There are so many ways to measure time--grades in school, age, seasons, etc. I found one that I didn't realize was so important to me when I found out that Gordon B. Hinckley had died. In that moment I remembered where I was when I heard that Howard W. Hunter died. Young. 18 years old, with the only certainty being the constant uncertainty about my life and the direction it would take. And now, as I think about President Hinckley I remember so many things about him--his self-deprecating humor, his emotional presence, his strength, his way with words. The sound of his voice and his cane that always made me smile for some reason. He was the first Prophet I remember actually speaking from the pulpit, since for so long President Benson was not able to read his own talks. That was so powerful for me, to hear--actually hear--the Prophet's voice. To me, the time since then and now has been full of so many events, many that have forever altered me. Leaving home, graduating from college, getting married, having babies. In all these things it seems that President Hinckley has been along for the ride, a constant in a life filled with so much change. As I look ahead to a new era with a new Prophet I wonder where I will be the next time such a change occurs, what sorrows and joys will have made their way through my life and left me forever changed. Like this moment; it is both a sorrow for losing such a wonderful and caring leader, and joy for his happiness at being reunited with, as he put it, the woman of his dreams. Sorrow at not hearing him speak again, for the end of something amazing. And yet joy for knowing that the church moves on seamlessly and a new leader will go forward and lead with the same keys, knowledge, and love.
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