Or maybe Camelot isn’t the right reference? After all, in some versions of the story it is the love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere that brought the fall of Camelot. Or maybe that is the right reference, and I’m the King Arthur and not Guinevere in this story. All I know, is at the end of the day, I’m not the one who rode off into the sunset with a knight in shining armor. In fact, I wasn’t even told I missed the horse to the sunset. I found out the next day that my knight found a new princess, rode off into the sunset, and forgot to tell me. And now I’m sitting here alone wondering what went wrong.

It must be asked, by everyone who has ever had a heart broken, stepped on, and sent down the garbage disposal, what happens after the fall of Camelot? How do you pick up the pieces and move on? Where do you ever find the willpower to try and find love again? I turn to my favorite scripture, the one that seems to be the answer to nearly every dilemma I find in life. Joshua 1:9 reads, “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” I will always have the Lord my God beside me as I start to pick up the pieces and attempt to begin the search again.

Is there a knight in shining armor out there for everyone? Or just for a chosen few? The Apostle Paul declared, “Neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord” (1 Cor. 11:11). And so I must believe that for each man and woman there is an equal awaiting them. Just in my case, he’s hiding really well.

And sometimes the hardest part of moving on is letting go of the past. Whether it be letting go of the dream of Camelot, or forgiving the person who broke your heart, forgiving and letting go is never easy. There are so many times in heartbreak when it is easy to believe and to justify that we don’t have to forgive. The other person truly was wrong and caused us so much pain. Why should we be forced to forgive? Again the scriptures make it so plain and clear that we must forgive. Doctrine and Covenants 64:10, “I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.” Sorry, I’ve checked and there is no footnote that says, “except when he’s broken your heart and gone off into the sunset with someone else.”

Camelot falls and we are all left wondering and hurting over what has happened. But we must pick up and move on. We know we are not alone. We know we can find the strength. And we hope we will again find a new happily ever after.

Good luck, you’re not alone.

Erin M

We have all made mistakes. We all have our shortcomings. And some of ours are more publicly made than others. Sometimes it is a lack of a left hand ring, sometimes it is a divorce, and sometimes it is just something stupid we did ten years ago that we can’t ever seem to escape. Have you ever had your past come back to bite you years after you have repented and moved on? Just when you think you have left it all behind you and become a better person, because of your past someone else comes along and rather unkindly reminds the world of who you used to be. As if somehow it was their job to keep you humble and humiliated.

I think there is no better example of being remembered for your mistakes and not for what she could be than Mary Magdalene. She was devoted to her Lord. She went to the Tomb. She saw the Risen Lord. But there will always be a footnote next to her name linking back to Luke 8:2 “And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils.”

Of all the wonderful things we could remember devils. She believed and saw when no one else would. Mark 16:9-11

“Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.

And they, when they had heard he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.”

How hard it must have been for Mary Magdalene. How hard it is for all of us to overcome our pasts. Maybe we’ll never truly escape our pasts, in spite of being forgiven for our mistakes. But there is one thought that brings some comfort. At least our mistakes and past have not been recorded for history to read in the most famous and widely read book the world has ever known like Mary Magdalene’s were.

Erin M

Let’s start at the beginning, three generations back, when my great-great-grandfather had five children and one mountain in Southern Virginia. Those five children went on to produce over 1,600 currently living descendants. And on that one mountain there is a cemetery, which is filling up with my gene pool.

And therein lies the problem. They only built the cemetery with enough space for 355 more people. But we have over 1,600 more warm bodies who want to get in, so a few qualifying criteria were set. First, “double-stacking” will now be implemented. Double-stacking is exactly what it sounds like. Forget six feet under, we’re going ten feet under. We’re getting in deep dirt for doubles. When you signed up to marry that person “till death do we part,” you are no longer getting a reprieve with death. You will now be buried one on top of the other. This is pushing up daisies two at a time. An all-you-can-eat worm buffet. Tomb sharing. An eternal time share. The eternal double decker bus. When it’s your turn to buy the pine condo, expect to sleep in the basement.

Family members without an eternal sleeping partner are encouraged to consider cremation and be placed in the vault. The family that couldn’t let me forget I wasn’t married in life now won’t let me forget it in death either.

Can’t you just see it now? A whole shelf in the family vault dedicated for the sad little single cousins, maybe even in matching urns, taking up as little space as possible. I picture a shelf in the back with a marble plaque hanging over our heads that reads, “Did not find happiness in this life,” or maybe “Did not return with honor,” or my favorite, “Couldn’t find a date for the big dance so she’s here in cold storage with her cousin.”

How will I explain that one when I finally meet my eternal companion on the other side? “Sorry, but I’m here with my cousin. We weren’t kissing cousins until after we died. And now I can’t shake the guy.”

After all of these arrangements there are a few more rules you must comply with to get a seat on the Family Bus to St. Peter’s. All of the obvious rules — such as you must make your headstone out of the approved type of stone. Graves will be assigned by the Trustees (and no dibs may be called in advance). And last, but not least, you have to pay family dues. Yes, family dues. Apparently birthright and bloodline just isn’t good enough anymore. Now you have to pay to be in my family. And I haven’t paid my dues. Ever.

I guess I will just have to get married and find myself a new family. Preferably one with plenty of room left in the gene garden.

Erin M

Until I find the perfect woman with the perfect man to give me that perfect advice I so badly need, I am left to my own devices. These devices include: online “matching” or dating sites, church activities, general social functions and blind dates. The longer I am single the more I start to realize what the LDS singles culture is lacking — a yenta.

Few people know that the real Yiddish definition of yenta is “busy body,” or someone who knows both parties well. An LDS yenta could really serve some helpful purposes, because, trust me, the art of matchmaking has really gone downhill. A yenta could start with the basics, such as: confirming both parties want a temple marriage, are or are not BYU fans, whether or not football should be watched on Sundays, and determine how much time and effort both parties are willing to put forth into the match. From there it would be the yenta’s duties to find out what “type” both parties are after. Because, in my humble opinion, it is all too often found that a wannabe yenta has set up a man and a woman with all of the forethought of “He’s single, she’s single. Let’s set them up!”

Once the professional yenta has done her (or possibly his) part, it would then be his or her responsibility to create the right first date atmosphere. Preferably one without the matchmaker’s small children running under foot and asking embarrassing questions. A truly qualified yenta would find and plan a first date that caters to both parties’ common interests. All the stress of meeting and dating would be taken off the couple, and true love would ensue.

Alas, I do not see official ward matchmaking callings coming in the near future. Nor do I see community college training courses offering this highly skilled education. So we, the singles of the Church, are left to their own devices, matching websites, and shoe store clerks with perfect spouses.

Erin M