Clayton & Delrena Peterson

What’s your favorite version of the Cinderella story?  Well lets see, there is the classic Disney version with the cute mice.  Only Walt Disney could make us say “cute”, and “mice” in the same sentence.  And there’s the more modern movies with the same story line, such as, “Another Cinderella Story”, “The Prince and Me”, “Ever After”, and so on.

My favorite Cinderella story comes from a children’s book called, “Fanny’s Dream”.  Not very romantic sounding, is it?  Well, it’s actually the most romantic love story, all about a “sturdy” girl named Fanny Agnes that has a dream.  She is going to marry a prince, or at least the mayors son.  So when the mayor was having a grand ball, Fanny knew just what to do.  She went out into the garden to wait for her Fairy Godmother.  She waited for a long time, but the only person to show up was Heber Jenson.  Heber was “cheerful and pleasant and had always liked Fanny, but heavens, he was so…..short.”  He talked about how he needed a wife just like her.  Even with all that moonlight, it took Fanny an hour to give up her dreams of marrying a prince.  After making sure he knew that she didn’t do windows, she decided to marry him.  They worked together, laughed together, had three children together, and rebuilt their house together after it burned down.  Heber knew she had given up her dreams for him, so at least once a day he made sure she felt like a princess.  One night Fanny went out into the garden to pick a melon.  All of a sudden, her very late Fairy Godmother showed up promising to make it up to her and take her away from all it.  She knew just the prince to suit Fanny.  Fanny did not go with her Fairy Godmother, and as she walked into the house Heber asked who she was talking to.  Fanny said it was her Fairy Godmother.  “Ya right,” said Heber, “and I’m the prince of Sahiba.”  “Close enough”, said Fanny, “close enough.”

It was raining when we got to the temple to do the first look.  Clayton’s parents said it was a sign of how their marriage would be.  Of course they were just kidding, but maybe they were right.  Maybe that is what marriage is.  Smiling when it’s raining, laughing when we should be crying, and not expecting perfection.  Sometimes we may smile and say, “close enough”, knowing that we made the right choice.

Delrena & Clayton, you made the right choice!!  Thank you for letting be an onlooker to your sweet love story.   James E Faust once said, “Happiness in marriage and parenthood can exceed a thousand times any other happiness.”  You may not have a perfect marriage ahead of you, but it will be “close enough”.