My Mom

As I write this I’m sitting with a 1/2 gallon tub of Blue Bell Ice-cream, Moo-llennium Crunch, yum! It’s so good. I think my love for ice-cream is genetic. I remember as a kid my mom eating lots of ice-cream. The best was when the Schwan’s man came and delivered Chocolate Malt. It was smoothe, creamy and melted so nicely, something I didn’t fully appreciate until now where at the age of 33 I have now tried my fair share of ice-cream and mom was right, Schwan chocolate malt was the best. My mom doesn’t indulge herself in personal pleasures, ice-cream is one of the few, rather she’s always spending her mental and physical energy helping those around her. There is never a shortage of people in need. 

Sometimes I hated how much she helped other people, I wanted her attention, but I’m also proud of her service. Everything she has done for others has also given her valuable life experience in which she is now able to offer me profound wisdom because of her diverse expierence helping others. So I guess in a way her helping others back then is actually helping me today. 

Another huge blessing in my life that constently helps me is music. I find a song will turn my mood, my thoughts and give me answers I didn’t know I was looking for. Growing up we often drove from Madera to Fresno and while on these trips we almost never listned to the raido but cassette tape or cd’s. We would listen to the same music over and over again. If it was something my mom liked and enjoyed you can probably bet I still have it memorzed to this day. Phantom of the Opera, Les Meserables, Charlotte Diamond, Saturday’s Warriors, Joseph and the Technicolored Dream Coat, Disney music and various LDS Albums. There are songs I haven’t heard in 20 years, I still remember them. This music isn’t just important to me but it’s become important to my children too. I love hearing them sing Charlotte Diamond’s “Oh I Wanna Be a Dog” and “Looking for Dracula” just like I did when I was a kid. My mom is fun and isn’t embaressed by silly theatrics. I can imagine her bouncing in the car at the steering wheel with her tounge out panting like a dog- ‘hhhe hhe hhe” 

I honestly don’t remember much of my childhood. My mom is always telliing me stories of things she like to do with us kids and either she did it with my older siblings or I just don’t remember. But I can imagine her doing all the fun things she talks about. We’re a lot alike, even my dad in watching me parent has told me how simular I am to my mom. I love to put on music and dance with my kids, have a singing competation or pretend we’re pop stars, play board games, make up silly stories, read them books in an animated way and turn boring things into a game. I believe I’m this kind of parent because it’s the way I was parented. I don’t know anything different and even if I don’t specifically remember doing all of these things with my mom it’s still apart of who I am as a person. 

One of my favoite things about my mom is her love for God. She has given me a testimony through her example. I remember watching her color and mark up her scriptures as she read. I thought that people were just supposed to color as they read so they knew what they read. I didn’t know the marking had a purpose, I just knew my mom colored a lot when she read the scriputes so I did too. It took FOREVER but I colored each line a different color when I finished reading it. My Book of Mormon was becoming a rainbow. But it was taking way too long to read because I had to keep changing the pencil color and fill in the line I had just read. Eventually I gave up coloring each line and also learned that wasn’t the way you’re supposed to mark scriptures. Years later my mom told me how my old rainbow scriptures were used as a back-up for the seminary students. Hopefully they enjoyed my art, it did take me awhile. 

There are so many stories I can tell about my mom but there isn’t time for that so her are just some highlights-

Sewing costumes and quilts, canning food, surprises, holiday decorations, creativity and innovation, poems and stories, family history, photography, gardening, charades-SKUNK or PLATAPUS??, Christmas caroling, following the spirit and always striving to be more perfect. 

Happy Birthday Mom, I love you!