On Sunday, Alice and I attended one of the dedication ceremonies of the Indianapolis Indiana Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We were even so fortunate as to have seats inside the temple itself, adjacent to the room where all the action was happening. I found it an inspiring, moving experience that I will reflect on for many years. Alice felt like it was kinda like any other meeting with speakers and prayers.
Unfortunately, the positive and uplifting bits of my experience have been overshadowed by one little snag I encountered as we left the temple:
There were NO public restrooms on site. Well, there was a whole meetinghouse right across the parking lot, but it was "closed" and "locked", according to the men in dark suits and silver beehive lapel pins guarding every single entrance. At least two men for every door. That exact building was open to the public when we arrived, but now it was closed off as we were leaving?! In retrospect, we had attended the noon session. Perhaps they sealed off that building in order to host general authorities and other VIPS for lunch? I asked one fine beehive-labeled gentleman if he knew where we could use the bathroom and he just said in an annoyed tone, "Yeah, that's our problem right now. All the people coming out of the session wanting to use the bathroom and the building is closed."
So...okay...um...thanks?
My feelings were hurt at his tone. I was feeling sensitive that day. My dear baby had woken me up at 2am that morning to nurse, then decided he was ready to eat, get up, and play for real at 5:30am. Alice and I had driven 2 hours to get to the dedication, then sat in our seats for 45 minutes, as directed, waiting for the meeting to start, which lasted 2 hours. At the moment I was facing this man and this particular problem, I was exhausted, hungry, full of milk, fighting a nasty headache, and wrestling a full bladder. I needed a little empathy and a little more information.
Maybe he wasn't feeling in tip top shape, either. He did have to work on a Sunday, after all, and thousands of Mormons in one place can be quite a handful.
Anyway, I can deal with my hurt feelings, but I'm thinking I should let someone higher up know about the "no public restroom" problem I encountered. I know the name of the Area Seventy in charge of the local temple committee, but I can't find ANY contact information for him. That kinda bugs me. Where can I go to report something like this?
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and this is why we need more women on the councils of the church. Some details are often overlooked by men. Not sure how to get in contact with her office, but Sister Wixom was just added to the temple and family history committee. Perhaps she'd be sympathetic to a mother? I don't have any direct contact info, but if you could figure out what building their office is in in SLC, you could probably get a letter to her or talk to your stake RS or Primary President to try to give some feedback.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely needs to be addressed. Can a Salt Lake resident help you with some kind of information?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely needs to be addressed. Can a Salt Lake resident help you with some kind of information?
ReplyDeleteI know a guy in the temple department. He's over open houses, but he might also be connected to dedications. I'll pass it along.
ReplyDelete