I know it’s late for mother’s day and it’s early for
father’s day, but I wanted to give them both a shout out because I’ve been
thinking about how much I love them lately. I love the relationship that I have
with them. It’s much more like a friendship then what you think of as a normal
parent-child relationship. They’ve never
been the type to tell me what I can and can’t do and I’ve never been grounded
in my life (my mom doesn’t “believe” in it.) We have a relationship that is
based on trust and respect, which makes it possible for us to be blunt with
each other, while realizing that it is all out of love. My parents never get
mad if I tell them that I think they’re wrong and they’ve never used “because
I’m the parent and you’re the child” as a reason for anything they ask me to
do. We all respect each other’s opinions even though we don’t always agree. I’ve taken a few classes that we talked about
good and bad parenting while I’ve been at BYU and I have been amazed that I
have had basically perfect parents, not that they’re perfect people. I lived
with them long enough to know their strengths and their weaknesses, but what
makes them nearly perfect is that they are willing to admit that they might be
doing things wrong and work their best to change that. They have set the bar
high for me as a parent someday, no pressure…
Momma:
I love
my mom with all of my heart. She and I have always been close. She is my rock.
She’s the person that I can tell everything and she won’t judge me. She is so
logical. Just the other day I called her and the first thing I said was, “Mom I
just need to vent. I know I’m not supposed to, but I just need to today so can
you just listen for a minute?” Of course she said that she would and she let me
go on and on about all of the dumb little things that were either stressing me
out or making mad. She validated my feelings by telling me that she understood
why I felt that way, but then she helped me see the logical side and made me
feel much better. She believes in me even when it feels like no one else does.
She tells me that I look beautiful even when I clearly don’t and not because
she’s lying, but because she loves me so much that she sees me through a much
more Christ like lens than I or anyone else does.
I love
all of my mom’s weird quirks. She’s literally INSANE sometimes and I love it! I
don’t think people would guess that she’s as weird as she is when they don’t
know her very well, but she is. For instance, one of my favorite memories with
my mom is when we were sitting on the deck of my cabin and she starting shoving
popcorn down my shirt and up my nose and then laughing her head off. I love
that we have that kind of relationship. We can be crazy and out of control, but
then there are the times that I would come into her bedroom at ridiculous hours
of the night sobbing and she would just hold me and cry right along with me.
She’s amazing and not to mention she’s beautiful!
Papanwa:
I love
my dad a whole heck of a lot. He’s one of the hardest working and faithful
people that I know. He is the definition of having your head on straight. He is
the type of person that will do anything for anyone. He basically never sleeps
at night because he’s always busy doing good things. He has always had a really
busy job and most of my life was either Bishop or Stake President and he made
it work. He can get more done in a day than anyone else I know. It’s amazing
how efficient he can be. And even though he’s busy he takes time for the little
things that matter. He has set a very high bar for whoever I end up marrying
someday because he treats my mom like a queen. He also has always taken time
out of his busy schedule for his children. He was always to everything that he
could be. I could tell that our family came first for him. No matter how much
work he has, he will always take time to do whatever we need. He also has been
an incredible example of a worthy priesthood holder. He has literally given me
blessings at any time of day or night. Not to brag or anything but he’s kind of
a superstar.
I have been so blessed with incredible people in my life all
over the place, but they are definitely two of the biggest blessings. I love
them so much and I think part of that is because they’re the ones that taught
me how to love by the way they've loved me.
