I did not grow up in Utah. In fact, I am very proud of the fact that I am a southern girl from Texas. Although, many Utahns that I run in to these days don’t hear an accent anymore, and don’t even realize I’m not one of their own. I used to say all the time that I would never live in UT. I thought it was full of cookie cutter mormons that all think and act and do the same thing. That was until I moved to UT. My experience has only been living in Salt Lake City. So, that is all I can relate to you here.
When I first moved here, back in college, before marriage and kids, I did not like it at all. I was a return missionary feeling like I was something special, until I got to a place where I felt like I was one in a sea of a million returned missionaries. I worked and went to school, just waiting for the day until I could get out of this state. But, then I met my husband, and that changed everything.
You should never say, “I will never…” because you will almost always eat those words later. For example, I will never raise a family in UT had definitely slipped from my lips a few times. I will never marry a Utah boy was also a familiar phrase in my vocabulary. Here I am doing both. I’m married to a UT boy that I love, and I’m raising my kids in Salt Lake City, UT of all places.
But, I have to tell you something. I love it. I find a diversity in Salt Lake City that I feel could almost rival my roots in Texas. Well, aside from the church on every street corner thing. But, I am not worried about my kids being too sheltered, or never knowing anyone that isn’t a part of their faith. It could be said that I should worry about other things, like them witnessing bad behavior from their LDS friends and being confused about what it means to be a true latter-day saint. Sure, I could worry about that, but I don’t.
I’ve realized that it doesn’t really matter where you live. You can live in Texas or Utah, or Zimbabwe, and it doesn’t matter. It is what is taught inside the home that matters. My kids can still grow up to be fabulous latter-day saints that are loving and accepting of those outside of their faith. They will have friends that are not LDS. They will experience the good and the bad in life, even in Utah. While there are places in Utah where you could walk around and realize that you are surrounded by mormons everywhere, and maybe it is not as diverse as you’d like, the truth is, Utah is becoming more diverse. There are still people here that don’t know much about the mormons even though they are living among us. And frankly, I think UT is a great place to live.
Did I really just say that?
Related Articles: