Let me tell you a little bit about my mom.  She had a strong personality and felt a deep sense of wrong and right.  Her joy was her family and was strongly protective of her little clan.  If you fell under mom’s umbrella she was your fan.  I’m not claiming she was perfect but she did her best to give her best for her family.  Here are a just a few of the things I was fortunate to be taught by mom.

Your word is your bond

Both of my parents were always big on commitment.  If you said you were going to do something then guess what?  You did that thing.  Even if you changed your mind and really didn’t want to actually do it after all.  I think mom learned her sense of duty from her parents.  She related to me the story of when she started going to church that her dad – who was not a member of the church or attended church regularly – told her if she was going to attend church then she was going to actually go.  No half-hearted, fickle attendance for her.  If someone was counting on you in anyway then you followed through with your obligation.  Your word is your bond.

Gospel study is not passive

Long before we had the Come, Follow Me curriculum to help us have more responsibility with our personal gospel study I would see mom reading her scriptures, her Sunday School lessons, and the Relief Society lessons.  The little Sunday School Student manuals we’d get every year would be full of her notes and thoughts from her study sessions.  Before class she would read the material and when she showed up on Sunday she was ready and willing to participate.  She would have loved the new curriculum.  I remember seeing her studying the lessons during the week preparing for church on Sunday.  I learned by watching her that if I wanted to know the gospel answers I had to study. Gospel study is not passive.

Don’t cry over spilt milk

She’d say this often but sometimes there was a bit of a strain in her voice as if she was reminding herself.  While it wasn’t always easy to determine the things that weren’t worth getting upset over mom did have a good sense of humor.  She taught me to find the humor in things and if possible a good laugh was better than a cry.  Not all problems came in the same size and some were not worth getting upset.  Pick yourself up and keep going because we don’t cry over spilt milk.

There were many more lessons I learned from my mom.  She did her best to try and raise decent humans and carry on a legacy of faith.  Her goal was to have a forever family with her small but growing tribe.  There was nothing she wouldn’t have done to help one of us including saying daily prayers for us.  Her birthday is tomorrow and she would have been 78 if she wasn’t called to other endeavors on the other side of the veil.  I am thankful for being blessed with one good momma.