Thank you!

Mother's Day used to be such a hard day for me, it got to the point that I refused to go to church on Mother's Day Sunday.  I couldn't bear the thought that I may never enjoy the club that they call motherhood, nor the joy and privilege that our church teaches that it is (and it is a joy!).  I still can't help but think of all those women who have spent the day crying over the children that they want, my heart still aches for them. But my heart is also full of gratitude to all of the women who have formed me into the mother that I am.

As time goes on I have realized more and more what an amazing mom I have and how Lucky I am to have the privilege to be her daughter.  Now that I am a mother myself I understand better the sacrifices she had to make to be the mother that she was/is.   It is a passed along story in our house that she wore the same sneakers for years (unfortunately it has become somewhat of a joke, mostly because of her modesty about the situation), which eventually got holes in them and the reason they had holes was because she sacrificed getting new shoes so that we could have the things that we needed.  The significance of this never struck me until recently, I just thought it was a nice story.  Money is TIGHT for us right now, and I have had to make many tough choices and sacrifices for the good of our family. There have been many times in the last year that I have felt bad for myself because we don’t have any discretionary income, and then I think of my mom.  She never complained or made us feel bad that she had to sacrifice the things that she wanted and sometimes needed  so that we could have the things that we needed and on occasion wanted.  I always wondered why she was never very girly, a.k.a not much make-up, no fingernail polish, spas, massages, tanning etc… and it struck me the other day when I wanted to splurge on a bottle of fingernail polish, she couldn’t afford it even if she wanted too!  I had never thought about this, she was always just my practical mother and I never thought of  the fact that she may have wanted to and just couldn’t afford to. It came rushing to me how much she sacrificed just to be my mom!  

It wasn’t just the material things either, I only have one child and the time it takes is sometimes overwhelming to me, I can’t imagine eight of them running around!  She rarely yelled at us except for the one time she told us to “go clean our damn rooms!”  when we were supposed to be leaving on a trip J I can’t imagine the physical toll that it must have taken  raising so many children it seems overwhelming just thinking about it. 

On top of that our house was always presentable and clean, and the place for all of the neighborhood kids to be.  We always had a homemade, hot meal on the table for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  She is constantly thinking of others over herself, happy to quietly serve in the background without any glory or praise.   Her and Travis hit it off right away and have a great relationship.  On top of all of this, she is one of the wittiest people I know, she knows how to laugh at herself and a good joke, she has a quirky side that few people see but will make you laugh until you can’t stand it anymore, she gives 110 percent to whatever she does and she is so fun to be around and loves her family!

So for all of this and so much more and even though you are half a world away right now, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, I love you mom and I miss you ( only 10 and a half more months!) .

And to Travis' mom:
I have enjoyed getting to know you better in the last seven and a half years,  thank you for raising the son that you did, he is the love of my life.  Thank you for letting us crash your house on Sundays and putting up with me constantly wanting to play games.  I know that Travis appreciates the time and support that you gave to him in all of his endeavors wither it was school sports, art, a mission, or trying to raise his family the right way.

Grandma:

I wished I lived closer to put some flowers on your grave, you raised a fantastic women who in turn taught me what it meant to be a mom.

and last but not least, thank you Travis for giving me the gift of being a mother and working so hard so that I can stay at home and enjoy our daughter!