Mothers Weekend

I spent this past Friday "weathering the storms" of Rexburg to spend a day or so with Kenz at Mother's Weekend. We had a lovely time. Wonderful speakers, great luncheon, a truly funny comedy show by "Comic Frenzy" and a service project for the local hospitals. We stayed up late and watched a movie, slept over at Karen Robbin's house, shopped, talked and I made dinner for Kenz and some of her roommates. Incidentally Molly's recipe for Pork Salad was a hit here as well. There were lots of highlights, but one of my favorites never happened. To clarify: McKenzie had apparently nominated me to receive recognition for my "mothering abilities". Perhaps this sounds like a misnomer, but she believed it and worte about it and was chosen. Apparently I was to be recognized at the service project, but we arrived about 10 minutes late and missed the whole caboodle. I knew nothing about it until after we left the building some two hours later and McKenzie exclaimed "I'm just so mad!" She then recounted the story of how she had nominated me for this "award" and I was chosen. I was speechless. I told her I was sorry we had been late.
A simple case of the Livingston characteristic known as "not too pushy-itis" had occured earlier at lunch when I suggested it would be fine to be a few minutes late for the service project. Kenz amiably agreed- end of story. But the rest of the story is that she had not saved a copy of what she had written, they had given "my" flowers away to the fastest taker and that was that,... until yesterday. She tracked down & e-mailed the woman in charge and finally I got to see what she had written. Funny side note" When I told her all I really wanted was to know what she had said that would have caused them to choose me her response was, and I quote:" I'm a good writer mom." I had to smile at that one. I may not have it all- but my daughter is capable of convincing others that I just might..... Here's a copy of what she said for fun. Thank you Kenz. I had a lovely time. You are a joy.
When you're a kid, you don't think of your mom as anything other than your human Kleenex, your comfort blanket during a thunderstorm, and your stop sign when you go too far past the mailbox on your two-wheeler(my mom's neighborhood "boundary" of choice). As I've gotten older, my mother has become much more than those things to me, and moving away from her was harder than I thought it would be. Right before I fall asleep each night I think of her and what she would want me to do the next day to improve myself; what could I do tomorrow to make her proud? I know she'll be my anchor when I feel as if I'm being thrown around in a stormy sea of indecision, and she'll do it with perfect love. She's often reminding me that there's nothing I could do that would make her love me less...what more could a daughter ask for in a mother?My mom was born in Montpelier, Idaho, the third of eight children. She grew up in Burley, Idaho, where she excelled in the drama department at the high school there. She likes to tell us stories about being a small-town Idaho girl (usually involving mischief of some kind...) and all of her adventures with h! er sisters and brother. After graduation she went to BYU, where she me t my dad, Scott Livingston. They were sealed in the Manti, Utah temple in October 1987 and are best friends. She loves scrapbooking, teaching her Marriage and Family Relations class with dad (which she was recently released from because of a primary presidency calling), doing Triathlons, Shakespeare, drawing/painting, and she recently started taking piano lessons. She is close with all of her siblings (6 sisters, 1 brother) and talks with at least one of them daily on the phone. She's also mother to 4 children (including me), and sent out a missionary right before she sent me off to college. Her testimony burns brighter every day and I hope that I can be at least half of the kind of mother she is to us. ***** SIGH*****