To "His" Mother

Matt's grandma has this poem in cross stitch on her wall and I've always thought it was kind of sweet. It's expressive of how I feel for Matt's mom, and what I wish I would have taken the time to tell her before she passed away 3 years ago.

To "His" Mother

"Mother-in-law" they say, and yet,

Somehow I simply can't forget

'Twas you who watched his baby ways,

Who taught him his first hymn of praise;

Who smiled on him with living pride

When he first toddled by your side;

And as I think of this today,

Me thinks that I'd much rather say

Just "Mother."

"Mother-in-law" but oh, 'twas you

Who taught him to be kind and true;

When he was tired, almost asleep,

'Twas to your arms he used to creep;

And when he bruised his tiny knee,

'Twas you who kissed it tenderly;

When he was sad you cheered him too,

And so I'd rather speak of you

As "Mother."

"Mother-in-law" they say, and yet,

Somehow I never shall forget

How very much I owe

To you who taught him how to grow,

You trained your son to look above,

You made of him the man I love;

And so I think of that today,

Ah! Then with thankful heart I'll say

"Our Mother."

~Minnie Price~

Dad's day

My dad passed away 13 years ago

today.

Today I'm celebrating my dad.

Today I'm celebrating my family.

If there's one thing I've gained through the trials in my life it is that they've made me a better person. They've made me stronger.

Our family is stronger. The older we get and the more challenges we face, the more we learn from and lift one another.

My dad left an incredible legacy for my family.

I intend to live up to it, and I'm going to need all the trials the Lord has in store for me to develop the qualities I need in order to do that.

I think that's how Dad approached his cancer. Although it defeated him, he let it make him a better person along the way, and he was a remarkable person.

To my family:

I love you. I'll be thinking of all of you throughout this Service Day.

Kathleen

Kathleen Glauser is my mother-in-law of 6 1/2 years.

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But I've known and loved her since I was in high school.

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The weekend of my senior prom, my sister went into labor. My mom was in Utah to meet her first grandchild, so Kathleen came to help me get ready for Prom. (this was not the year I went to prom with her son)

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When we were engaged, she wrote me a letter telling me how much she loved me and was happy I was going to be apart of her family.

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When I was pregnant, she took me shopping for maternity clothes. She and I used to go out to lunch and get pedicures together.

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One time, we learned a duet on the piano and played it in church.

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Two years ago this last week, Kathleen passed away.

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I've been thinking about her a lot lately. I miss her.

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I miss the fun she and I would have had tonight painting our nails and eating ice cream while the men are all off to the Priesthood session of General Conference. I miss all the insight and wisdom she would have given me as my kids grow older, and the world grows darker. I miss her enthusiasm and her excitement for life. I miss the way she smothered my kids with love and attention.

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As much as I love and miss her, I know my heartache can't even come close to that of her husband and 6 sons. My heart breaks for them. They are an amazing family, and I got really lucky to be a part of it.

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twelve years

To my family:

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If there's one day of the year that I wish we could all be together, it's today. I wish we could take flowers to the cemetary together, because we probably haven't all been there together for 12 years. I wish we could do a Service Day project together to honor Dad and all he did to serve everyone around him. I wish I wasn't so far away from the rest of you.

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I feel so far away and disconnected sometimes from all of you, but I feel connected to all of you today. I've had you all on my mind a lot these last few days. I've been pretty wrapped up with my own little life lately- Matt's school, his new job, getting ready to move, keeping up with the kids, keeping up with my calling, etc. I guess what I've been feeling the last few days as I've been worrying about Brian after his ski accident and today marking 12 years since Dad passed away, is that family (meaning all of you as well as Matt and the kids) is really more important than anything else there may be vying for my time.

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I'm grateful Brian's okay. I'm grateful Grandma's home from the hospital. I'm grateful for my incredible husband and our special little family. I'm grateful for all of you. I'm grateful for Mom and the strength and inspiration and amazing example she is to all of us.

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I'm grateful for Dad. I liked how Kerri said it, "He is and always will be my one true hero". That's the way I feel too. I miss him terribly.

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I love you all.

something familiar

Tonight the boys and I were singing Christmas songs from the Primary Children's Songbook. We started singing Once Within a Lowly Stable, and I had a glimpse of something familiar- something about Christmas as a child, and something about my dad.

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I can't pinpoint it exactly. A lot of my childhood years are fuzzy in my mind, mostly those around the time that my dad was sick and passed away. But I had this remembrance of something- maybe of my family gathered around that big upright piano singing songs together at Christmas time, and maybe that was my dad's favorite Christmas song, or maybe that was my mom's favorite, or maybe it has nothing to do with that particular song at all. I've probably sung that song a million times without feeling so emotional over it. . It was something though- something familiar; something sad because I miss him so much and it's getting harder and harder to remember him; something warm and happy because I was sitting there at the keyboard with my two little boys snuggled on my lap in their pajamas with the Christmas tree all lit up next to us; something nostalgic because of the innocence and joy of childhood; something spiritual because we sang about the birth of our Savior.

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It was a glimpse of something I treasure.