Shattered Dreams
Chapter One
As we were growing up, polygamy was the ruling tenet of our lives.
This "Celestial Law" was so integral to who we were and what we were
trying to accomplish that most often, we referred to it simply as
"the Principle." Everything else we were to do or not do, be or not
be (a great deal, as it turns out) was ancillary to this: men were
to have as many wives and as many children as they possibly could
during the few years they walked this Earth. It was upon the
conclusion of those trying, earthly years that we would all reap the
divine rewards for our obedience to the Principle.
As children, we were not just taught to honor the Principle, we were
taught to claim it as our birthright. We were born into it; no
conversion was necessary. "You are God's chosen ones, his special
children of the covenant" we were told at home and at Sunday
meeting, during visits to and from friends, and in all the
literature we were allowed to read. We consequently viewed with
great suspicion the few strange souls who occasionally tried to join
our ranks from the outside. More likely than not they were mere
deviants, men who g ... read full excerpt from: Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife ebook
