Happy Mother's Day!

Bill's mom, Barbara.

Miracles are mirrors of your love
Open as spring windows to the breeze.
The child will in time a sailor prove,
Holding course as wind and will might please.
Eventually, what is left is beauty,
Resonant with what was never sung
'Twixt the wonder and the sense of duty,
Salient as a word on silence hung.
Dear as life is, there is something dearer,
A truth that near dissolves as we draw nearer,
Yet is what is once tales of time are wrung.

I remember as a young girl of about 10 years old singing in sacrament meeting on Mother's Day. We sang the primary song "I Often Go Walking" and I, looking down in the congregation, could see my mom sitting in her pew. I remember feeling a surge of emotion and love for her and I began to cry. Because of this experience I still feel the complete and unconditional childlike love for my mom when I hear this song. I was reminded of this memory when our ward primary sang this song in church today. Although Erin and Shannon are both in the primary neither one would stand to sing. They get too nervous to be in front of a crowd. I have learned that forcing them to sing only makes it worse, so I enjoyed them sitting with me while I allowed myself to stroll down memory lane.
My mom raised us alone. My dad was killed in a car accident when I was barely three. My sister, Daniela, was about 20 months old, and my mom was pregnant with my brother, Neal. I don't know how she did it. My idea of single-parenting is Bill being on a business trip for a week. Although I will never fully comprehend the sacrifices she made for me, I will always be grateful. Times were hard. I certainly wasn't the perfect child, but my mom loved me anyway.
Now the years have passed and I am a mom myself. Raising kids has a way of teaching you about the past. I can see more clearly the things my own mother did for me, things I took for granted or never even noticed in the first place. I can appreciate having the "meanest" mom on the planet and it is amazing how much my mom has learned over the years. LOL. So to my mom, if you are reading this, I love you. You did a great job. You loved us and raised us under tough circumstances, you worked hard to earn money, you educated yourself and graduated from college, and you gave us good morals and values. I have learned the lessons you taught, or most of them at any rate, and I am a better mom myself because you are my mom.
No tribute to mothers would be complete without my tribute to my mother-in-law. She is a wonderful woman and worthy of all the praises I could sing. I love her more with each passing year and I am grateful to be a part of her life. The kind of man her son is speaks volumes to the kind of mother she is. I look to her as an example and a woman of many wise words. She is like a navigation star; you can chart your course by her and never go astray. I love you, my "adopted" mom!
To all the amazing women in my life, whether you are a mom yet or not, I love you and Happy Mother's Day! I am most certainly a better mom because of the many strong and beautiful women in my life who keep me grounded and pointed in the right direction! You are my inspiration.