PLS 2019: Vaughn
Like many people, I have a way of associating my friends with certain phases in my life. I’ve known Vaughn since at least junior high, when we were in the same French class with Madame Sharp, and later we worked on the newspaper staff together in high school. But I associate our friendship with the time we spent in the University 32nd ward, specifically during a stretch when we were both done with our bachelors degrees, still a year or two out from grad school, and wondering what to make of jobs that generally paid the bills, but didn’t feel like where we were supposed to be.
It was a tough stretch on many levels, and it helped to work through it with such a kindred spirit (a spring temple trip to St. George in the middle of that run remains a fond and vital memory for both of us). In time, we made it to our “next stages,“ which in Vaughn’s case included a couple of years in my old mission stomping grounds, attending Northwestern University in Chicago’s near north suburbs while I wrote for his old student paper at Utah State. But whatever stage we’ve encountered in the time since, it’s always built on that friendship, whether playing pickup basketball in Woods Cross or catching up over lunches like our recent get-together at Charlie Chow’s a few weeks back.
As we waited for our food, Vaughn delivered the unsurprising news that he’d been called as bishop in his Farmington ward, and we talked about how he was integrating his new responsibilities with life as a husband and father, and his daytime hours in marketing communication (another common intersection from our past). He’s come a long way from our conversations in the YSA era, and I’m sure the people in his ward are enjoying the benefits of his experience.
