I felt a prompting to add this to my history. Chronologically, it belongs in the chapter of Levels 20 to 30. But, as I went to put it in there, I felt that the flow for reading in that chapter was already good, so I decided to add it as a last chapter.
The First Kiss. My first kiss with Marya Durtschi. It was truly and honestly captivating.
It was a late, summer, Sunday evening in Provo, Utah. We were still in our church clothes in the evening because I had taught a Stake Missionary Preparation class and Marya was supporting me and came with me. The sun was dipping below the horizon when we decided to go for a drive to the Provo Temple. As we walked onto the grounds it appeared other couples had the same thoughts, there were several other couples peacefully walking around the temple grounds. We walked from the west entrance to the east side to sit and talk. I don’t recall any specific subjects we chatted about, but we were probably there for about a half hour. It was there, in the glow of the temple lights, and the dark blue, nearly black sky, with stars beginning to multiply, that we kissed…soft and sweet, and more than once. It was pleasant and nice, peaceful, not passionate.
Then, I became curiously aware that no one was around. No one witnessed this first kiss. Which didn’t matter. We didn’t need or want witnesses to that wonderful first in our lives. But, I realized no one had walked by for a long time. We got up, strolled back to the west side of the temple. There was absolutely no one anywhere. We walked down to the main entrance gate in the ornamental fence that surrounded the grounds. Locked. Next to it was a guard house…empty. Had we not been so nicely dressed we would have just found a place to scale the fence and climb out. But, it was a tall fence, and neither our clothes nor footwear was very conducive to climbing.
What do we do? Surely the security guard must be somewhere! We went to the front doors of the temple…locked. Baptistry doors…locked. We made our way to the service entrance where they bring food for the cafeteria…locked. We knocked…and knocked again. A gentleman opened the door. He looked at us with perplexed annoyance and asked what we wanted. We told him we were locked in. He didn’t seem convinced and asked more questions. After some discussion we realized what had happened. Upon our arrival earlier, as we walked around the north side of the temple, he had been several yards in front of us telling visitors that it was time to leave. He had dutifully made his rounds. He waited an appropriate amount of time, locked the gate, and then went inside. Being a Sunday, the temple itself was not in use, so no one was inside who needed to exit. He was probably settling in for another uneventful, peaceful night of security watch, and would make his rounds outside at regular intervals and also spend time in the guard shack up front. Of course he was shocked to see us standing there. His demeanor softened, and he escorted us to the gate and let us out. (By the way, as we communicated with “Brother Security Guard” to discover the sequence that led to us being locked in, I didn’t share with him any details about our first kiss.)
And…with this story of my first kiss with Marya…it seems a very appropriate way to conclude this history of the first fifty levels of my life.
(And…as an additional note, Marya was an immense help in the editing of this life history. Thank you, My Dear Skatjie.)
