Interesting Tension in my life

As you know, I have quite a spiritual and kind daughter. She is fully engaged with the Church. And you may also know that I have some angst about making the decision to exclude my family from my marriage by going into the temple right off the bat, and not waiting a year so I could have my non-member family at a civil wedding. (We talked about this at length one time). There were a variety of reasons for the regret — primarily how it really alientated my family from me personally.

Well, my daughter comes home from school, saying she was asked to write an essay about one of her heros. She said it was me (I was flattered). I asked why, and she gave a list of attributes, including my courage. I asked how I showed courage, and she said “Because you had the courage to get married in the temple even though your family members were non-members and couldn’t go in”.

I replied that I have since questioned if that was the right thing given how much it alienated my family, and wouldn’t consider anyone uncourageous for NOT doing it that way. She replied “I know, but at the time, that was very courageous of you to have made that decision”.

Ironic how I’m admired for a decision I made, which I now regret. It also shows the potential for collisions in philosophy between myself and my daughter as she gets older and firmer in her beliefs.