To those who came before...We saw you today.

Going to Nauvoo has always been a favorite activity in our family. Over the years we have camped, stayed in bed and breakfasts, hotels and with dear friends; all the while collecting our share of prairie diamonds from the blacksmith shop and Nauvoo Bricks from the brickyard. Today, Shane and Cassie came with me. I went with the purpose of planning for our youth trip at the end of this month.
The town was pretty much empty and there was a cool gentle breeze most of the day. We walked down the "Trail of Hope" and took turns reading the accounts from journals posted along that road. It gave us time to ponder on all those people that built that city from nothing and then had to walk away from it. We went to the Nauvoo burial grounds for the first time... such a reverent place for me. We looked over the tombstones and found infant twin girls, Mary and Martha.It didn't say how old they were when they left this world. We found Joel Scovil, who I had specifically written in my notes to find. His headstone was so worn it had cracked in two. His father ran the Nauvoo Bakery.
I guess I have always seen Joseph and Hyrum and Emma in this town. The regular folks, like me, who laughed and loved and suffered in this place seemed more real this time. I know I have been inspired before but today was different. Maybe it was the lack of crowds or the lack of heat.I don't know why I didn't see them before. An easy and obvious answer is that I am flawed. Other times I have looked at the ways that they lived. Today I saw the people. I saw Joel and Jerusha, Mary and Martha, Rhoda, who died when she was just 16, a mother and infant son buried together...