David and I celebrated a decade of marriage by traveling together to a few job interview sans children. On our way I read some of our honeymoon journal. I remembered the palpable Spirit as we were sealed in the temple. A few comments from the journal:
“We went around and kissed and hugged everyone. Grandpa Udall whispered in my ear, ‘When your parents got married they kissed over the altar a little longer.’ I only gave David a millisecond peck and people chuckled b/c it was so short. I whispered back to grandpa, ‘I’ll save that for later.’ Lexi said that she knew I was getting a choice guy b/c anyone who hugged their mom as long as David did had to be a good man.”
The night before our wedding we rented out a trolley car. We ate Popeye’s Chicken with friends and family as the trolley moseyed down St Charles. One more line from the journal from that night b/c it perfectly proves that I am my father’s daughter and David is his grandma’s grandson. “I was only able to talk to Grandma Maria for a couple seconds, but her comment was perfect. She told me my dad sweats like a fat man.”
We got into NYC around midnight and had a nice stroll through the city. It really is the city that never sleeps: the following night David decided to have a gourmet steak at 1am… where else can you do that? The trip brought back a lot of memories of the city: shopping at the drug store, the smell of pothole steam, the melting-pot-diversity. I walked around while David had his interviews. Then we ate at Yakitori Totto, a Japanese restaurant (but no rice, tempura, or sushi). My belly has gone into remission. Then we saw Pippin, a Broadway show that the concierge assured me had, “only one tastefully-done orgy scene."
The next day we flew to Chicago. From Chicago we drove down to Nauvoo. A lot of time in the car without kids meant we were able to choose the music (as opposed to “Baby Beluga” on repeat—I swear, Iris is a task-master) which meant I got some good dancing in. As teenagers both David and I loved the church dances. But David lived for the slow dances while I jiggied to the fast dances.
Nauvoo marked the second time in our marriage we have stayed at a bed and breakfast. The first time was the night of our wedding in NOLA. The owners gave us an anti-birth-control lecture over our first breakfast as a married couple. Our Nauvoo bed and breakfast was in the former home of Willard Richards. We slept in what used to be the attic where temple ceremonies were performed before the Nauvoo temple was completed.
We also went to the Webb blacksmith shop and the Kimball home (I am a descendant of both families). We danced on the same ballroom floor as Joseph Smith and got a brick made from local clay. David and I both watched the dedication of the Nauvoo temple; he watched it in Guatemala and I did in Chile.
We also went to Carthage where Joseph Smith was martyred. The Spirit in both cities was beautiful.
We drove back to Chicago through the stormy countryside. It was the day of the tornados that hit 5 states; some of them were in Illinois. The trip was slightly scary in places, but the scenery was beautiful.
For Spanish speakers, the name “Chi-cago” is similar to a Chilean city David and I stayed in in Chile: Maipu, pronounced “my poo.” We stayed in Maipu, Chile for a week and every day on the way back, we asked each other whether we were ready to eat and sleep in “my poo.” We giggled every time; it really never got old. Chicago is just as thrilling as Maipu.
Thanks to the work interviews, part of our trip was complimentary, like the 20th floor suite at the Ritz Carlton.
We went to the art museum. American Gothic:
The bean
The Sears Tower is the tallest American building.
And we ate pig ears at the Purple Pig. At the neighboring table, marrow was scooped out of the bones. Nevertheless, the food was quite exquisite.
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