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Little Miracles
by
James W. Petty, AG, CGRS, BS (Genealogy), BA (History).
Mary and I celebrated
our thirtieth wedding anniversary on March 31st, 2002. We made it
a big affair, for us at least. A family session at the Provo Temple,
a day of activities and play, plus a good movie on Saturday; topped
off with a wonderful Easter Dinner with brothers, sisters, cousins,
and parents, on Sunday, the day of our anniversary. It was a happy
celebration, and will linger in our minds and memories as an experience
to be remembered for a long time to come. But it was much more than
that. Much, much, more.
Saturday morning
as we drove over Parley's Summit, towards Park City, one of the
stops on our honeymoon, thirty years earlier, and then on to Heber
City, for some fun, Mary pulled out one of our photo albums, with
pictures of our wedding and the events leading up to and following
it. She began to tell our sons, the three still living at home (all
over 16 now), "Our Story". Our story is a story of little
miracles, as we consider them. Little miracles are coincidences,
chance meetings, fortunate conversations, and numerous serendipitous
happenings that result in love, marriage, and families. Every family
experiences these little miracles. Every couple can relate the chance
meeting, "their song", or that one giant embarrassment
on the wedding day that seems to highlight the memory of that special
occasion; about which everyone laughs with delight whenever it is
mentioned.
As Mary related
our little miracles to the boys, they laughed and joked about our
clothes and hair styles (I had hair, then), and marveled that we
were once their age. Memories flooded back, and I added my two cents'
worth to Mary's account.
She came from
a family that had been struggling; her parents had divorced, and
she had to work her way through college doing house cleaning. One
of the people she worked for was a lovely English woman named Eunice
Bishop, who was the office manager for a local Provo ophthalmologist
named Robert W. Petty. Eunice adored her boss and often talked about
his son, "Jimmy Petty," who was serving a Church mission
in Florida.
Early in her
sophomore year at the Y, Mary experienced some personal and family
difficulties that seriously disrupted school for her. She met with
the Dean of Women at BYU, who willingly counseled with her about
those difficulties. Over the next weeks, Dean Lucille O. Petty became
her closest friend on campus, helped her work out a new schedule,
and took her case to the administration to find a way to save Mary's
scholarship, and help her get back on track. One of the solutions
was to transfer Mary from her disrupted classes, to some of the
special "block classes" which were set up to help returned
missionaries get into school midway through the regular semester.
Mary attended
some of those classes with her twin sister Barbara, and in one such
class, Old Testament, taught by W. Cleon Skousen, Barbara got into
a three-way debate with Brother Skousen, and a returned missionary
across the room. As Mary and Barbara left the classroom, the "RM"
from the discussion and his friend caught them at "the Corner"
in the hallway of the old Joseph Smith Memorial Building and offered
to answer their questions from class. Galen Updike had just returned
from a mission to the Philippines, and his friend, Jim Petty, had
just returned from Florida. While Galen and Barbara debated the
finer points of religious law, Jim and Mary quietly introduced themselves
and started a conversation that was to last for 32 years (and counting).
The conversation
let to a date, and then another. Mary soon found that I was the
"Jimmy" Petty she'd heard about from Mrs. Bishop, and
the grandson of Dean Lucille Petty. Numerous little miracles continued
to take place. The Petty family welcomed Mary into their home, and
provided a safe haven for her. Mary often spelled her name "Mare'"
(with an accent over the "e"). When she wrote in her diary,
she secretly addressed her comments to "P.C.", after a
childhood infatuation with Prince Charles who was two years older.
By coincidence, I signed all of my notes and letters to "Mare'"
with "P.C." (for "Prince Charming"). I illustrated
them with a crowned frog for P.C., and a filly with a bow in her
hair. In the fall of 1970, we wrote our names "Sire and Mare"
in the cement on the porch of Harris Hall at BYU. Last Saturday
we returned to that site for pictures, and added a notation on the
cement that we were still together after 32 years - a true BYU love
story.
The Provo Temple
was just being built during our two-year courtship, and it became
the focus of our attention. We often visited it under construction
and talked about possibilities. When we married on March 31st, 1972,
we were the first couple to complete the full service (endowment
and sealing) in the Provo Temple.
As Mary related
our stories, one of our sons pointed to a picture in the album,
and shouted out: "You went to cemeteries on your honeymoon?!"
This brought all kinds of response from our other sons. "We
were always going to cemeteries!" they said. Visiting cemeteries
was an activity related to my interest in genealogy that Mary and
I always enjoyed. Not just finding our ancestors, but learning about
the history of a community through the records found on tombstones.
By the end of
the day our kids had heard the whole story. We had laughed, and
we had cried... really. As I looked back on this experience I realized
that these weren't simply stories heard for the first time on that
day. We had told these events to our children - year after year.
This was family history they would remember forever. And as I thought
about this, I remembered from the Book of Mormon, that the Prophet
Lehi would relate his family history with his children:
"And now
it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had made an end of teaching
my brethren, our father, Lehi, also spake many things unto them,
and rehearsed unto them, how great things the Lord had done for
them in bringing them out of the land of Jerusalem." (2 Nephi
1:1)
This concept
of "rehearsing" history, and teachings, and the scriptures,
relates to how we teach our children and families. We have an opportunity
to share our experiences, our trials and successes, and our testimonies,
in reminding them of who they are - both physically and spiritually.
By teaching our children of their past we build a foundation they
can build on with their families.
Family stories
passed from one generation to another help to connect the struggling,
living individuals with the spiritual giants of our past. And not
just our distant past. As I reflected on the stories that Mary and
I related to our children and to each other that day, I was reminded
of how much I loved that beautiful brown-haired coed thirty years
ago, and how much more I love her now. I also thought of many couples
I know who had forgotten about their little miracles and hadn't
rehearsed their stories for so long, that they no longer remembered
what brought them together in the first place.
Tell your family
stories. Relive the little miracles of your past. Gather your children
together for Family Home Evening on Monday evening and share "Your
Story" with them.
Better yet,
don't wait for Monday; do it tonight.
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© 2002 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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