DEE

I liked her immediately. She was feisty, fun-loving, spunky, gutsy and outspoken - a woman very much in charge. We met when we were both serving missions at the family history center.

As we got to know each other, RAH and I learned Dee's story, and what a story it is:

She had 3 young daughters, was a stay-at-home mom, very much in love with her husband, but he went on a lot of business trips. One day, while unpacking his suitcase, which he had left on their bed, she came across a bundle of love letters. It seems his "business" trips had included a lot more than just business.

Dee confronted her husband, who denied it at first. As always, the truth will out.

Ugly, bitter divorce followed.

She was left a single mom; little skills, no job..you know the story.

But, as I mentioned, she was spunky, feisty and determined. She moved in with her parents, paid them rent, and bought the food, and got a job at BYU. Eventually, she had saved enough money to move into a small home, which, over the years, she maintained, beautified, and earned money off a basement rental.

She saved money, putting it into a savings account on a regular basis. Her dad - a faithful church goer - asked her to co-sign a loan with him. He promised that he would repay her and and that he would automatically deposit the money in her savings account each month (this is long before on-line banking appeared on the scene.)

Dee had promised her daughters a trip to Disneyland for the summer, and she was going to use her savings, which supposedly her father was replenishing.

You guessed it...her father had not put one cent back into the account! When she went to withdraw the money, the teller said there was NO MONEY in the account. Heartbreak for three young girls. And, bitterness for one mother.

The bitterness was palpable and directed against men. She left the church for one year. Then realized that was not what she wanted. She prayed to MOTHER IN HEAVEN because of her bitterness towards men - which now had extended to her own father.

The bitterness also included her male bosses at BYU, who took all the credit for work she had actually done.

A few years passed. She met a man at an LDS Singles Dance. Suave, handsome, smooth talking, and active in the church, he said.

No, please don't tell me....yes, he swindled her out of all her savings. He was smooth talking, as I said. Somehow, he convinced her to invest HER money, and it was gone before she even knew what had really happened to it, and to her.

Following the death of her parents, her brother cheated the siblings out of a large portion of the family inheritance.....

Now, at this point in time, Dee has recouped, recovered somewhat, and is remarried to an awesome, awesome guy.....I think DB is just the greatest; fun, articulate, interesting, pleasant.

But, there is still a portion of her that doesn't totally trust men.

Sometimes our life experiences shape our reality...her reality over the years became - men are not trustworthy.

My experience has been the opposite.

I am grateful for the men in my life who have led lives of nobleness; they've not let me down. Thank you, dad, RAH, and Hubert.