Bro. Mansfield Sings Songs of Love

Last night Brandon Flowers was in Philadelphia, so there too was I. This was a solo show, not the Killers, and more intimate, a couple thousand happy people in an 80 by 170-foot room, which happens to be a mile east of the Philadelphia temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which latter structure I highly recommend to anyone with a chance of visiting. Two weeks ago I thought my four tickets would be used by myself, my wife, my teen-aged daughter, and a boy the daughter invited. Then, the naming and blessing of my wife’s new grandchild was scheduled for the day before and 30 miles west of the concert venue. That drew in a daughter and a granddaughter from the Mountain West for a few days, and I lost my date to the Monday night show.

Then some things came up that pulled my daughter away also. The young man was still enthused to go, though, so I asked him to invite along his brother, a recent youthful addition to my elders’ quorum. I tried inviting a friend who with his wife was there with me and my wife and my future daughter-in-law and a son (who was not the future daughter-in-law’s future husband; that’s a different son) the last time the Killers came to Washington, but he had an important all-day meeting he is leading scheduled for today. Though sorely tempted, he did not join me in delinquency. “In my younger days, I would power through, but I probably need to do the responsible thing and get a good night’s sleep.” So, for the fourth ticket I invited the other youngest member of my elders’ quorum. He begins a mission next month serving in the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission, so seeing a Brandon Flowers show would be culturally useful! As we walked up the sidewalk to the Franklin Music Hall, a couple of couples from the other direction joined the line before we did, and then there were a couple more couples behind us, and I felt a little wistful about the night’s abandoned Plan A, but the youthful enthusiasm of my companions was a pretty good alternative. They pulled me much closer to the stage then I would have ventured without them, about 40 feet from the front edge of the crowd.

It was a good show, all it should be. One happy, weird highlight was during a lull between the first and second songs of the four-song encore, I could actually hear my phone ring. It was the son, now a missionary in Kansas City, who had been with me at the Killers concert four years ago. He received a video feed of those last three songs, the stage, the crowd, and his friends with me.

All of this is preamble to the ride home, which on one level is what I was hoping, and why I write today. The future missionary to Nevada sat in the front seat beside me, and we talked for 140 miles while the brothers caught some sleep behind us. With a quarter of the drive left, he asked if I had any advice for him on anything we hadn’t talked about yet, and something came immediately to mind.

“When it comes to romantic ambitions, people often try to keep those things to themselves. They feel self-conscious. Many others will joke about those ambitions, and that leaves people not wanting to be ridiculed, so they keep those things hidden. And that is counter-productive. I think it is one of Satan’s snares to make people feel embarrassed for desiring romance.

“There are two kinds of romantic ambition, directed and undirected. There is the undirected ambition to go on dates, to have a girlfriend, to get married, even though the particular woman on the other side of those things is not yet known. Those are good desires and should not be embarrassedly denied. Directed romantic ambition is finding someone appealing and hoping something more may come. What you will need is to learn and practice effective ways to let someone know you are interested in her and would like to share time with her and see what may come. Be open about such things. Don’t keep it a private secret that you don’t want anyone knowing. I am not talking about moving things along quickly. Romance needs to develop without attempts to rush ahead which will repel.

“Also, many people act like dating is an ordeal. Have fun with it. Getting to know people is a good thing. Time with a woman is pleasant. After my late wife died and a couple years later I was ready to date, it was very nice to spend an evening talking to a woman.”

One reason I was ready with this advice was that the night before, I felt to provide the same counsel to my daughter. Her daughterly reception gave me hope. After providing it again last night to another, I was then asked if I had any other advice.

“Keep up your relationship with your Heavenly Father by always making your Sundays part of your relationship with him, and make tithing always part of your relationship with him, that you have a tithing relationship with your Heavenly Father. There are numerous things we do to build us spiritually. If you will do those two things, tithe and make Sunday holy, the rest should fall into place.”

It was a good show.