Dear Mom,
Good gracious child! Where to start? We have definitely had our ups and downs. It was inevitable for us to fight while I was growing up because we are the exact same person. Aside from the musical and weird sense of humor I inherited from dad, I got your stubbornness, leadership skills, outgoing personality, loud and maybe a little crazy genetics. Thank you! I love that I am my mother's daughter. Thank you for being my mom!
Thank you for teaching me how to swim when we lived in AZ. Thank you for signing me up for singing lessons. Thank you for being so supportive with all my choir and drama stuff. Thank you for staying up late and helping me sew my "towns person" outfit. Thank you for making an effort to have girls night with Kenzie and I. One of my favorite memories of girls night was when you took us to see The Proposal. You went to the bathroom as the opening trailers started and came back when the theater was dark. You forgot to pull the seat down and you totally missed the chair almost sitting on the sticky floor. Good thing you have amazing ab and leg muscles so that you a could catch yourself :). Thank you for making me laugh whether you meant to or not (especially when you say funny stuff, "so I says"). Thank you for dancing in the car. I am 99% positive your motives were strictly to embarrass your kids but, guess what? I thought it was awesome (I just didn't want you to know it).
Thank you for giving me educational and creative punishments. Although I am not a good writer, I owe what little skill I have to you. Remember when Terea, James, Russell and I snuck into the trailer up at the cabin. You specifically told us not to but we did anyways. You never would have found out because you and Andie were busy sun tanning on the deck. When I got my foot stuck in-between some bars in the trailer we knew we were in trouble. You came down and pride the bars open with your mother strength and then sentenced each of us to a separate room to write a story as punishment. I now realize you just wanted some peace and quiet and knew we would love spending hours coming up with stories. So brilliant. I am definitely going to use that with my kids.
Thank you for becoming my best friend. I know I can tell you anything and you will always love me. Thank you for all the times you've helped me out of a jam. Thank you for being so goal oriented and for being such a great example to me. Thank you for letting me move to China. It must have been weird to let your first born child fly away to a foreign land. Thank you for all the dinners you've sent home in tupperware that I rarely return. Thank you for being so cool about switching gears between "missionary mom" and "mother of the bride" so quickly. Thank you for helping me plan my wedding. I don't think I endured too much wedding stress because you kept taking it from me...thank you.
I love you with all my heart and I can't believe that I got such an amazing mother! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!!!
Ok, I just read all of these and I will admit I did have ONE tear drop run down my face! I totally didn't remember getting in trouble and having to write stories, shows how much that punishment worked for me, haha! This is so cool! I wish I would have heard about something like this, I guess it's not too late, but then I would have to catch up on my letters. Will you send me the info about it?
ReplyDeleteHello daughter,
ReplyDeleteThank you for making my day,month,year,century. This is the best thing a mother can hear from her children. All those years of tears and wondering if what I was teaching or doing was the right thing. I believe there were a few (many)times when I did not do or say the right thing, and I apologize for that. I don't even remember why or when I said "So I says" I think you guys just made that up and made me believe that I was really saying it.
I think we fought because you were my oldest and when you wanted to try or do something new, I was scared and nervous that you would fail or be upset afterwards. YOU almost always proved me wrong. (You were good at that!)
I loved that you thought it was cool that I would go with you on your drama trip to California. I had so much fun with you there. Whether it was watching you preform, seeing with friends, and wanting me to be part of it.
I would like to start a tradition with my girls and take them to either St. George or somewhere fun. I am saving up to do this.
I think I knew from the very beginning that you were falling in love and not planning on going on a mission. I could hear it in your voice when you would call to tell me about your dates with Calin. I think you totally made the better choice. I am very proud to be your mother and am also proud of you that when you decide you want something, you always go after and achieve it.
In the blog I thought I wrote to you I said that I was very grateful for you and your teaching me. In Relief Society Sister Gardner asked me to share about the time when Pres. Hinkley asked all girls and women to remove all the piercings except for one pair. How I kept justifing it. One day you came to me and asked how I would feel if you had decided to not follow what the prophet had asked of us. I told you that I would be disappointed. You said, "Then Pres. Hinkley must be disappointed in you." Those earrings came out so fast. Thank you for teaching me.
You are going to be an amazing mother some day. I hope you are not moved to far away for me to watch you raise your kids. I love you very much!!!
Love, MOM