I find myself struggling with focusing on a few memories of Mom. I guess my main concern is this - how can such a wonderful woman, who led such a wonderful life, be given the credit she deserves in just a few stories? How can I truly express the way I feel, and the impact that she had on my life, in sentences and paragraphs? Mom was, to me, an example of a type of person I wanted to be when I grew up. Mom had so many friends, and she did such a wonderful job at making anyone feel welcome. She was an example of a truly charitable person. I remember once when I was in Junior High School - obviously an awkward time for a boy - we had a family move in with us on the farm and stay a while. One person that moved in was a young man that was about three years older than me. This family didn't have much of their own, but Mom simply brought them into the fold. I remember that Mom took, myself, my brother Joe, and this other young man shopping for clothes before the school year started. Mom offered to buy this young man clothes, knowing that he had little or no money that he could use to buy his own. I think Mom recognized the difficult situation this young man was in - moving to a new state, starting a new school, and worrying about trying to find new friends and fit in. Mom selected a pair of jeans for this young man to try on and it so happened that the jeans Mom selected were one of the more affordable pairs of jeans. He informed Mom that he only wore the most expensive type of jeans. I vividly remember thinking, "Oh man! She's gonna let him have it." I waited for Mom to explain to him that we don't always get what we want and if he wanted the more expensive jeans then he could get a job and purchase them himself. I was very surprised when she said not a word and found a pair of the more expensive jeans in his size and purchased them for him. That's just the way Mom was.
I'm sure that I'm not the only one of my siblings to feel this way, because I think on some level we all feel it; but I always thought that my Mother and I had a unique relationship. I was Mom's youngest child and, apparently, an accident. I didn't find that out until I got married and Mom confided in my wife that they didn't plan on having me 11 months after my brother was born. Anyways, one thing that I really felt Mom and I shared was our love for musicals. It's no surprise to anyone that Mom was a prodigy when it came to making crafts. She had a talent given to her by Heavenly Father and she used that talent to benefit others. Mom frequently would enlist me to help her gear up for crafting season. One particular season, Mom created a new Easter Bunny doll. My job was to take some fabric that Mom sewed into tubes, fill the bottom four inches with kitty litter, and then stuff the rest of the twenty inches with stuffing. There was one day that Mom had me stuffing 70 tubes. On that particular day we were watching the classic movie channel and 'The Pirates of Penzance' aired. We watched it together and thoroughly enjoyed it. So much so that three hours later we switched to the west coast channel of the same network so that we could watch it together again. And you better believe that we were singing every song we could remember that second time. That movie still reminds me of Mom. She always supported my love of music and theater. She even made a trip to Rexburg with Dad based on the fact that I was singing in my Ward's talent show. Mom, you and I will always have 'Pirates' and 'Phantom'.
Mom also taught me how to love my future wife. There were a few things that I could count on as being routine my last two years of High School. We had nachos almost every Sunday, two times a week Mom would bring home ribs from Albertson's for dinner, and almost every night I would see my Mom and Dad fall asleep on the couch together holding hands. Mom loves Dad, and she showed it freely while she was with us. During my Junior High days, a very popular song came out by Meatloaf, 'I would do anything for love.' If my memory serves me correctly, Rachael had a cassette with that song on it. We made several road trips that year for sports and I can vividly remember sitting in the back seat of the car behind Dad. Mom would put that cassette in the player and start singing along. When it reached the chorus, Mom reached her hand over toward Dad and would affectionately stroke her fingers through his hair. It's funny the things that we remember, but that memory always makes me smile. I was lucky enough to grow up with a Mother who loved my Father, and through their example I can be a husband that openly shows love for his wife.
Mom was a pillar of strength for me as well, and she was always there for me. I had a really rough patch my junior year in college because my life hadn't progressed to the point that I had always planned it would be at that time. I didn't really share much about how I was feeling with anyone, but I did call Mom and let her know that I was going to drive home for a weekend because I needed a hug from her. I guess that is the best way that I know how to share what type of woman Mom was. I could drive eight hours through horrible snow-packed roads because I knew that one hug from my Mom would make everything better and help me put things in perspective. It hurts me knowing that I can't have those hugs right now in my stage of life, but I look forward to the day when I can once again embrace my Mom and see her wonderful smile and know that things will be OK.
Mom, I love you. You will be missed, but never forgotten.
-Derrick
I'm sure that I'm not the only one of my siblings to feel this way, because I think on some level we all feel it; but I always thought that my Mother and I had a unique relationship. I was Mom's youngest child and, apparently, an accident. I didn't find that out until I got married and Mom confided in my wife that they didn't plan on having me 11 months after my brother was born. Anyways, one thing that I really felt Mom and I shared was our love for musicals. It's no surprise to anyone that Mom was a prodigy when it came to making crafts. She had a talent given to her by Heavenly Father and she used that talent to benefit others. Mom frequently would enlist me to help her gear up for crafting season. One particular season, Mom created a new Easter Bunny doll. My job was to take some fabric that Mom sewed into tubes, fill the bottom four inches with kitty litter, and then stuff the rest of the twenty inches with stuffing. There was one day that Mom had me stuffing 70 tubes. On that particular day we were watching the classic movie channel and 'The Pirates of Penzance' aired. We watched it together and thoroughly enjoyed it. So much so that three hours later we switched to the west coast channel of the same network so that we could watch it together again. And you better believe that we were singing every song we could remember that second time. That movie still reminds me of Mom. She always supported my love of music and theater. She even made a trip to Rexburg with Dad based on the fact that I was singing in my Ward's talent show. Mom, you and I will always have 'Pirates' and 'Phantom'.
Mom also taught me how to love my future wife. There were a few things that I could count on as being routine my last two years of High School. We had nachos almost every Sunday, two times a week Mom would bring home ribs from Albertson's for dinner, and almost every night I would see my Mom and Dad fall asleep on the couch together holding hands. Mom loves Dad, and she showed it freely while she was with us. During my Junior High days, a very popular song came out by Meatloaf, 'I would do anything for love.' If my memory serves me correctly, Rachael had a cassette with that song on it. We made several road trips that year for sports and I can vividly remember sitting in the back seat of the car behind Dad. Mom would put that cassette in the player and start singing along. When it reached the chorus, Mom reached her hand over toward Dad and would affectionately stroke her fingers through his hair. It's funny the things that we remember, but that memory always makes me smile. I was lucky enough to grow up with a Mother who loved my Father, and through their example I can be a husband that openly shows love for his wife.
Mom was a pillar of strength for me as well, and she was always there for me. I had a really rough patch my junior year in college because my life hadn't progressed to the point that I had always planned it would be at that time. I didn't really share much about how I was feeling with anyone, but I did call Mom and let her know that I was going to drive home for a weekend because I needed a hug from her. I guess that is the best way that I know how to share what type of woman Mom was. I could drive eight hours through horrible snow-packed roads because I knew that one hug from my Mom would make everything better and help me put things in perspective. It hurts me knowing that I can't have those hugs right now in my stage of life, but I look forward to the day when I can once again embrace my Mom and see her wonderful smile and know that things will be OK.
Mom, I love you. You will be missed, but never forgotten.
-Derrick
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