Grateful Friday

I am grateful for motherhood and mothers.

My mom is amazing.  She is a force for good in the world.  She stares down trouble with faith and optimism and she has way more confidence in her children than we probably deserve.  She is constantly looking for ways to serve and help her children and grandchildren and she adopts people into her realm of care that need her as well. I remember visiting people with her when I was growing up.  Again and again we visited a widower who was lonely, a woman in poor health.  My mom would bring her homemade bread or rolls and cheer.  I remember waiting in the car while she delivered food to a newly widowed mother.  Her brand of goodness is imprinted on my mind of what a righteous woman is.  It's hard to live up to, but I appreciate the example.

She is an irreplaceable role model for me and I'll always be grateful to her.

There are many mothers I appreciate though.

I'm grateful to Geri for raising a fantastic son.  I'm grateful for the grandmother she is to our children.  They love her and feel loved by her.  She plans for fun and it happens.

I'm grateful for our grandmothers and our grandmothers' mothers and all the strong women we are descended from who made choices that brought me to be born in a land of opportunity and happiness.

I'm grateful to my sisters.  We are in the trenches of motherhood together and talking to them about all the things is the ultimate judgement free zone where I get empathy and good ideas and reality checks.

I'm grateful to my friends who have been shining examples of motherhood.

I'm grateful for the women who have mothered our children:  the primary teachers and seminary teachers and YW leaders and camp leaders.  I'm grateful to the school teachers (drama teachers! Emma's French teacher!) who have wrapped our children in a loving safe place where they can learn and be themselves and have fun.

I'm grateful for the women that mothered Braeden on his mission.  I can't think about Stella and Rebecca who stayed with Braeden in the hospital while he was so far away without tears filling my eyes.

I'm grateful for Amy, Anna's stellar mother.  She raised a fabulous daughter who blesses our family.

Finally, I'm grateful I get to be a mother.  It's not easy and sometimes it feels like the worst.  Mostly though, it feels like the gift that it is.

May 2010