked around the room and to my dismay I didn’t recognize anyone. But that was okay because I was feeling adventurous. After all, I had just signed up to fly to a foreign country.
Then my eyes landed on a face I had seen before. Hark! It was the cute girl from my Shakespeare class. She’d caught my eye a few times in class and I had wanted to talk to her, but alas I am a terrible conversation starter and could never come up with a good enough excuse to begin a conversation with her casually. “Um, hey,” *clears throat, “do you like… things…” Gah! *buries face in hands; these scenarios would always play themselves out in my head during class. But now was my chance. It was my time to shine! Our instructors had said that we should form travel groups to make traveling easier. I had my conversation starter.
“Hey,” I said to Kathryn as my palms began to sweat, “d’you want to form a Shakespeare travel group?” I was nervous and my words must have slurred together I concluded, especially since a confused look had overtaken Kathryn’s face. I tried to clarify by explaining that because we were in the same Shakespeare class we should form a travel group together.
In my 24 years of experience whenever I had found the courage to talk to beautiful woman it had always ended the same way, rejection. So I suppose it wasn’t much of a surprise when she said that she couldn’t form a travel group with me because she had other travel plans already. She’d be staying in England the whole summer to do a program in Cambridge as well. So I went on my way and prepared for an unforgettable trip to London.
We talked a few times after that in our Shakespeare class, which made me glad I had at least broken the ice in our earlier meeting. But again, nothing much came of it. She was a beautiful girl who was out of my league and I was just an aspiring radio talk show host with a fan base of six.
But in London she really began to impress me. My roommate and I began making plans to go to church. I was sad because it looked like we were the only two planning on going. On our way out of the collage we were living in we ran into a few more that were going to the LDS church as well. So we went together. We got to the church as sacrament meeting was starting and we sat in the back. It wasn’t until after the meeting was over that I saw her. I saw a couple of familiar faces in a sea of unfamiliarness. It was her! Kathryn! The girl I had always thought was cute but never really ever thought I had a chance with.
I was very impressed when I saw her at church. If there’s one thing you know about a girl that goes through the effort of making sure she knows where and when church is in a foreign land it’s that she has a good relationship with Heavenly Father. That, or she was tired of her singles ward back home and wanted to meet a hunky Englishman. But seriously the fact that she would chose to go where the spirit is rather than take Sunday off while she was abroad told me a lot about her. This was a girl worth getting to know.
I spent the next few weeks getting to know Kathryn as we traveled to Bath, walked around Stratford-upon-Avon, saw Shakespeare’s plays and took in the beauty of the English country. I gradually began to notice that I had a little crush on Kathryn. “This is no good,” I thought. I had come on this study abroad for an adventure and to strengthen my love of literature and Shakespeare. The thought hadn’t even occurred to me that I would meet a girl and fall head over heals for her. I had become disenchanted with dating recently when it became apparent that I was going to need to compromise myself in someway. It seemed to me that every cute girl I talked to seemed to think it was okay to bend a moral rule here or there; questionable forms of entertainment or less than modest clothing. That is why I was so surprised to meet a girl like Kathryn. I was beginning to think that girls like Kathryn didn’t exist. She is beautiful without trying to be, and she’s modest about it in every sense of the word. She wears nice clothes that show she respects herself and her body.
It wasn’t until the incident at the National Theatre in London that I knew I loved Kathryn, at least in a small way. Our travel group had taken a tour of the theatre and then a bunch of us stayed after to watch one of the shows. The group chose a show they thought would be good. It started okay, but things got uncomfortable quickly. I felt uncomfortable. I looked down the row of faces in our group and saw Kathryn on the end. She looked uncomfortable as well. That was the last scene before intermission. I suggested that we could leave and get ice cream. Kathryn looked relieved, and we left. The group left with us but as we left the theatre and walked along the Thames River I knew that I had found a choice daughter of God and that I would do anything to protect her physically and spiritually.
After we were both home and started dating my love for this beautiful girl grew more and more. Then, two months in, she surprised me by telling me she was getting a feeling that she needed to serve a mission. This hit me hard because I was falling deeply in love with this girl and the thought of not having her in my life was more than I could bear. I prayed for the strength to do the Lord’s will. I didn’t want to come between her and fulfilling a calling from Heavenly Father.
Several months went by, as did many hard conversations with Heavenly Father. She didn’t think it would be fair to ask me to wait for her, nor did I feel it appropriate to do so. The decision was reached that we would continue to date and see where we were emotionally in 18 months.
My love for this girl continued to grow as she prepared herself to serve the Lord. Then she met with the bishop and stake president and gradually felt more and more like she wouldn’t go. She told me and needless to say I felt guilty of unintentionally manipulating her into staying. She assured me that she felt that it was a prompting from the Lord. I’ve always trusted her to do the right thing when it comes to spiritual promptings.
