Mother's Day

(originally published 10/5/23)

I had a great Mother's Day. During Music and the Spoken Word we performed "A Lullaby" by Ryan Murphy, which is sublimely beautiful but also incredibly tender. It must have been a very emotional piece for many of the women of the choir to sing on Mother's Day. I'm tearing up as I write this, listening to the song.

The choir got the day off from extra rehearsals (preparing for the Mexico City trip) so I got home in time to have a short Come, Follow Me lesson with the family before we went to Church. During Sacrament Meeting, Luke did NOT want to sing "My Mother Dear" with the other  Primary kids, but he went to the front anyway and looked adorable and reported to me that he did sing a little.

The boys always want to walk home on their own, but this time Luke actually changed his clothes right away (something I usually have to ask him repeatedly to do), so he's in his fancy Sunday t-shirt for our family Mother's Day pic.

We took it easy after Church and watched Princess Diaries 2, then packed sandwiches and other stuff for a picnic dinner in the canyon. We went to Nunn's Park, bringing some games and my guitar, and just hung out for about an hour. It was wonderful.

Liza made me cake balls and they were yumm-eeee!

We had a nice video chat with Mema and Papa and Jack showed them
some of the fun things he got for his birthday the week before.

I love this poster the kids made for me, and flowers from Ben.

From my journal on Monther's Day:

I wasn't sad today! Sometimes Mother's Day is a sad day, or I just have a sad phase during the day, because it reminds me of all the ways I fall short as a mom. Today wasn't like that. I've been making a conscious effort to be a better person and mother lately, and I think I really am doing better.

I've been developing more patience and understanding. More acceptance and resilience when things don't go the way I want them to. More understanding and empathy. More selflessness. More peace and calm. More willingness to take time with people. More appreciation and happiness.

And do you know what that means? Less criticism and disappointment. Less anger and irritation. Less frustration and stress.

I'm not perfect. But it feels really good to recognize these improvements and appreciate how they make every day better - improving my relationships with my family, my attitudes toward other people, and my overall demeanor.

I'm so thankful that I get to be a Mom and that my kids are turning out as well as they are. I don't think it's due to any particularly good mothering on my part, though. I'm pretty sure we just got super lucky with these guys.