Posted by:
Breeze
(
)
Date: December 31, 2015 06:02AM
I see people as individuals--mostly because my father and mother each were strong personalities, and very different from each other--but their partnership worked well. Likewise, their extended families were different.
My mother's Salt Lake family were Mormon Royalty-GA's, apostles, temple and mission presidents, stake presidents, and on down the line. They were interested in money and prestige, which was inherited from the first Mormons. They were boring, authoritarian, and punitive. No love. Still, they liked their cabins and boats and other toys, and played a lot. I loved to water ski.
My father's Provo family were Mormon Utah politicians, and were very active in establishing BYU. They were intellectuals. Their wealth was self-made, through their various careers. They were philanthropists. They traveled all over the world. As a child, I listened, spellbound, to their stories.
Now I'm middle-aged, and can see that both sides of the family have changed, much as the Mormon cult has changed. They are more judgmental. No one talks anymore. The patriarchs and professors give a 45-minute spiel, instead of a direct reply to any question or comment. The fun is gone. I'm not stupid enough to think any of them would be interested in me--I'm a twice-divorced single mother, with a man's career that earns "women's wages" in Utah. Though I've supported my children alone, have put them through college, and they have turned out to be very successful, happy, and--good honest hard-working people--no one even talks to them, because they left the cult with me.
My children never could stand being snubbed--this is why they don't snub others--and they eventually refused to go to the family parties and reunions. This family makes a huge fuss over my two cousins who have hyped and self-promted themselves as CEO's of a MLM. My sons were being educated at the U in business, and were getting great jobs, and I felt these con-men could be a bad influence on them. Go back and read what Jive Turkey wrote!
After a lifetime of buying into their Mutual-back-slapping and apple-polishing arrogance--you are realizing that you might be too good for them!
As for the intellectuals in Provo--more than half of my cousins and their children have left the cult. We still have two reunions a year, and no one mentions church. We do have a lot in common, such as music. At our Christmas party, we sing carols, like a choir, in harmony. Some of the talented grandchildren perform--BYU music majors. Music is the universal language.
Take the example to the Kennedy family, who play football with each other. My kids golf, ski, mountain bike, hike, and go on road trips together.
There are thousands of images of "family", and Mormons have been stuck with only one: the family silently bowing their head around the dinner table, while the father pray. No wonder they aren't close!
I haven't seen my mother's Mormon Royalty family for 5 years, now. See the Provo family every few months. It's only natural that my children and I would feel closer to the ex-Mormons than the Mormons.