Meant to Be

When I last visited Arizona, David and I shared our patriarchal blessings with one another. It was a very special experience to get a glimpse into the future that Heavenly Father has in store for each of us. In each of our blessings, there are great things that we are supposed to accomplish, and I think I speak for both of us when I say that I am excited to achieve those things together.


I hold my patriarchal blessing very close to my heart, and I also value my father's blessings as well. I have all of the blessings he has given me over the years transcribed in a three ring binder. I read through them once in a while. Just recently, I began leafing through the pages and a letter in the back caught my eye.


It was a letter dated  June 23, 2007.  It was written by my mother, a goodbye written for me when I moved out and went to BYU. It is a "Mother's Blessing" of sorts; it is her advice and her hopes for me as a started a new phase of my life. In this letter she mentions a trial that I had just gone through--my engagement and subsequent breakup with that fiancee. (Yes, I've been engaged twice so far. Third times a charm, right?) One of the main reasons that Fiancee #1 and I didn't work out was that he put me in a position that forced me to choose between him and my family. And I chose my family.


This is what she wrote:

“I also want to thank you for choosing me and the rest of the family a few months ago…and I hope that we will always live up to that choice and that you will never wish you had chosen a different path. After learning the whole situation, my heart is so touched—that must have been the hardest decision you have ever had to make. I know that if I had the same dilemma, I would pick you in a heartbeat and never look back. Family is the most important entity in the universe and one day a young man will come along and he will meld right in with the rest of us and it will be like he had always been there!"

I hadn't read this in years. Probably not since 2007. The last part struck me to the core: "One day a young man will come along and he will meld right in with the rest of us and it will be like he had always been there!"

Oh that I had read that before I got married the first time! In my marriage, I once again found myself forced to choose between my husband and my family. He didn't value my relationship with my family: he didn't care for my parent's advice, he envied my closeness with my mother, on and on. When I read this a few nights ago, I realized that Rodney wasn't the one my mother had been talking about--the one she knew would come along.

David is.

Just today, David texted me that he loved my relationship with my parents. Just today, David took a piece of advice that my mom gave him about his finances and student loans. Just today, David and I were envisioning playing games with my family and participating in the Blau Christmas traditions.

David fits right in. 

He gets how important my family is to me because his family is just as important to him. We both understand the crucial role of the family in God's plan. And while we both know that husband and wife must cleave to one another and create their own family unit, David would never make me choose between my family or him.

When I read my patriarchal blessing and my father's blessings and my mother's blessing, it just become so clear that David and I are meant to be