I think I may have mentioned it in an earlier post that I grew up in a more established neighborhood. Not a lot in the way of comings and goings – not that I can remember.
The first person I remember moving out of our ward was a girl named Diane. I don’t know under what circumstances she moved. I didn’t take it into consideration that there had been other people in the house who had moved with her. It actually wasn’t a very big house. Perhaps they needed more room.
When I was in Young Women’s, I can remember a family moving into that same house. They must have had five at the time and Grace was pregnant with number six. I remember being called upon to babysit. I think all of the young women received a turn at one time or another – until the two oldest were old enough to watch the other four on their own.
Eventually they outgrew the house and moved – but only across the street. That was the most fantastic move ever! They never left our ward (church boundary)! Well, each of their children left at some point after they got married. But at least two of them also bought houses in the ward and currently live in the same ward where their parents live.
There were some people we were actually happy to see move out – like the hellions across the street or the dysfunctional psychiatric messes that lived near the field (which is now part of I-215) and others we hoped would never leave.
When Roland and I got married, we moved into a rather transient area. One of our bishops had compared our ward boundaries to a great big apartment building. There were always homes for sale on every street (still are, I would imagine). There were names of members who may have lived in the ward at one time but had long since moved away but their records continued to return to our ward clerk. I bet that must be a frustrating job!
My theory was that no matter how much I loved the house itself, I couldn’t or wouldn’t make a purchase without first checking out the ward we’d attend. The church was just across the street from the house we’d been looking at – actually three houses – all within the same ward boundaries – although we weren’t aware of it at the time. I had been told by at least three ward members that we had been prayed to move into that ward.
I was teaching primary and one of the cute little girls in my class said, “Sister, please don’t ever move. I want you to stay here forever” I don’t know if she mentioned it to her parents as well.
Many of the homes in that particular area were starter homes – originally designed as military housing for soldiers who would move on. They weren’t meant to be permanent. They weren’t designed for families of more than four. So when Wendy became pregnant with her forth child, they looked for another home and my primary girl moved away from the ward long before I did.
I think it worked out well for her as she loves horses and had the opportunity of riding her neighbor’s horse that lived just behind the house they had purchased. She’s graduated high school now. I can’t believe it’s been that long.
Roland’s original plan was to live in Kearns for five years and move to a house that we didn’t have to just settle for because of finances. We were there eight years before we lost the house to an unkind economy and forced to move to something even smaller and start over. But again, we felt continued blessings and were aware of our needing to be in the current ward we are in.
So our family has been new move-ins twice now. In Kearns the ward got to know the boys. Over here they know Roland and Jenna. And we have seen a ton of people come and go.
Shortly after we had moved to the ward, Roland was called as a counselor to the Elders’ Quorum. When the Elders’ Quorum president moved, we were not surprised to receive a call from the Stake President – figuring Roland would be called to take place as the new EQ President. We were surprised to learn that it had nothing to do with the Elders’ Quorum. He served as a counselor to the High Priest Group leader and then the High Priest Group Leader moved.
Through it all was George McDobb – who said he had lived in the ward for ten years. I don’t know if he helped clean the building all ten years, but I know he’s done the last five. He has always come early and put himself in charge of cleaning the chapel. I don’t think he missed a single week when our ward was in charge. Now he’s gotten himself married and has moved out of the ward. I will miss him tremendously, but I am happy for him. And I will be happy to take my turn in the chapel because that’s what I liked to do when we lived in Kearns.
It always seems harder on the youth when friends move. Jenna’s best friend last year was named Annette. Annette moved during the summer – she thinks to Ohio or Idaho. I left several messages for her mom to leave an address so that they might be able to correspond. We even mailed a letter to their old address with instructions to forward to the new address – but still have not heard back.
Today she told me the girl she’s hung out the most this year is moving to California. How fortunate I feel to have taken pictures of the two of them on Saturday. They were the only two from their school to run in the Girls on the Run 5K. I did get her grandma’s email so perhaps we’ll have better luck. I hope so anyway. At least when Jenna's friend, Lillian, moved, her mom continued to keep her at the same school.
People come. People go. People may stay put and the boundaries may change. There was a member from my last ward that said she had lived in the same house for over 30 years and had been a member of two stakes and eight different wards while living in that same house. That was hard for her. But I think I would enjoy the diversity. It’s never happened with me personally, so I don’t know.
My sister Kayla lives in the same stake, but a different ward than when I left. I’m told that there are many who are inactive in that particular ward – which is odd because when I lived there, it appeared there was more activity in that ward than in our ward. Again, the comings and goings have made an imprint or left a hole.
I hope that I am always able to leave imprints and a positive influence and that I am missed – but not so much that it leaves a hole. We need to share our talents and learn from one another and be able to move on.
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