Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Mother's Day

As everyone knows Mother's Day was on Sunday. I love Mother's Day. Not because I'm a mom and my family does special things for me, although I am and they do, but because I have the opportunity to celebrate my mother. Celebrating my mother is something I should do everyday but in our busy lives we always think we will get to it later. I am so lucky to have been born to such a wonderful, righteous, beautiful woman. Faye Gullett is a mother like no other. (Didn't mean to make that rhyme!!) I have learned so much from her. My siblings and I had a really fun childhood because of her and my father. Christian spoke at church on Sunday and he mentioned I took him to MGM Studios for his birthday so he could ride the roller coasters and it reminded me of all the times we as kids were taken to amusement parks by my parents. Every year, on more then one occasion, we would have the chance to go to Disney and Six Flags. Fun was always the focus in our family. My mother taught me so many wonderful lessons but the thing she taught me most was how to be a good person. It was never OK to talk about anyone. It was never OK to turn down someone asking me to dance. It was never OK to be ugly to or about my dad in front of her. She taught me that life without the Gospel is a life I don't want to live. The most important thing I've learned from her is no matter what I do in life, no matter how much I may disappoint her or choose a path she wouldn't have, she will always love me unconditionally. She has showed me being a mother is more than just having a child. It's love, patience, understanding. She has said being a mother brings her the greatest joy but also the most intense pain. Our family has had our ups and downs but through them all my mother has stood tall. Sometimes Jason will make a comment about how I'm acting like my mother. Maybe it was something I said that she would normally say or even the tone in which I say it. I know he says it to make me stop and think, uh oh, do I want to sound like my mother?? (Because I do the same to him about his father!) What Jason doesn't realize is I sometimes smile because I feel it a wonderful compliment to be compared to my mom. To be told how much like her I am. We were out to dinner with my dad's family last week. My cousin and her husband came in from out of town so it was me, Jason and Christian, Casey and Mark, my dad, Johnny, Ashlee and Brittney, JoJo, my cousin JJ and his wife Amy, Uncle Jasper (the father of the cousin that came in from out of town) and Lisa and Bill (the out of towners). There was so many of us that we had to sit at separate tables. I was sitting across from Amy and she looked at me and said, you really look like your mom. I was beaming. I think my mom is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen so this was a huge compliment. I thanked her and we went about having our dinner. After dinner I went to the other table to hug my Uncle Jasper (I love him!) and he looked at me and said, you really do look like your mom, you know that? I smiled a big smile and thanked him. I let him know that is one of the greatest compliments he could have ever given me.

Here are a couple of things I really love about my mother:

1. She is beautiful. She has a smile that could light up the world.

2. She is more beautiful on the inside then out. Hard to believe it's even possible but it is.

3. She loves her children. She has a very special relationship with every one of us making us all feel important.

4. She loves the Gospel. She is willing to do whatever the Lord has asked of her.

5. She loves her Father in Heaven. This could go along with loving the Gospel but it's really important.

6. She loves my Dad. She has showed us kids that loving your spouse is essential. They have their times, just like anyone else, but they really love each other and we kids know that!

7. She loves being a Mam-Maw. Just like with her kids, she has a special relationship with all of her grandkids as well.

8. She is the hardest working person I know. She never does anything half way. If she accepts the job it will be done to the absolute best of her abilities.

9. She loves being a mother. Any woman can be a mother. She LOVES being a mother to us. She accepted the position of mother and as the hardest working person I know, has done the absolute best for us kids. And she always does it with a smile.

10. She is one of my best friends. I can count on 3 fingers my very best friends. The people I know I can always count on. Growing up my mom and I had a very strained relationship. Not because of her. It was all my fault. I was a very typical teenage girl who thought she knew it all, even more than her own mother. We fought. We fought real good. I may not have mentioned (cause I was really trying to say all nice things in this post) that my mother has quite the temper. As do I! So when we fought, we really fought. How embarassed I am now as an adult and mother at the way I treated my sweet, patient mother. I can only continue to ask her forgiveness. Maybe we needed to go through that to insure our friendship now would be even more sweet. After everything my mother and I went through when I was younger we have managed to come out the other side as best friends. My world would be devastated if I ever lost her because I would be losing not just my mother but someone I trust in, believe in and confide in.

Mom, I love you so much. You are the reason I am the woman and mother I am. You have taught me so much. I love to follow your example and pray my daughter and I will one day have half the relationship you and I have. I hope I can pass on the importance of the Gospel in our lives. I hope I can teach her that family is everything. I hope I can teach her to be the woman that you are!!

2 comments:

  1. I can't handle this. You've got to stop with the emotional stuff. I turn into mush and my makeup is not waterproof! But you're right, she's a GREAT mother and a GREAT friend!

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  2. I think your mother is a wonderful woman as well. I have enjoyed getting to know her and am grateful for her friendship and support in Primary. You truly are blessed.
    Beautiful daughter by the way.

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