I have been blessed with amazing friends...women that I look up to, admire and love. Women who know the importance of serving others quickly and quietly. These women are a constant in my life, they are my confidants, many days they are a counselor or a listening ear, they are needed in my life and last night before climbing into bed, I knelt and thanked my Father in Heaven for their influence and goodness in my life.
Yesterday we bundled up our kids and rode the Front runner and Traxx downtown to the Church History Museum. This is the third year in a row we have taken the kids on a Front runner adventure to Temple Square and we weren't about to miss out even though the garage door broke late the night before and I worried how I would get the Yukon out of the garage to get to the station and Ashlyn came down with a migraine the night before, too. But, Garrett made sure the Yukon was out and ready to go so we could spend the day with our friends.
We got to the front runner station early...5 moms and 16 kids in all! As we waited for the train, a man waiting at the station began talking to Carrie, just asking random questions and what we were doing for the day. She innocently told him of our planned adventures and he acted very interested in our group. We boarded the train and he sat fairly close to our group but not close enough to feel creepy, yet. I even commented to Diane as we rode to Salt Lake that he would wink at me whenever I would look in his direction...weird, but we just laughed it off because really we get winked at all the time :)
We jumped off the front runner and ran to Traxx to ride to the Temple Square drop off. He sat closer to our group and talked more with Carrie. Everyone had a buddy so we could keep track of everyone and they all loved that...the older boys would tell us 'so and so is my buddy but we're not gonna hold hands'. We stopped for some pictures with the Assembly Hall in the background and we noticed that the man was still with us on the platform and everyone else had moved on. He was just waiting. We waited to cross the street and he jumped out in front of the group with his arms out pretending to hold back traffic so we could all cross and then he waited as we all crossed the street and then he continued following right behind us.
We got to the Church History Museum and he followed us inside. I briefly asked him what his plans were for the day and then Andreya asked him about his day, also. He said he had lots to do but not until later that night so he was going to just hang out with us for the day and go to lunch with us, too because he had been invited...What??? We were in shock and didn't really know what to say or do. No one had invited him to be with us...we were all getting a little worried, but I didn't feel it as much as some of my friends. Earlier while on the train, he had told Carrie an inappropriate joke and that's when she knew he was off and she began feeling uncomfortable. He was a stranger to all of us, yet he was acting like our long-time friend. It's good to be kind to others, but not at the sake of feeling uncomfortable and even a little violated.
At the museum the lady at the front desk asked about our group...we told her we had 16 kids with us and there were 5 moms...and then the man chimed in "and one guy". We didn't know what to say, we kind of laughed it off but wondered how we were going to get out of this situation. She knew something wasn't right, but couldn't put her finger on it, so she had the security guards keep an eye on him. Luckily she felt the spirit and later the security guard told us he had felt the same thing right when we walked into the museum. We walked around for a few minutes with the tension getting stronger and with the kids now wondering why this guy was following us and talking to them and asking them personal questions. Andreya decided she would tell one of the guides to distract him so we could leave without him following. The guide tried to get his attention and we began shuffling the kids to the front doors and as he noticed us leaving he told the guide "I've got to go with my group, they're leaving." What?? We were all in shock. We got all the kids out the door and he came barreling to the front of our group asking "Where are we going for lunch?" Finally Carrie, very gently just said "You're not coming with us...we are enjoying today with our kids." But he wasn't quick to walk away and that's when the security guards told him to leave now. We all breathed a sigh of relief and went back into the museum to enjoy a few hours of fun!
We all loved the museum! The kids loved dancing with the Spanish man and woman, pretending to feed the missionaries, drawing and playing the games on the computers, building towers, but their favorite was an older man who served at the museum making spinning toys for all the kids...his name was Gerald Petersen and he was an institute teacher of mine years ago at the SLCC. It was fun to see him again and see him serving our kids...the kids loved this and spent the rest of the time spinning their little pieces of wood on their strings.
We left the museum and ate lunch at the Crown Burger...we were a little leery to go over to the Navoo Cafe like originally planned because we wondered if that guy would be there waiting. Lunch was great and then we ran quickly to get back onto Traxx to take us back to the Front runner and home safely. It was a great day! When the kids go off-track again in April we're planning another trip to tour the conference center, the visitors center, and walk around Temple Square...the kids really missed not going over to the temple this time.
