Jamie just got called to the Bishopric in our ward.
For the non-Mormon readers of this blog, roughly translated this means I am now a widow.
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have non-paid clergy. A Bishop is called to preside over our congregation of roughly 200-400 members. Two counselors are called to the Bishopric and various responsibilities are delegated to them as they assist in the spiritual and temporal welfare of our ward.
Between time-consuming Sunday meetings, the Bishopric attends various activities and events during the week. Jamie will be heavily involved in Scouting. This would have been a dream come true when I was a wee lassie and in love with all the Scouts in my ward.
It’s a bummer Hadley is too young to reap the benefits.
We have known about Jamie’s new assignment for a couple of weeks but it was not made public until Sunday. A counselor from the stake presidency made the announcement and told him to “say good-bye to your wife and children and come join us here on the stand.”
The counselor later joked he meant for the duration of the meeting (and all subsequent meetings) but not indefinitely.
At least I think he was joking.
There was one thing that troubled Jamie about the assignment and I knew exactly what it was: time. He’s already been putting in long hours growing his web development business. Add to that the start of pumpkin season and a nagging wife who gently reminds him of his family responsibilities and he’s already been feeling overwhelmed.
Something’s gotta give.
And I was kinda maybe hoping it would be large and orange.
“We’re going to have to tighten up our budget,” he proclaimed.
His solution is to work less.
And not in the pumpkin patch.
It was my first test as The Good Wife and I passed. I smiled, nodded and thought I could surely only visit Target once a week instead of daily.
And then there is the issue of my behavior. After Stake President Jones asked Jamie if he would accept this new assignment and he agreed, I queried,
“Does this mean I have to be good now?”
I, of course, didn’t listen to the answer.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 