Leave Father & Mother

I’m a firm believer in that husband and wife should leave father and mother and cleave to each other.

President Kimball said, “your married life should become independent of her folks and his folks. You love them more than ever, you cherish their counsel, you appreciate their association, but you live your own lives, being governed by your decisions, by your own prayerful considerations after you have received the counsel from those who should give it (Spencer W. Kimball, March 1977 Ensign, pp. 4, 5).”

I love that fact that Glenn and I married, moved away, and struggled to build our lives together. I love that we were poor. I love that we lived independent of our families. Our relationship flourished because we had to rely on each other. We learned to appreciate all of the little things in life, as well as one another.

Our habit of walking together daily formed from our lack of financial resources. Walking is free! We would walk daily to get out of our cramped little studio. We learned to love nature and to dream together as we meandered through our town.

We learned to be mindful of each other. I was very conscious about stretching our grocery money, yet still tried to make Glenn’s favorite meals out of the little we had. Providing for the necessities as well as striving for some nicer things was a motivating force for my husband. I’m so glad I didn’t rely on my parents to provide what my husband could not.

Glenn is so handy, and what he didn’t know how to do or fix, he would simply teach himself to do. I love the skills we both gained from the struggle. We were happy as we learned to take care of ourselves. We were driven and goal oriented. I tell my kids all of the time that we want that blessing of struggling together for them too. They know that we expect them to work and build their own marriage and family apart from us.