I’ve never felt more love for Kathryn than the night we babysat my nephews—in particular when we were putting Joseph and Nathan to bed. She sang them songs from the primary songbook, and a spirit entered that room in a way that I’ve never felt before. I can’t imagine raising a family without Kathryn, nor would I even want to try.
Well, I think Kathryn covered anything I may have skipped. In summary: Yes I did have a crush on her all through our study abroad in London and yes the hug I gave Kathryn just before flying back to America was a little awkward, but that was only because I get self-conscious around pretty girls I have a crush on (Kathryn's sidenote: I think he was also giving me space because though I liked him, he knew my heart was still somewhat engaged elsewhere). And now looking forward to the future I am so lucky to get to spend the rest of my life and eternity with the girl I had a crush on, my best friend. I can talk to her about anything and everything. We go biking together, we play games together and we go on picnics together. I don’t know what I did to deserve the blessing of her in my life but I’m certainly not going to waste it. We will serve together, go on missions together and raise a family together (and a pretty darn cute family too, thanks to Kathryn’s chromosomes).
I love you Kathryn, and I can’t wait for Oct 6, and every day after that.
Kathryn's footnote: See why I'm marrying him?
Kathryn has done her customary brilliant and thorough job in telling our story. The only thing I can add are the feelings that were going through my mind at the time. I never once thought that I would be blessed enough to find a girl as genuine or as beautiful as Kathryn Harmon. Since returning home from the mission I served in Japan, I had seen many different girls, and none of them seemed to have IT, you know. I began to think that I’d have to compromise my values if I wanted to marry. I never dreamed I could be lucky enough to marry someone with both brains and beauty, someone I could really connect with. The girl of my dreams. My best friend. And this is how it all started…
I began preparing to study abroad at the BYU Jerusalem Center. I had my heart set on visiting the Holy Land for a summer semester. Little did I know that the Lord had other plans for me. He carefully led me into a different path. Several factors combined to hedge up the way and I began to realize that I was not going to make it to Jerusalem. I still had the itch to study abroad though, and after a few talks with Heavenly Father I walked into the U’s Study Abroad Office and began looking at the England pamphlets. One thing led to another and I found myself in an information meeting for the London program. I looked around the room and to my dismay I didn’t recognize anyone. But that was okay because I was feeling adventurous. After all, I had just signed up to fly to a foreign country.
Then my eyes landed on a face I had seen before. Hark! It was the cute girl from my Shakespeare class. She’d caught my eye a few times in class and I had wanted to talk to her, but alas I am a terrible conversation starter and could never come up with a good enough excuse to begin a conversation with her casually. “Um, hey,” *clears throat, “do you like… things…” Gah! *buries face in hands; these scenarios would always play themselves out in my head during class. But now was my chance. It was my time to shine! Our instructors had said that we should form travel groups to make traveling easier. I had my conversation starter.
“Hey,” I said to Kathryn as my palms began to sweat, “d’you want to form a Shakespeare travel group?” I was nervous and my words must have slurred together I concluded, especially since a confused look had overtaken Kathryn’s face. I tried to clarify by explaining that because we were in the same Shakespeare class we should form a travel group together.
In my 24 years of experience whenever I had found the courage to talk to beautiful woman it had always ended the same way, rejection. So I suppose it wasn’t much of a surprise when she said that she couldn’t form a travel group with me because she had other travel plans already. She’d be staying in England the whole summer to do a program in Cambridge as well. So I went on my way and prepared for an unforgettable trip to London.
We talked a few times after that in our Shakespeare class, which made me glad I had at least broken the ice in our earlier meeting. But again, nothing much came of it. She was a beautiful girl who was out of my league and I was just an aspiring radio talk show host with a fan base of six.
But in London she really began to impress me. My roommate and I began making plans to go to church. I was sad because it looked like we were the only two planning on going. On our way out of the collage we were living in we ran into a few more that were going to the LDS church as well. So we went together. We got to the church as sacrament meeting was starting and we sat in the back. It wasn’t until after the meeting was over that I saw her. I saw a couple of familiar faces in a sea of unfamiliarness. It was her! Kathryn! The girl I had always thought was cute but never really ever thought I had a chance with.
I was very impressed when I saw her at church. If there’s one thing you know about a girl that goes through the effort of making sure she knows where and when church is in a foreign land it’s that she has a good relationship with Heavenly Father. That, or she was tired of her singles ward back home and wanted to meet a hunky Englishman. But seriously the fact that she would chose to go where the spirit is rather than take Sunday off while she was abroad told me a lot about her. This was a girl worth getting to know.
