Summer Morning in the Celestial Room

The Celestial Room of the St. George Temple is a relatively colorful room. Morning light diffuses from three sides, including through the open doors of two small sealing rooms off the south side of the Celestial Room. I stand facing east between two large mirrors, one in front of me and one behind. Then, something unexpected: from the other side of the mirror in front of me, a short, soft burst of laughter. Several seconds later, a door opens and a company dressed in white files out. I position myself in a corner to take this in. First come young women, one several months pregnant, then young men. Older saints come out next. A few of the women tear a little. For a few minutes no one leaves the sealing room, but I know it is not empty. The parents exit, and a minute later, a young couple. She looks full of thought, and his face is glad. Not only do they wear white, like all the others, but they wear priesthood robes, as do I. Close behind them follows their sealer, a man in his sixties or perhaps older, mostly bald and with a robust bearing, the man who initiated that burst of laughter. Contemplating the couple’s robes and the sealer’s priesthood, I at last am overcome taking it all in.