Life has never been easy, but we are stronger because of it. I am so grateful for the lessons you taught me about faith, unconditional love, honoring the Sabbath, being respectful, working hard, pinching pennies, good conversation, standing firm to your convictions, sincere desire to choose the right, supporting church activities, paying tithing, giving talks, singing, cultivating talents and being creative, getting along with siblings, not being afraid, serving others, welcoming people into our home even if it's not perfect or glamorous, never speaking negatively about your kids....I could probably go on for days. All of these things are a part of me because of you.
All of the little things you did for us that made us feel special and like our mom was the greatest have been swimming around in my head for the past few weeks. I'm sure there are many that I don't remember, but I want to list some that I do:
- Bringing a Togo's sandwich to school when we didn't have a lunch.
- Balloons and birthday treats to share with the class.
- Going to Twin Lakes beach.
- The "Bumpy Slide Park" - I still don't know what it's really called.
- Capitola by the Sea, once or twice you took some friends and I to check out guys. Ha ha!
- Window shopping in Los Gatos.
- Hiking Fall Creek or Henery Cowell.
- Making sure I got to go to EFY and Girl's Camp every year.
- Letting me come to Homemaking with you.
- Bringing me along to baby showers (maybe that only happened once because Betty was kinda crazy). Ha ha.
- Sending Jay and I to the store for groceries and never getting mad when we got ice cream at Thrifty's. I think we were always worried that we'd get in trouble for that, which is probably why we are really fast ice cream eaters now. :)
- Letting us drive the car around the block (I was probably sitting on your lap, but still).
- Taking us to Bob Reid concerts and having us sing with him.
- Convincing me that I had the best hair ever, making it worth all the trouble it caused me (and you when you had to cut it).
- Always talking about how beautiful I was.
- Staying up super late to talk because were were having so much fun.
- The time you let Sara and I invite a guy we had never met to come over really late at night. (Even if it turned out to be a disaster since we were so crazy by the time he got there.)
- Decorating a cake with me for Young Womens.
- Buying Joanne's bread and letting us devour it all.
- Making sure we went to everything...church, youth, activities, dances, etc.
- Trusting me and expecting me to make good choices.
- Getting us involved in 4H.
- Having me make reminder calls about activities you were planning.
- Letting me come to Bunco sometimes.
- Letting me help you plan things and get your creativity flowing.
- Being my biggest fan.
- Helping me through conflicts with friends.
- Standing up for teenagers and letting us hear you tell people that you loved having teenage kids.
- Never to this day saying a negative thing about me, but letting me overhear you singing my praises.
- Always expressing your love for us.
- Notes listing our strengths, your gratitude, and the jobs that needed to be done.
- Showing love to my friends, always.
- Making us cookies.
- Letting me make cookies. (Teaching me to be comfortable in the kitchen.)
- Trying new things with me like Martha Stewart's Black Bottom Torte (or was it tart?) and cream puffs.
I love you up to Heaven!
Love,
Jes
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