A BYU grad student was once serious with one of my daughters during her undergrad years at BYU. Even at a young age, the guy was destined to become--and did become--a church leader. But she ultimately turned down his advances because he used the word "britches" for jeans. You never know what forces may intervene to protect your child from involvement with future LDS leaders.

As a former BYU coed, I love this story! Good for your daughter!

Mormons are taught to not follow their own instincts, because instincts and intuition often lead people out of the cult. IMO, instinct could be a subconscious reading of body-language and facial expressions. Children (and dogs) are better at this, because adults pay too much attention to what is being said, which can sometimes can be lies.

Mormons are taught to not "overthink" or "overstudy" things, because that leads them to the Truth. Knowledge is power.

I dated a future GA. He was mostly hype--handsome, charming, fun, talented. My gut instincts told me that he was arrogant and chauvinistic, and too ambitious for me. He told me and my friends that he wanted to marry the richest girl he could find. Well--he did just that! He married the wealthiest (prominent business family) girl at BYU.

An older friend of mine married another GA. He was/is not good looking and not charming, and was very pompous. He had been engaged several times--other girls had worn her engagement ring. Still, another of our friends admitted she had been in love with this guy for years! I couldn't see his appeal, at all. Oh, yes, this older friend came from a very wealthy Mormon family!

Out of curiosity--did your daughter appear to be a rich girl, at BYU?

Uh... I never thought about this. We lived in Italy at the time, and maybe the guy did think that we were privileged, or something, when it was just a low-range government job that took me there. But she is quite good-looking, and very refined. It's the refined part that guys don't particularly like. I think it either intimidates them or turns them off because "refined" is not "fun."

She never got involved with guys who didn't stack up, like when she turned down a good-looking black British guy because he was perfectly happy just being a call-center employee, and she expected better. She found her way upward with Intermountain Health Care, and now is the chief of two departments, one in Riverton hospital, and one at Primary Children's. She's pretty sharp, and sort of content with her life now. Since the only guys she's eligible for anymore are divorced guys, she's no longer really interested. She's dated plenty of them, and they come with ample baggage.

Hello?