I remember one cold night in November 2015, I was reeling and writhing in pain from the LDS church’s policy change on same-sex marriages and the children therein. I was hurting from crumbled dreams and hopes of raising an LDS family in the gospel with my future husband.

I called mom and asked to chat for a bit. I expressed my hurt and she listened with an empathetic ear. We talked of perspectives, of sides, of opinions, of being right and wrong, of morality, of choices, and of choosing to believe. She told me that I’m the one that must look in the mirror at night and be OK with myself, no matter what any other person said or thought. She told me that I had to live my life, that no one else could. I gained a lot of strength from her words.

At the end of our conversation, she said “I feel your hurt.”

She said “I love you so much, and if I were there, I would wrap my arms around you and hold you. I would sit you on my lap and run my fingers through your hair, and I would read to you:

I love you to the moon.

Well I love you to the moon and back.

I love you to infinity.

Well I love you to infinity, and back.

“Then I would tell you:

I love you forever, I’ll love you for always. As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be

“as I rock you back and forth, back and forth.”

Quotes taken from “Love You Forever” by Robert Munsch.