The Pahty of Nuns...and Roo

When I walked into BYU as a 20 year old kid,I didn't think I was even going to like Brigham Young University.  I thought I wouldn't like the rules, the people, or the place.  I was so wrong. Every class challenged me.  I had been taking up to 21 credits my first two years of college, and not really struggling with course work.  Ummm….not so much.  I signed up for 15 credits my first semester.  Dumb. A one credit class on The Book of Mormon zapped hours from my life.  No longer was I trying to learn how to apply scriptures to my life so I could be a better person.  I was memorizing the migration cycles of entire families over generations, and it was like learning the Kreb cycle.  I wasn't good at learning the Kreb cycle.  I still like to read The Book of Mormon.

And, don’t even get me started on American Heritage.  I love America, and its heritage is very great, but I do not love the course American Heritage where I would walk out of the testing center scoring a 40% on a test I had studied days to take.  A couple of weeks at BYU taught me I am not as much of a nerd as I thought I was.  I am still a nerd, just less than I thought. Despite the academic challenges, I really loved how classes frequently began with prayer, great discussion in classes, the campus was beautiful, and the library is awesome.

I know you will never love me the way I love you, library.

 As much as I loved the library, the highlights of my university experience were my study abroad trips.

England

To Study Abroad:

My first trip was England Theater. It was awesome. 

The second trip was a literature, hiking, and writing study abroad in England. Now it is called British Literature and Landscape. It combined three things I love most in the world: hiking, writing, and England. We started in Scotland, ended in London, and traveled to various places in between. 

Tennyson Downs, Isle of Wight 2005

We visited the Isle of  Wight, the Lake District, stayed in Butherlhype, walked on the Wuthering Heights Moore’s.  I can’t even tell you every place I went, because I don’t remember them all.  The gift of that experience, are my co-travelers.  There really should be a world for people who travel together in the English language.

We weren't exactly nuns. Mormons don't have nuns. But we sang.

There were 23 students and 3 Bennions, so a total of 26 of us. Of the 26, there were 3 males.: our teacher, his son, and Roo, who is married to Annie.  Roo loves Star Wars, and physics, and Annie. Since there were so many women, it is as close as I will get to being in a nunnery.  Except that preparing for a life of celibacy, we weren't. We did sing a lot, which I hope nuns get to do. They do on the Sound of Music. 

My proof that nuns sing.

Somehow my professor, John Bennion, taught me things I still think about today. He is so human that he got us lost on our hikes, fumbled through his thoughts and papers, said "fiddlefart" when he was flustered, and yet taught me better than anyone. He taught me to live my life like a tourist, no matter where I live geographically.  Experience things, and see the world as a place of opportunity.  He taught me that agency is our greatest asset.  He taught me to look at others with compassion.  He helped us not only learn intellectually, but feel. How did one man do all that?  

John Bennion, sir.

From this group, I’ve made friends I will love forever.  We call ourselves “The Pahty.”  We are brilliant women and Roo.  At the time of our hiking, only Annie and Roo were married.  Now several of us are married, many are mothers,  several are single, some of us have gone on to get masters degrees, and even a PHD in engineering.  Katherine you are a brilliant anomaly.  We live all over the country and beyond, and we are still very close.  We ask each other for advice on dating, ideas on lessons we are giving to teenagers in church, how to go about weaning our nursing babies, sharing sorrows of miscarriages, thoughts on books we are reading.  We share poetry and experiences and ideas. We share our faith, our love, and our lives.  Still. Eight years later.

Lizzie, Me,Ann Marie, and Janelle November 2011

Janelle as a bride. July 2013

Recently I went to the wedding of my study abroad travel buddy, Janelle. Janelle writes songs and plays the guitar. I’ve listened to her songs and they’ve become the soundtrack to my life. I saw her black "I Survived the Tower of Terror" T-shirt for days on end against the landscapes of sheep grazing and cobblestone walls.  She loves Robert Burns, and has a great Scottish accent when she wants to. I listened to her laughter.  She would always laugh at my jokes.  That is why I hiked by her. Over the past eight years I've experienced  her moves from Utah to England, to California, to Virginia. I’ve traveled her journeys in and through love. Being at her wedding was, I don't even know.  It was amazing, and filled my heart, and made me happy to be alive.

Janelle and Ann Marie up top. Then Stacy, Me, and Lizzie 

My husband has heard of The Pahty, since we’ve been married. At this wedding, Ian was able to meet some of the legends he has only heard about. It was so satisfying to see two parts of my life meet, and enjoy each other.

Ian holding my baby boy, Janelle, and Ann Marie

I didn’t know what I was studying eight years ago, or what that study would lead to.  I thought I was learning about Thomas Hardy, and British Novels, and personal narratives.  I thought I was studying a time, a place. Something I could pinpoint. 

I had no idea.

I still don't. 

But, I am grateful.