Mothers

This morning, as the sun shone in through the windows, I snuggled in a warm blanket on the couch with my little 3-year-old. We were the only two up, and the house was quiet. We talked, read books, and giggled.

At one point, as I was reading, she turned, looked up at me, and said, “Mommy, you sound just like Grandma. I like it when you sound like Grandma.”

I kept reading, but my mind was caught up in the thought of being like “Grandma,” like my mother. All growing up, I can remember hearing women say, “Oh, dear…I’m turning into my mother.” I can remember my own mom saying, “One day, I put on a sweater, and my mom’s hands came out of it.” :)

As I thought about my mother, and the ways I am the same as her, and even the ways that I am different, I found myself being so grateful for her. I am so grateful for the parts of me that are like her…the parts of me that try so hard to be kind and patient, even when it is hard. She is far better at that than I am.

I also thought about the support that she has shown me lately in things that are incredibly important to me. I try to remind myself often of Neal A. Maxwell’s quote…that “we underestimate how genuinely and frequently our children want to please us.” It struck me, as I realized just how very much I have needed my own mother’s support lately, that, though I am a grown woman with children of my own, I still genuinely and frequently want to please my mother, and her encouragement and support mean more to me than she can know.

Mothers are beautiful creatures, who nurture in us all of the good we have. We are all children “who learn to love by watching [them].” (-Lucy Kaplansky) I pray that I can be that kind of mother, as well.

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