My Angel Mother

" All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my
angel Mother" ~ Abraham Lincoln



That is one of my all time favorite quotes, and this is my favorite picture of my own angel mother. Isn't she lovely? (And, yes, that chubby little baby is me.)

I'm one of those lucky people who have a true saint for a mother. She is the most pure in heart person I know. She is humble, selfless and close to the spirit. She was the perfect parenting model - even though I'm afraid it didn't take too well with me - she was tough, but extremely nurturing. She was strict but loved us unconditionally. We could always talk to her and come to her with our problems - she was our safe place to fall. She always had great advice and the perfect quote for any occasion.

When I was growing up, my mother always hated Mother's Day. She said she didn't deserve to be honored, that she felt inadequate as a mother, which was a complete mystery to me at the time - even as a kid, I knew she was an exceptionally good mother. But of course, now that I'm a mother I understand why a mother would feel that way.

My mother is an eternal optimist, she can find the bright side to virtually any situation. My mom is a full time college professor as well as a full time caregiver to my dad who's had both legs amputated due to diabetes and is on dialysis and has lost much of his sight. When I called recently to tell her about my own diabetes diagnosis, she cried a little and then asked me why I wasn't more upset. And I said, "There's no situation so bad that whining about it can't make it worse (Elder Jeffrey Holland) -- I learned that from my mother".

She perked right up and came back with, "The best way to live a long, healthy life is to have a chronic disease and take good care of it". ( - J. Golden Kimball)

And I thought, "Yep, thatta girl, that's the mom I know."

In all things, I strive to be more like her. I can't ever thank her enough for being such a good example of motherhood, my spiritual mentor and model of the kind of human being I want to be.

I love you mom. Happy Mother's Day.