Live After the Manner of Happiness: HCP First Day

At the opening devotional of pageant the artistic director Brent Hanson talked about the Nephite people just after they split off from the Lamanites. He focused on how hard they had to work building a new community. “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did cause my people to be industrious, and to labor with their hands” (2 Nephi 5:17). Hanson’s point was that in this hard work, the people “lived after the manner of happiness” (v. 27). He stressed that in our efforts (amidst heat, long days, sore muscles) putting on pageant, we would feel great joy.

For those who haven’t heard my tale of woe, in my previous three years I have never received a movement part.

Year 1: I was taking care of two-year-old Lily and only half-heartedly attempted the dance try-out.

Year 2: I gave the dance try-out all I had but the field was covered in mud and my shoes got sucked in and, anyway, I wasn’t chosen.

Year 3: I decided not to try (lame because they didn’t have enough people even TRY for movement parts and I surely would have received one).

This past year I had stumbled upon a clip of a portion of the try-out on YouTube and just before coming out my sister-in-law Lori helped me learn it well. Work leading to happiness! J This was especially helpful when upon arriving here I learned that for the first year every single woman was required to do the dance auditions—even the eleven women over 70 years old! The exceptions were those women with infants (one woman at pageant has an infant one week old) and those incapable of being mobile. The directors lined up the women in 12 lines and dancers could self-select how high impact they wanted to be so some of the women who were older or quite large went in the last two lines.

One of the happiest things that happened the moment I got in line to start the audition was finding that I was standing with Stephanie Hawkins. She was one of my best friends from the 2009 pageant where we were flag bearers together. We haven’t stayed in touch (kind of a ridiculous reason but she doesn’t have Facebook) but we had a fantastic time together back then. We were thrilled to see each other and were hugging and dancing around. It was fantastic moral support to be in line together the whole time through the audition process.

It was a bit disconcerting to see that several others were getting parts but we just kept cycling through (after you did the routine twice you would move to the back of your line and then keep moving to the front). Finally I was handed a role. Stephanie and I were both:

Harvest Dancers

and

Tableau Tribe Women

Emma is also a Harvest Dancer! A neat twist is that we also carry things out in the Harvest scene. We don’t know what yet. It could be fruit, tools, baskets, brooms, scarves. Emma knows she will be carrying a litter. The point is that we will be working which I think is awesome.

I was also feeling awesome about this role because when McKenna was a Harvest Dancer in 2008 she had a gorgeous costume. HOWEVER, I did not get a beautiful dress like she had. Oh well. That is a very minor detail. Here is what my dress looks like on the hanger.

I know nothing about what a Tableau Tribe Woman does but that in and of itself is awesome. It will be so fun to do something totally fresh and new. Emma is also Nephite Campfire Dancer. I thought this meant she’d have a ponytail coming out the top of her head but that is the Lamanite Campfire Dancers. She is also ecstatic and has some friends doing the same parts.

Ken is a Noah citizen. This is the longest scene in pageant so that’s fun. I was in this scene in 2009. He is happy because:

1.     It is a crowd scene (he won’t be alone in the spotlight)

2.     It has low key costumes (no head dresses or itchy straw)

3.     It has no sprinkler special effects (he was doused last time because he was a vision apostle)

4.     It has lots of fire special effects (which is great as long as he isn’t too close to Abinadi burning

More joyful moments from yesterday:

1.     We love the place we are staying. It is called The Palmyra White House. It is like a Bed and Breakfast without the breakfast provided. There are about four sub-divided rooms with separate entrances with kitchenettes in them. It is comfortable and quiet and three miles from the Hill. But one of the most fantastic things about this place that we hadn’t put together until we got here is that it is essentially across the street from the Sacred Grove. That is mind blowing to me. It is now Saturday morning and Ken has already been over there for an early morning walk.

2.     Emma has already made some great friends in her Cast Team. I met one girl’s parents and the weird thing is, we are in the White House Suite A and they are in Suite B. Out of 700 people in the cast what are the chances of that?!

3.     Ken and I are so excited to be helping in the primary. While we have had the experience of being in an adult cast team and having more of an entertainment experience where you sit and do crafts and hear lectures I’m sure helping in primary will be hard work. There are 26 kids in senior primary (ages 7 and 8) and most of them are boys. But I KNOW that it is going to be the funnest place for us. We are going to be making Golden Plates today! One day we make giant Nephi paper dolls! And we’re so happy to be with Lily. We have also had the experience of being in charge of a cast team and compared with the ridiculously hard work of that, working in the primary sounds like a dream.

There was one lowlight yesterday. While waiting in line for dinner we discovered that Lily had a tick in her hair. Neither of us had ever experienced this before. After a trip to medical Lily now has one tick less on her head and one sparkly heart sticker more on her ID tag.