Brattle Street Elegy: So Many Firsts

I feel really sad about this, but also a little bittersweet. I’ve never been one to feel sentimental about buildings, but this news today has prompted a sweet little trip down memory lane. As is the case for so many of you, that building and all it represented is a critical part of who I am today.

I was baptized into the Church in ’93 as a college freshman, after having had lots of LDS friends in high school and finding I missed their influence after starting school. I remember taking the missionary discussions with the assistants to the presidents from the mission office, which was then in the meetinghouse after cold-calling them and telling them I wanted the discussions.

The couple of years I spent in the then-University Ward were amazing. I met some wonderful people (many of whom, thanks to the internet, I’ve recently reconnected with), and had several amazing experiences that were not only a highlight of my undergraduate years, but also of my spiritual development: my first temple experience, following an overnight ride to Washington, D.C.; my first opportunity to accept a calling and give service in the Church; my first experiences with repentance and forgive￾ess. We had such a great community for so many of those “firsts.”