You Know You’re From the AV When…

“Us A.V. rats ought to stick together” Somehow we ended up in the same area today and came from the same area states away. We all grew up in the same church Stake in California, and are raising our own families in Utah now. Some were my leaders in Young Womens, some were the little brothers or big sisters of the kids I grew up with, some started out as my brothers’ friends and are now also my friends. Some are our very best friends who have seen us deliver each other’s babies and been through thick and thin. I feel so blessed to know these good people and to have had a blast reconnecting with them over watermelon and summer nights.

We also attended an old friend’s wedding- we go way back! When Melanie (the bride) had turned 16, Jeremy took her out on her first date. I love this woman’s strength of character, eloquence, determination, and her smile that has seen her through so much. I haven’t seen her family in years and it was so good to party with them again and share in their joy.

I can’t explain the feeling of belonging and the connection that’s natural from just being from the same place. Being able to make fun of how ghetto or trashy it was, but always having a soft spot for it. Remembering the same people or having the same rites of passage—the In N’ Out runs, youth dances, talent shows, conferences, camps, the same Spanish teachers at school… and then the parts of our old hometown like the Joshua trees and junipers, aqueduct, concerts at Marie Kerr Park, Coldstone creamery nights where we’d see people we knew ring the bell. It’s probably romanticized now in my mind, but I sure feel like I had a good “growing up” and something must have been right for all of us to end up here together still drawn to each other after years of adventures away.

Love, Kat