A Mother's Day Tribute

I am going to pause from telling my China experience to giving a tribute to my mom on this beautiful Sunday morning.

My friend, Kk gave her farewell today and she asked me if I would share a story about an experience I had with my mom for her talk. I told her I would and I thought for a couple of days of what story to give her. My mom and I have lots of stories, but as I was looking back there were two that stuck out so clearly in my mind. They are not extravagant stories, but more of the insignificant moments that really mean the most to me. I thought that I would share them on here. :) Happy Mother's Day Mom! I love you!

Story 1:

I had been up in Provo for the last 5 months and was getting used to living away from family and becoming independent. However, one Sunday I had had it. I was sick of my roommates, I hated classes and I was having a hard time finding peace and happiness. I called my mom and just started to cry. I complained about the messy apartment, how my roommates were driving me up the wall, and anything else negative that I could muster up. After talking to her for a while, she calmed me down and then made a suggestion. She asked, "Do you want me to come up and help you clean for a little bit?" This caught me totally off guard. Sometimes talking to my mom is hard, and awkward, but when she said this I cried and told her yes. After church, my roommates had all gone to dinner with a roommates grandparents. I stayed home. Mom came and brought cleaning supplies and a helping hand. Not only did she bring that, but she brought my favorite cookies, and some dough to make bread and pizza later that week. I was truly touched. We cleaned together and just talked. After we had finished I thanked her and she left. This was one of the simplest things my mom has done for me, but it meant the world. It has been hard being away from her, but when I see her she always has her arms out ready for a hug. She is very wise and willing to tell me advice, I also love to talk to her and hear about the funny things that she has to say. Our relationship has not always been solid, but I am so grateful for the example of selflessness that she has.

Story 2:

This is probably one of the most memorable things I have done with my mom. It is nothing extravagant, in fact it is pretty insignificant. One day in high school, when we had a day off, my mom invited me to go to Costco with her. I love Costco and I love grocery shopping with her. So away we went. Little did I know that my mom would ask me some questions, and I actually talked to her about what I was really feeling about college, high school, friends, boys, everything. She would ask me a couple questions and then would let me talk. She barely said anything, but would put her two cents in here and there. We finished our shopping and went home. The next Sunday we were asked in Young Women's what the best thing that happened to us that week. I thought about it and could not get anything, and then I remembered, I got to go to Costco with my mom. My leaders and friends laughed when I told them that, I laughed too, but it is one of the only times that I can remember actually enjoying myself doing the simple things.

As you can tell by my two stories both my mom and I have a simple relationship. We don't do extravagant things to get to know each other better. We find the happiness in the simple things in life. I am so grateful for my mom and the love she has for each of her children. She tries to do things with each of us personally in order to learn and grow closer to that child. She has been one of my role models, and I want to be just like her when I am a mom, and I will probably look to her every step when I try to raise one of my own chitlins.