I did it.

It was and it wasn’t what I was expecting.

Yet even as I continue sorting out my feelings about it, I find myself breaking into an ear-to-ear grin.

Perhaps I’d better back up a bit.

This spring I determined to take out my Endowments. Life promptly got complicated. As I may have mentioned elsewhere, my husband is Catholic. Also to the point, he has never been Mormon. The garments have never been a part of his life. I was proposing to make them so and I knew this would have to be handled with care.

We had talked about it before. He knew when I was taking the Temple Preparation lessons last fall. He is a kind man whose own faith is important to him. He would never seek to hinder me in my faith but he couldn’t work up any enthusiasm for the loss of low-cut shirts.

I was determined to take out my Endowments around my birthday. I liked the date — very significant and easy to remember — and I wanted to have it done before we left town for the whole month of May. On Fast Sunday, I fasted that he might be able to accept the garments. I planned to sit him down and discuss it. Then I got sick. That plugged ear that had been plaguing me for a few days turned out to be an ear infection. Said ear infection soon spread to my sinuses. (I think one of the things I look forward to the most about being Resurrected is having sinus that don’t get infected at the drop of a hat.) Well there went my ability to think, let alone speak. With his school schedule, packing for his internship in another town and all the rest of it, I knew I’d never get him to agree in time to schedule the Endowments when I wanted them.

At the end of the month we went shopping. I was looking for some new shirts and a summer dress or two for church. Now, garments or no garments, I’m a t-shirt and jeans type. If my husband wants me to wear things he likes seeing, he’s got to be there and help me pick them out. Between his pickiness and my secret “garment-friendly” agenda, we worked the nice sales girl hard.

I hope she’s doing well now because words can’t say how much I appreciate her help and willingness.

You see, when it was all over and we were leaving with our spoils, my husband took me aside and said the most wonderful, meaningful things he’s ever said to me. (Aside from his proposal.) He said he appreciated how hard I was working to be attractive to him and to accommodate my faith (guess that agenda wasn’t so secret) and that he didn’t find it easy but he knew faith had to take precedence over fashion.

Best. Birthday. Present. Ever.

So yeah, it took another three months to get all the ducks in a row and quacking, but it happened last Friday. He even came with me to the temple to show his support.

*beam*