Happy Mother's Day.....

....to my mom. On this day I will visit her and tell her in person what it has meant to me that she is my mom and thank her for teaching me well. There are some things I fall short in like housekeeping, charity, service etc.....but these are the things I admire in her but I am grateful that she gave me the opportunity to take piano lessons. I think of her each time I play the piano in Relief Society or Primary and I'm so grateful to her that I got to have that music in my life. My piano teachers were dreadful but they got the job done. I'm sure they were fine ladies but I only knew them as stern teachers that "made" me learn and I'm grateful for Piano Teacher mothers that know how to drill it in. I'm also grateful to my mom for allowing me to spend my summer of 7th grade walking up to the Woodward Annex to take typing lessons from Mrs. Empey. As I sit here typing, I'm filled with gratitude that I have this skill and when I fall short on other skills, it always brings satisfaction to my mind that I can type 100 words a minute....so thanks to my mom and these teacher moms. There's lots more I could mention....she taught me to wear lipstick every day and a nightgown to bed and to always be well groomed (not sure why she didn't want me to shave my legs) but I try to be like her and look nice (at least out in public).  She is a wonderful example to a lot of people and she was shown that in the recent birthday party we had where over 100 people showed up at her house to tell them that they love her. There are a lot of self-help books on mothering but the best lessons come from our own moms. Because she loved me and gave me her all, I wanted to do the same for my own. I remember wanting to share every minute of their cute little lives with her and I called her a lot for advice but mostly, all we want from our moms is validation. She always gave me that and I always felt she loved my children as much as I did. She helped me through the toughest of times when Scott was sick and she was there for me in some happy times when we traveled to Europe as he wanted to get some of that whilst he was young so she tended my kids a lot or I should say, loved my kids a lot while I was gone.  She always felt my joy and pain in love and lost love, crying with me for days when we Scott and I broke up and rejoicing when we married and she still hurts for me because he is gone but is also happy with me that I've found love again. We mothers kinda live our lives through our children by default. She always welcomed my friends, most of them. If there were some that weren't good for me, somehow I knew it. She still prays for me today, well actually for all of us even the greats and the grands. She's a woman of faith, endurance and a heart of gold and has given us her all for a whole lot of years. Love you mom......thanks for teaching me how to "mom" these kids.....

They are awesome kids....none of them are half-baked. Not sure why I said that but they are well done and well rounded and are wonderful parents themselves. They all have perfect spouses....well no not perfect but perfect for each one of them and that's so important to a mom. All I ever wanted was happy children and right now, I think they all are. I'm sure they have tough times, but they work through that because they have each other.  They all know I'm willing to do anything I can to help them just like my mom did for me.

My "in-town kids" took me to lunch for Mother's Day.....and I loved it. It's all a mom wants is a little of their time....They all have such busy schedules and I was very honored to have lunch at Benja's on them. They all have more money than I do so I was totally willing to oblige their generous offer. It was good to get caught up as there still are some things I don't hear about. I get a lot from Instagram and Facebook but not everything, It's good to hear it from their own mouths. Thanks to my kids and Annie for a lovely Mother's Day lunch. Yearly tradition, I hope.
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I pay tribute this day to my daughters and daughters-in-law for the wonderful moms they are to my.......

....... ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL grandchildren. Nothing brings me more joy. I could fill my blog with all the joy they bring to me.

One that is coming and I'm enjoying the anticipation of this day,is when they will all wear their shirts and stand in a line on July 24 and be counted as my choicest blessings...all 20 from #1 Laynee who will walk through the DH at high school graduation to little #20 Annie who is just learning to walk. Love them all with all my heart. The thing I love most about all of my grand kids is that they all have good hearts. I love spending time with them and as they grow I can see how well they have been taught in their families. Especially this day, as I write this I have tears in my eyes to think of my two beautiful daughters and the mothers that they have become. I think of all of their life experiences that prepared them for this and the joy they brought me when they were born and as we were raising them...to the joy they bring me now with their visits, talks, phone calls, laughter and tears, high points and low and I pay tribute and honor to them for how they have handled life's ups and downs. They are raising their children in honesty and integrity. Their children will be ready to enter the jungle out there.

I'm grateful to the mothers that raised the men in my life, Ada Workman Sullivan, Hannah Hegsted Wells Rose and Josephine Jones Reber. I'm grateful for the association I had with them before they died and saw firsthand why they raised such wonderful sons. I learned many lessons by each of their examples. And last, but certainly not least in this post......I honor my therapist, my best friend, my counselor, my partner in a life of mischief.....my sis.

No other person knows me like her....since we have been together since forever.  Don't know what I'd do without her and as she faces some health trials, I want to do all I can to help her. Happy Mother's Day to my best friend sister, Joyce.
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To generation after generation of women we give honor this day....some who have no children of their own but influence a world of children. I'm proud of my mother's hands and I can see 90 years of love and service in every knot, wrinkle, and age spot.  Hands that held my forehead as I leaned over the toilet to throw up. Hands that crushed up pills because I couldn't swallow them. Hands that rubbed Vick's on my chest and sometimes a mustard plaster, ew... Hands that baked bread, and made butter and a gazillion pies cakes for a life of Sunday afternoons. Hands that not only fed us but most of St. George. But mostly, these hands held my children and helped me love them into the people they are today.

THANKS MOM.....FOR BEING MY MOTHER. I THINK YOU DID AN AWESOME JOB AND I'M SO VERY PROUD TO CALL YOU "MY MOM". HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY. I SURE DO LOVE YOU.