I spent the next few weeks getting to know Kathryn as we traveled to Bath, walked around Stratford-upon-Avon, saw Shakespeare’s plays and took in the beauty of the English country. I gradually began to notice that I had a little crush on Kathryn. “This is no good,” I thought. I had come on this study abroad for an adventure and to strengthen my love of literature and Shakespeare. The thought hadn’t even occurred to me that I would meet a girl and fall head over heals for her. I had become disenchanted with dating recently when it became apparent that I was going to need to compromise myself in someway. It seemed to me that every cute girl I talked to seemed to think it was okay to bend a moral rule here or there; questionable forms of entertainment or less than modest clothing. That is why I was so surprised to meet a girl like Kathryn. I was beginning to think that girls like Kathryn didn’t exist. She is beautiful without trying to be, and she’s modest about it in every sense of the word. She wears nice clothes that show she respects herself and her body.
It wasn’t until the incident at the National Theatre in London that I knew I loved Kathryn, at least in a small way. Our travel group had taken a tour of the theatre and then a bunch of us stayed after to watch one of the shows. The group chose a show they thought would be good. It started okay, but things got uncomfortable quickly. I felt uncomfortable. I looked down the row of faces in our group and saw Kathryn on the end. She looked uncomfortable as well. That was the last scene before intermission. I suggested that we could leave and get ice cream. Kathryn looked relieved, and we left. The group left with us but as we left the theatre and walked along the Thames River I knew that I had found a choice daughter of God and that I would do anything to protect her physically and spiritually.
After we were both home and started dating my love for this beautiful girl grew more and more. Then, two months in, she surprised me by telling me she was getting a feeling that she needed to serve a mission. This hit me hard because I was falling deeply in love with this girl and the thought of not having her in my life was more than I could bear. I prayed for the strength to do the Lord’s will. I didn’t want to come between her and fulfilling a calling from Heavenly Father.
Several months went by, as did many hard conversations with Heavenly Father. She didn’t think it would be fair to ask me to wait for her, nor did I feel it appropriate to do so. The decision was reached that we would continue to date and see where we were emotionally in 18 months.
My love for this girl continued to grow as she prepared herself to serve the Lord. Then she met with the bishop and stake president and gradually felt more and more like she wouldn’t go. She told me and needless to say I felt guilty of unintentionally manipulating her into staying. She assured me that she felt that it was a prompting from the Lord. I’ve always trusted her to do the right thing when it comes to spiritual promptings.
I’ve never felt more love for Kathryn than the night we babysat my nephews—in particular when we were putting Joseph and Nathan to bed. She sang them songs from the primary songbook, and a spirit entered that room in a way that I’ve never felt before. I can’t imagine raising a family without Kathryn, nor would I even want to try.
Well, I think Kathryn covered anything I may have skipped. In summary: Yes I did have a crush on her all through our study abroad in London and yes the hug I gave Kathryn just before flying back to America was a little awkward, but that was only because I get self-conscious around pretty girls I have a crush on (Kathryn's sidenote: I think he was also giving me space because though I liked him, he knew my heart was still somewhat engaged elsewhere). And now looking forward to the future I am so lucky to get to spend the rest of my life and eternity with the girl I had a crush on, my best friend. I can talk to her about anything and everything. We go biking together, we play games together and we go on picnics together. I don’t know what I did to deserve the blessing of her in my life but I’m certainly not going to waste it. We will serve together, go on missions together and raise a family together (and a pretty darn cute family too, thanks to Kathryn’s chromosomes).
I love you Kathryn, and I can’t wait for Oct 6, and every day after that.
Kathryn's footnote: See why I'm marrying him?
June 19, 2011
To Genevieve Aisling Harmon:
We've been anxiously awaiting your arrival for a long time now. You've brought your parents so much joy as they've prepared for you to join their wonderful family in Connecticut. The David Harmon family had tears of joy as we sang this to you over the phone earlier today on your 24-hour birthday--it's one of my favorite lullabys:
"Through your eyes skies look brighter
Grass more green clouds are whiter.
When you're close cares grow lighter,
We're glad that you were born.
Through your eyes hills stretch higher.
When you smile you inspire hearts to sing in a choir.
We're glad that you were born.
Born to laugh, born to dream
Born to spread your light.
Through your eyes we see clearer
You bring God so much nearer.
Life has grown so much dearer,
We're glad that you were born."
I can't wait to meet you soon!
Love,
Auntie Kate
"Through your eyes skies look brighter
Grass more green clouds are whiter.
When you're close cares grow lighter,
We're glad that you were born.
Through your eyes hills stretch higher.
When you smile you inspire hearts to sing in a choir.
We're glad that you were born.
Born to laugh, born to dream
Born to spread your light.
Through your eyes we see clearer
You bring God so much nearer.
Life has grown so much dearer,
We're glad that you were born."
I can't wait to meet you soon!
Love,
Auntie Kate
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