Last year Mother's Day, for me, was filled with hope and excitement that I
would soon be a mother. Now, the thought of today brings little twinges of pain
to my heart. Instead of focusing on the pain, I want to tell you all a bit
about MY mother.
My Mom is my best friend. I can't tell you how many fights and disagreements
we had before we got to the "friend" point, but now that we're here, I am so
very grateful. I am thankful that I can call her up and tell her about
everything going on in my life and she'll listen and offer advice as needed. My
Mother is a beacon of light to those around her. She is a guide to those who
want to follow her example. She is such an amazingly GOOD person, and is loved
my so many, but mostly by her children.
I was fortunate to have a wonderful childhood. I had a mother who wasn't
afraid to get down on the floor and play with us. She was never afraid to be
silly with us- even in public. She was never too busy to listen to what we had
to say, and could understand our words even if all 5 of us spoke at once. She
loved to teach us to do things. She was a real handywoman. It was not uncommon
to come home and find her building a wall, repairing something, or taking on a
new task most women would make their husbands do. She was always busy cooking,
keeping the house, running us all over town, and tackling literal MOUNTAINS of
laundry, but I always remember when I needed her, she was there.
She taught me to be self reliant. To figure things out on my own. She
wanted us to be strong and to know how to do lots of different things, be it
cooking, sewing, building, repairing walls, cleaning- her idea of clean not ours
:)- grooming, or being selfless/ kind to others. Yet, she knew the world would
continue to grow worse and taught us to have strong morals and values, but to
never judge others. She knew we would have hard times in life and taught us to
turn to our Heavenly Father in prayer when we couldn't do it alone.
She is strong. She has been through many hard times. We lost our baby
sister three hours after birth several years ago. It was hard for us kids, but I
can only imagine the loss my Mother and Father felt that day, and even now. I
haven't had the chance to experience pregnancy, yet, but I know that the
connection between mother and baby is strong during those nine months and the
love is instantaneous. My mother's heart broke that day, and she had a long
period of time where she felt nothing but heartache. To see her come out of it,
or to just try and be strong enough for us kids, taught me that I can get
through anything. That it's ok to cry sometimes. It's ok to grieve sometimes.
It's ok to let go sometimes...
She is an AMAZING woman. She is beautiful and kind, tender and loving,
strong and determined. She is shy, but has never hesitated to speak out to
protect her children or her values. She does not have a "career", but fulfills
the work of raising her children well and passing on her talents and helping
develp ours. She is a supportive wife and mother, constantly giving of herself
without losing the amazing person that she is. She taught us a love for music
and art, something that I cherish to this day. She did and still does all of
this, her only compensation being the love of her family- I hope we can give
back enough.
Today, on Mother's Day, I want to tell her THANK YOU. Thank you for putting
up with my rebellious years, thank you for brushing off those terrible things I
said to you, thank you for seeing through my hard shell and finding the soft
parts of my soul. Thank you for loving me no matter what, for being the kind of
mom they write books about. Thank you for being you. Thank you for finding
spaces of time in your very busy life even now to talk to me. Thank you for
loving my Husband as your son, and for praying for us through both the good and
hard times. Thank you for the mother you will always be for me and the mother
that you are to my siblings. I know that when I have kids, you will have so
much still to teach them, and so much wisdom in motherhood to pass on to me-
yes, I will be calling. Thank you Mommy, for everything. I love you!
To all those women who are mothers, who will be mothers, who want desperately
to be mothers, to the aunts and grandmothers, to the fathers who are mothers
too, to you young girls that will be mothers someday, Happy Mothers
Day!
