Happy Birthday Mom

Okay, so it's Halloween again which means, Mom's birthday! I just wanted to take a minute to write down some of the things that I love about my mom.

She's a good roommate. Paul and I have had the opportunity to live with them a few times since we've been married, all for relatively short periods of time, and it's been great. First, Keith got to spend so much time with his grandma and they truly have a special relationship. Also, I love that we can be living in her house and mom is so wonderful about NOT getting into our marriage. She really understands that a marriage is between the husband and wife and where our marriage begins, her parenting responsibilities end (to a point, of course) and it's not her job to try to "fix" any problems we're having.

She is super generous, and I'm absolutely sure that if she were rich, we would never need for anything. As it is, sometimes I think she's too generous with us, but fortunately I think it has rubbed off on me as I enjoy being generous and giving to others what I can.

She has a great sense of humor. She has the ability to laugh at herself, and take a joke very well. She's also very good at dishing it out! I love when she gets all goofy and we can't stop giggling about silly, unimportant things.

She is a fantastic adviser. I think there's very little that I haven't asked her opinion about when it comes to the major decisions in my life. She gives such great advice and I always know it's coming from someone who not only wants the best for me, but also from someone who is close to the spirit and doesn't take my questions or problems lightly.

She has taught me the value of giving a marriage everything. She truly gave everything to her first marriage, and although I know, she wasn't perfect and of course it wasn't ALL dad's fault, I know she did everything she could before making the decision to save herself.

She is such a great example. I know it's tough for her to have her family not only have zero interest in the church, but kind of blame the church for some things that have happened in her life, but no matter what she continues to be true to what she knows and never stops hoping that one day they will understand.

She's smart! How many people can go to their parents with computer questions?? Not many in this generation. And though I'm definitely not computer illiterate she knows much more about them than I do, and that's awesome!

She still knows how to have fun. I know life is busy for her, even more so than I was a kid (hard to imagine huh?) but there are times when she can just have fun. Ironically, one of my favorite things to do with her is camp (she doesn't care much for camping.)

She treats me like the adult I am while still making me feel like I'm her child and she'll always do what she can to protect me. It's a fine line to walk, but she has mastered it.

She's a great conversationalist. I love that we have reached a stage of life where we can just talk about things. We share opinions and ideas and we can talk for hours sometimes.

Mostly, she's my mom and has been a great mom over the years and taught me some great stuff, the most important being to really love the gospel. I love her very much and hope this birthday is a good one . . . at least better than it was when I talked to her this morning on the phone! Love you, Mom!!