I Know It. I Live It. I Love It.

This entry is part of my general conference application series.

I Know It. I Live It. I Love It., by Ann M. Dibb
Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency



It's hard to believe that there was a time when digital cameras weren't around. It feels like so much of my life is undocumented because I don't have thousands of pictures from each year of my life to document every event. Perhaps this is a good thing overall, but right now I'm wishing I had a particular picture.

When I was twenty-one, my younger brother and I would frequent thrift stores searching for "finds," as we called them—clothes from bygone eras that matched our unique style. My favorites were polyester bowling shirts; his were polyester leisure suits. And in case you're wondering, we looked fabulous!

Being a good sport, my father saw our "interesting" tastes and bequeathed to me the find of all finds! (More on this later.) After all, he was a man of good taste in his day (if he's not still!). I submit the following as evidence:

I'm the baby, my dad has a subtle beauty of a shirt,
and my older brother looks amazing in his pant/shirt combo!

You can't deny the awesomeness of this picture
(especially the mustache!). And we match!

Those matching threads came back (with a vengeance)
after my little brother arrived.

This one's not for style, but narrative: we took trips to the
Denver Temple site as a family during its construction.

And here is where I want to include a picture from my early-twenties. One shirt that I received from my father was a ringer T, with a picture of the Denver Temple overlaid with the words, "Families are Forever." While it's not of me, here's a picture of my son in the shirt my father gave me:

I share these pictures, not because they're "hideously beautiful," as one friend once put it, but because they are a part of who I am. In her talk, Sister Dibb told of meeting a young woman with a T-shirt that reflected her belief that read, "I'm a Mormon. Are you?"

Of her reflection on this experience (and the choice to wear a declarative shirt), she said:

I wondered how this young girl from Colorado came to possess such confidence in her identity as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

While perhaps not as direct, the temple/family shirt I loved to wear shared a similar message. I wore it because I was an outgoing, vivacious young adult who was not afraid what others thought of him. Also, I love the gospel.

Sister Dibb suggested what she would figuratively print on her T-shirt:

I’m a Mormon. I know it. I live it. I love it.

Before this session of conference was over, many of my facebook friends had posted graphic designs of this very phrase. I'm considerably slower on this, but here's my submission:

Here's the sad part of this blog entry. I'm too fat to fit into my Families are Forever shirt. While I cannot use my father's shirt to share one aspect of my beliefs with others, I want to live so that my belief in Christ and His restored gospel is apparent to others.

Also, I also feel like I need to find something besides boring-blue for our next family photo:

I'm thinking rainbow paisley...