For Mothers Day

I've had a nice Mother's Day. We went to church, and my greatest gift was that we were on time!!! Only, we still weren't early enough to get a seat IN the chapel (small chapel). Spencer cried because we had to sit on the hard seats in the back... again. I only stayed up until sometime after 1a.m ironing clothes, laying out socks and shoes, packing the diaper bag, etc. to make sure we could have a smooth morning. ... guess it worked?

My gift? Well, Brian brought me flowers, very sweet. He actually brought them a few days ago, because he knew he'd be swamped this weekend. They're still lovely. Samantha "wrapped" up a binder clip and a hair elastic, with some curly ribbon. How thoughtful. And Spencer handed me a half-eaten, half-melted Hershey's kiss in the hall at church, then proceeded to wipe the other half of it all over his light tan suit. ha!

The REAL gift deserves a post all its own, when I'm on the right computer where I can upload pictures of it. But... since I'm not on that computer and don't intend to go get it. Well, I'll just tell you the excitingness.... It's a PIANO!! A digital piano, with so many fancy fun gadgets. How fun and exciting and wonderful! Okay, so it's not really a Mother's Day gift, per se. But I'm calling it one, since we got it this weekend (trusty old craigslist does the job yet again), and it makes the day seem so much more exciting. We'll have to do some rearranging in the living room to make it fit along with everything else. But it's soooo worth it! I can't wait to start playing again, and I want to start teaching Samantha, and recording sheet music of some of my arrangements. Oh so many plans! :)

Well, so I hope every mother (and woman) I know and love was able to feel loved appreciated on Mother's Day. In London, I liked that they called it "Mothering Sunday" -- seems to express so much appreciation for ALL the women who love and nurture and strengthen... and "mother."

I've never done this on my blog before, but tonight I want to write a little tribute to MY mother. Here goes...

My mother, Karen, is the oldest of ten children. (One brother died as a baby, she still remembers him). She was raised in Illinois until she was 13 years old. Her parents separated, and her mom took the kids (there were 7 then) and drove across the country to settle her family in Idaho and be close to members of her church and faith. I imagine making a journey like that and my jaw gapes open in amazement... single mom, one car, SEVEN kids, no home to go to, all their stuff. Wow. Okay, so that's more about my grandma than my mom. But still... amazing.

So, my mom's parents got back together within a few months, and had two more children together. My mom remembers taking care of the little ones while both her parents worked a lot. She's such a fun storyteller, I love hearing stories about her times growing up. She jumped over a lethal copperhead snake on her way to school when she was little once. She almost choked on an ice cube once. She tipped over on a chair backwards once. Her dad tethered her to a tree when she was a toddler -- his way of babysitting. Her mom threw her a surprise party for her birthday EVERY year, for years and years, and she was ALWAYS genuinely surprised! She got really sunburned on the backs of her legs when she was thinning beets one summer. All these seem like ordinary incidents, but the way she TELLS them makes them wonderfully entertaining stories. Ask her about getting hit in the nose by a hairbrush, or getting rolled under the bed on her birthday... Good stories. Always.

My mom worked hard as a teenager, and she had really good friends at school. She met my dad when she was 16. They dated for 2 1/2 years and my dad joined the church. They got married when she was 19 and he was 20. He was drafted into the military shortly after they were married, and served for a year in Vietnam. I think about how hard that must have been for them to be apart, wondering if they'd see each other again.

My parents didn't have children easily at first. They were married almost five years before my oldest brother came along. My mom talks about how she didn't even know she was expecting her first baby, because they had been waiting so long. But then... five children later, she was "The Mom."

Is this getting long? I want to tell about how fun it was to have such a great mother in my life as I grew up. She was always teaching, taking advantage of every opportunity to help us learn something new. She made me feel "smart" by teaching me whatever was interesting to me at the time, then "showing me off" -- letting my spout my newfound knowledge to whomever would listen. ha! One summer, she and her best friend set up "tours" to several places in our town to show us kids what "jobs" people do... We toured the police station, the fire station, the Albertsons bakery, the television station, etc., just 6-8 kids and our moms. What a cool mom, eh?! She also let us swim in our little ditch behind the house (we called it "the canal," even though it was only a few feet deep). And she let us climb trees and ride bikes without telling her where we were going and when we'd be back (within reason). She sang a "good morning" song to us every morning, and started each day with a cheery smile ... even those EARLY mornings.

When we were teenagers, she made our house "party central" -- where all our friends wanted to come hang out. She baked goodies almost nightly (brownies with nuts, and a fresh glass of oj was my favorite treat). She was a fun hostess and friend, without being too "overprotective" or "motherly." She encouraged us to be involved in school activities, to perform in public, to share our testimony and serve other people. She really trusted us as her children, and believed in our potential to do good things with our talents. I don't think she ever said, "I want you to grow up and be productive, contributing citizens who make a better society." But she showed it, by her interest in us and her enthusiasm for our accomplishments. She still does, in fact. If you ever look at my comments here on the blog, you can tell she's my biggest fan. What a treat!!

Most of you know I'm the only girl in my family. I have four brothers -- two older and two younger. If my youngest brother were a girl, they were going to name him Hailee Ann. But he was Trent, instead. (And I love him and wouldn't trade him for a Hailee now, of course.) Well, for years after Trent was born, I kept praying they would have just one more baby, because I sooo wanted a sister. Didn't happen. So, no sister for me.

I can tell all of you who have sisters, you really do have something special, something you shouldn't take for granted. There is nothing quite like a sister; I know because I don't have one. But don't feel sorry for me. Even though I feel bad about that sometimes, I have a mom who is and always has been the dearest sister to me. Once, when I was 12 or 13, I asked her -- a bit self consciously -- if she and I had been the same age, and she had known me when she was growing up, did she think she and I would have been friends? I was a little embarrassed to ask, but was needing some validation (remember middle school? enough said.) Well, she wrote me the sweetest letter about how wonderful she thought I was, and how she DEFINITELY would have been friends with me. She told me all the sweet, good things we had in common, and all the fun things that she admired about me. What a boost to my teenage confidence.

I've cherished the kind words of that letter, and believed them. I have realized that with time and experience together over so many years, my mom and I have really become best friends -- like sisters. She doesn't even give me "motherly naggings" anymore... does that make sense? I mean, I don't even curl my hair, but she never says anything about it. ha! :) We know we're different and I think we appreciate those differences and learn from each other. She's the person I call when I've had a rough day with the kids. She's the one who gives me "the latest" about all the goings-on in our family. She "gets" my jokes, puts up with my whinings, and sends me care packages. She gets excited when I find a good deal at a thrift store, and thinks it's hilarious that I love the colors orange and yellow, just like her!

Wow. I just love her to pieces. She is a remarkable woman who sometimes doesn't give herself enough credit. (We all do that, don't we?) But I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful mother. Especially now that I'M a mother, I appreciate her ever so much more. Thanks, Mom, for being my sister and my friend, and my mother.

A few pictures of my mother dear... Oh, and these are all off the "old" computer, so, well... they're older pics. But she still looks just as lovely!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

Love, Kamalaine.