many mundane moments

Time to get out of Utah

This morning Howie turned on The Price is Right. I didn't feel like switching it to PBS, so I left it on. I usually let him watch TV if he manages to get it turned on. I figure he worked for it, he earned it. I guess I need to reign that in now that the only effort required is reaching the remote.

It was background noise as I was cleaning the kitchen. I turned back to it just as some girl had won the bid to get up on stage. I thought she looked familiar, maybe a little like my friend Becky, but that could have been the red hair. Or maybe like my friend Cindy, except I just got an email from Cindy yesterday and she cut all her hair off (plus, it isn't red). The girl is finally up on stage and they show a close-up of her next to Bob. Her t-shirt was home-made and something about playing in Utah. Then it clicked. She's mormon. I called Matt up from the basement.

"It's time to get out of Utah."

"Why?"

"See that girl? I thought she looked familiar, but she's just from Utah. I can spot them from a mile away."

"Being from Utah doesn't mean she's mormon."

I'd like to disagree. I think it does. At least, being proud of living in Utah means she is. People who aren't LDS who live here don't like to broadcast it. So, what's the big deal? I'm LDS, too. Is being able to spot members in a crowd reason enough to move away? Probably not, but let's go back to last month when we got new neighbors.

Another neighbor had told me that the family moving in on my street was from her sister's neighborhood. She mentioned that they weren't mormon. We went to introduce ourselves a few days after they moved in. They have a little girl just a couple weeks younger than Howie. The first words out of my mouth when I learned that? "oh, they'll be in nursery together." Um, no- they aren't mormon. I just ignored that I had said that. I couldn't take it back. I couldn't ask if they were. I couldn't say "oh wait, Monica said you weren't." I kicked myself the whole way back to our house.

I hate that my mind automatically went there. I don't want to live my life assuming that everyone around me has the same beliefs. I certainly don't want to raise Howie in a place or in a way that he takes it for granted. The irony of it all? Matt is Lutheran, and yet I've been in Utah long enough that I assume all the world wears a ctr ring.

posted by Valarie @ 10:48 AM