Time Out for Women

I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Time Out for Women in Salt Lake this weekend with my mom and a few other fabulous ladies. I don't think my words will be quite adequate in relating my experience.

First of all, I desperately needed the break. I love my children...dearly... but am very rarely separated from them for any amount of time, and after awhile this starts to wear on me. I just needed a couple of days of separation to rejuvenate and think about all the little (and big) things I love about being a mother to my kids. Love them from a distance, I call it. :) And when the weekend was over, I felt totally refreshed and ready to save the world again. I think my mom knew how much I needed this, and I'm really thankful to her for inviting me to come. Sometimes it's just nice to be mothered, instead of being the one doing the mothering. So thank you Mom.

A weekend away with the ladies would have been enough...but we also got to gather together with thousands of other women, and listen to some amazing, and very inspiring speakers. Every person we listened to gave me something to think about that uplifted me spiritually. In their own way, they made me want to do better and be better, without making me feel guilty or like a huge slacker.

My favorite speaker was Sheri Dew. I wish I could find the text to her talk and share it, but I've looked all over the internet and can't find it. She talked about  how the women in the church have been getting a lot of media attention lately because of the presidential election, and quite a bit of that attention is negative. People that don't know better, think that women in the church are oppressed. Sister Dew talked about how women in the church have the capability of receiving all the highest blessings the same as the men do, and how God really intended us to be equal partners in the eternities. She really has a way of taking a topic that can be complex and frustrating and making it simple and clear. I really wish I could get the text of her talk. I've never struggled with feeling like women were less in the church, but I know people do. And I loved the perspective Sister Dew used, but I don't feel like I can explain it clearly, so I'm not even going to try and paraphrase.

Another of my favorite performances was by a singing group called Mercy River. They did a motherhood parody to the NSYNC song Bye Bye Bye. First of all, NSYNC was an icon of my jr. high life. I remember getting together with my friends and lip-singing and copying the dance to this song. So it makes it even funnier when Mercy River does a parody on it and it so totally and completely describes my life right now. I was laughing tears through the whole thing. It was so nice to know that I am not the only person on the planet that feels like this at bedtime, and relating to thousands of other women through humor was so refreshing.




 We also got to listen to this guy speak...he showed this Mormon Messages video clip to give us all the background on his story. And then he talked to us more about it. I was so inspired by his strong faith in our Savior. How would it be to know the Savior so well, and trust in him so much, that you could forgive so quickly, the deaths of most of your family. I know what it's like to lose someone you love, but my experience in incomparable to his, because it wasn't the stupid decision of another that caused my loss. I can't imagine the pain he went through and still goes through. But his story is inspiring, and I know it's an example of what we are all trying to live up to.


I am always surprised to rediscover how much women need other women. By now I shouldn't be, but when I go to things like this there is always just a moment where time slows down and the hustle and bustles around me seems to fade out of the background for a minute, and a strong reality hits me that it is true that women need other women. Whether it be just two women together, or 5,500 hundred crowded together, I truly believe that we get our strength in numbers. That together we can do anything. And I think the Lord intended it to be that way. Although, I have no idea why. But I loved being at Time Out. And I can't wait to go again next year.