Several years ago, Scotty started working as a purchaser for the temples of our Church.* With that job, he became a bit of a nuisance anytime we actually went inside a temple. I remember being in the Bountiful Temple for a sealing, and Scotty kept turning the chairs over to read the tags on the bottoms. Then he'd walk by furniture and wiggle it to see how it was holding up. Meanwhile I would roll my eyes and whisper, "Will you quit it? You're making a scene!"
When we went to the Jordan River Temple open house, he went around, once again, looking under chairs but also inspecting all of the fire curtains and pointing out everywhere a curtain would close to prevent fire from spreading in an emergency. He would also tell me where everything was purchased from.
Whenever a new temple is opening, our Church hosts an open house for the public to tour the building before it's dedicated and opened for worship. Once it's dedicated, you need to have a temple recommend to attend the temple.
For the past two months, the Saratoga Springs Temple has had an open house going. This is a temple about 45 minutes from where we live. I had no intention of going to the open house, but this is the last week (Saturday, July 8 is the final day), Nicky asked if he could go, so I asked all the other kids if they wanted to go, and I reserved a time slot. It ended up just being Nicky and me, which was great because I didn't have to deal with any whining or complaining! I actually got to enjoy the experience. I'm over the phase of life where I take all my unwilling kids to temple open houses.
As Nicky and I were walking into the temple, I told him about what it's like to go in a temple with Scotty. I explained, "Dad is always more interested in the furniture sourcing and the fire systems than anything else!" and Nicky said, "Yeah, that sounds right."
During the temple tour, I was able to answer some great questions from Nicky and point out some fun things I wouldn't have been able to enjoy if I'd had the girls with me (such as the progression of Christ's childhood depicted in the paintings in the chapel. If you start on the left-hand wall, you see Mary riding the donkey to Bethlehem, then the birth of the Savior, and then Jesus being presented to Simeon. The fourth painting is Jesus returning to Mary after being "lost" and teaching the men in the temple. Then on the back wall, there is a painting depicting the beginnings of Christ's ministry as he called upon the fishermen).
Nicky has been to several temple open houses in his lifetime, but this is the first one he's been to when he has actually been interested and mature enough to understand anything, so I was excited for him to see the Celestial Room. We were ushered into the Celestial Room in groups of 20-30 at a time, and as we went through the entrance, they closed the doors behind us, intending to send another group in within a few minutes. We were the last two people to walk in the room before the doors closed. We sat in the chairs, and since Scotty is in my head, I noted the quality of the chairs is not up to standard. The cushions and fabric are very worn,** and I found myself wanting to flip them over and read the tags, as I have been taught to do. But I refrained!
As we sat there discussing some of the symbolism and the design of the room, suddenly a high-pitched noise rang out, and an alarming, "Wah! Wah! Wah!" came pumping in the room while a fire curtain behind our backs rapidly closed. A recording came over speakers saying, "An emergency has been reported in the building. Please proceed to the nearest exit. Do not use the elevators." No one really knew what to do. The open house was being run by volunteers, and none of them knew how to react, nor did they have any idea what was going on. Everyone just kind of stayed put (which shows how conditioned we are to not take things like this seriously. Don't we all kind of assume it's just a glitch every time an alarm goes off in a building and we don’t visually experience a threat?) Plus, we mistakenly thought we were trapped in the Celestial Room since the fire curtains had closed (turns out you can open them manually, but they end up springing back into position shortly after you open them), so we lingered. After several minutes, the "Wah! Wah!" turned off, and the recording stopped, but every now and then we would hear it say, "Elevator!" or some other phrase we couldn't understand. The high-pitched noise was coming from outside the Celestial Room, and it continued. We have no idea what it was because it wasn’t an alarm. It was just an, “Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
No one ever made us leave, but they also weren't letting any new groups in, so Nicky and I just hung out in the Celestial Room for a while. Then eventually, all the other tour goers had left, and it was just us and the volunteers left, so we made our way out. The last stop on the tour was the Sealing Room, and then we went back down the stairs and outside. The tour had been stopped for everyone behind us, and all the lines were way backed up and at a standstill. We were so lucky to be the last people in the Celestial Room before those doors closed!
Of all the things one can feel and experience in the temple, this was entirely new. I have to say, it ended up being the most memorable temple open house of my life! We were just sad Scotty wasn't there with us. It would have been his dream come true.
*He no longer works with temples. Now he works with sacred clothing (garments and temple attire).
**They will likely be reupholstered.
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