Oh, and you're assigned to a particular ward/worship cohort depending on where you live. If you move, you're then assigned to a different ward, possibly a different building.

But then when you move, you lose all your church friends? That seems like the opposite of what church is for.

Yay for the gray muzzle dogs. One of the rescues I vol with is specifically for the olds. I think in the future those will be my adoptees.

But then when you move, you lose all your church friends

Pretty much. My LDS in-laws would talk about "Lovely Sister Whozit at the ward" and everything they do together, then they'd move, and Lovely Sister Whozit would never be mentioned again, it would be Dear Sister Thatzit. Theoretically, the entire church is your friend, so you can be friends with whomever you run into at church. They never seem to mind that much, it's just the way the world works. The idea is that your social life will revolve around church activities, so you won't have the need to hang out with someone who's not involved in the same activities you are.

As in any authoritarian organization, people get around this and dare to do things outside of the church circle. The Internet has been catastrophic for keeping people within the group.

I didn't realize the LDS Church was so overwhelming.

In all fairness, Mormonism in Utah is a different beast. And things became more centralized in the 80s. There was a lot more local focus before that. There are local people who miss the old ways.

One of the rescues I vol with is specifically for the olds. I think in the future those will be my adoptees.

Be careful, though. My mother's currently mad at me for adopting such an old cat, since I just described her as circling the drain (poor thing!). In my defense, she's two years older than was advertised.

I live in upstate NY (near the birth place of Mormonism) and it is sort of the same, but not so many Mormons.

And, I got my cat 10 or more years ago, and they said she was elderly and would die soon. I spend years thinking she would die any second, and now she is either 27 or much younger than advertised!

Facing the fact that I'm 30 and I don't know how cook - like, AT ALL? Is not one of them.

A new adventure! I think learning to cook with things like You Tube and the internet in general would be a lot easier. My mom told hysterical stories of her cooking disasters after marrying because she never cooked when she lived with her doting grandmother.

The internet has been the source of many a cooking lesson for me and I have cooked for a really long time.

I'm actually planning on getting my dad an oldie of his own this spring. With his input of course. He's lonely, and he LOVES when Darb comes to visit. He has long ongoing if one sided conversations with her and takes her for walks when otherwise he never walks anywhere. A little companionly dog who'll hang out and watch birds with him will be really awesome. I'm waiting til winter is over but the older cats and dogs are so cool and so much less likely to be adopted out. Even in a shelter the babies have a good shot but the grays need and have earned a final chance.