Moms

Forgive me a moment, as I have a feeling that this blog post will be somewhat long and personal. My grandpa told me today that I haven't blogged in more than a week and I told him I'd get something on here. Today my family met at my moms house for a Mother's Day party complete with a potluck "breakfast for dinner" menu. We had oven omelet, blueberry coffee cake, pink pancakes, fruit, bacon, sausage, and juice and ate it all at 5:00 pm! It was fantastic and we all wondered why we don't have breakfast for dinner more often. Sitting there surrounded by 3 generations of Moms, I was feeling very grateful. Today at church while I watched my favorite moms, I was feeling very grateful.
When I was a little girl, if someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up the answer was a lawyer. When I was sixteen, I wanted to be principal flutist in the Utah Symphony. By age eighteen, it occurred to me that there were a lot of flutists in the world better than me, so I went back to wanting to be a lawyer. When I came home from my mission, law school was something I thought about, but what I really wanted to be was a mom, and I didn't feel like I could be a successful lawyer and a successful mom. Perhaps if I had known I would be 31 without kids I might have done that lawyer thing. I have no real regrets. I have several friends that are lawyers and I don't envy them at all and in all reality I really do enjoy my job. I do however wonder sometimes if the mom thing will happen for me. One could argue, according to Sheri Dew (also not a mother) all women are mothers to someone. She wrote a talk entitled "Are we not all Mothers" and while I hesitate to argue with her, it's not the same thing. A few weeks ago we had a Young Men/Young Women activity set up like speed dating. We sat across the table from each other and asked questions to get to know each other better. One of the counselors in the bishopric asked me what I want to be when I grow up and I told him a mom. I said it with a catch in my throat and felt sad as I considered the possibility of yet another childhood dream not being realized.
At the same time, however, I watch all these great moms in my life, and have to take a second to thank them all for letting me have a piece of their children. There are so many fantastic mothers in my ward and I'd like to do a moment of shout out to them. My friend Abby has three kids. The youngest is almost seven months old and I call him my boyfriend. He's possibly the cutest boyfriend any girl could ask for, and I appreciate it when Abby tells Thomas things like, "look, there's your girlfriend." Today in church Abby shared Thomas with me and I held him for part of Sacrament Meeting and all of Young Women's. So thanks Abby... thanks for letting me be a mom for an hour today. Holly is another mother in my ward who not only shares her children, but really her whole family and a lot of family time. I've been invited to dinner, FHE, Conference breakfast, and family movie night with her family. It's really great to have a family that takes you in and makes you feel like a really cool aunt. My blogging bud, Nicole, is a great mom. I've never met her or her children, but I can tell by the nature of her blogs how fabulous she really is, and I am so grateful that I get to share in their lives through both of her blogs. My friend Hayley (I hope I spelled that right) is a new mom. She is 17 weeks pregnant and comes into my work every so often and shares moments with me. I keep telling her we need to get together outside of work, and then maybe I can be an honorary aunt to her baby as well. My sister in law Nicole, is another great mom. My brother just graduated from BYU and got a job in Arizona, so they'll be moving soon. I try to see them once or twice a month so I can get my fill of the cutest kids in America before they live so far away that my only hope to see them will be on web cam. I appreciate when Todd and Nicole let me read Andrew his bedtime story and have those moments of parenthood that I don't get everyday. Of course my sisters and my other sister in law are fantastic moms along with so many others I don't have time to mention. My own mother is amazing. I'm pretty sure we both will agree that I was a horrible child and to be honest we didn't really have a great relationship until I was grown up. Luckily we've had a lot of opportunity to catch up on lost time and I really look forward to our monthly pedicure dinner dates and all the other things we are able to do. We are both pretty busy at work but I really love the nights when I call and we just chat. I love my mom! When tomorrow comes my day of regret will be over, and I will be able to continue on sharing all of your children. So thanks for letting me be a "surrogate" for moments at a time and Happy Mother's Day!