An Ode to Ude

I've been thinking a lot today about how blessed I've been, and how grateful I am, to have had Judy as my mom. Truly, she is an angel. For those of you who are lucky enough to know my mom, this goes without saying. For those of you who've never met her, you'll just have to believe me. She's unlike any other person I've come across in my life. She is the epitome of the word kindness, and I think if you looked up the term charity, there'd be a picture of her posted there as Exhibit A. I believe it was Abraham Lincoln who has been quoted as having said "All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother". Amen, Abe.

My Top Five Faves of things my mother has given to me thus far: (in no particular order, of course)

1) My laugh. When I was a teenager, I'd cringe when my mom'd laugh out loud in church when the High Councilmen would make bad jokes. I was mortified that not only was she laughing, everyone could hear her. Now I hear my own laugh ring out over the crowd in church on Sunday and I know that it's poetic justice that now I'm the one that makes people wonder "what's so funny, really?" when someone tells a dumb joke. The difference is that now I'm not embarrassed. No, I'm just grateful that no matter where I go, there is a part of me that is the same as my mother.

2) My fingernails. They've been long & painted for over 20 years now. They hardly ever break, and I rarely have to shape them. I have people ask me all the time who does my nails and/or if they're real. I'm always happy to say that I do them, and that yes, they're real - they just grow right out of my hands. Of all the tricks that time has played on me (now that I'm officially into the meat of my 30's), the trick that gets me every time (and never makes me mad, unlike some of the other nasties that Father Time likes to play on me...), is when I happen to glance down and see my hands doing things the way I grew up seeing my mom's hands do them. Whether it's scrubbing a sink, cutting a piece of bread, or holding a baby, few things make me so happy as to get lost in the moment as I realize that my hands look to me now the way my mom's hands looked to me when I was a child.

3) The ability to just sit. I don't know if it's nature or nurture, but either way - my mom knows the value of just sitting - sitting & talking, sitting & reading, sitting & sewing, sitting & watching a movie, sitting & thinking... or even just sitting and looking out the window without a thought/care in the world. And I am lucky enough to have inherited that ability from her. Life is too fast, it's easy to get caught up in the things that keep us busy. I'm incredibly grateful that I am not one of those women who need to be busy, who need to be doing something "valuable" with their time. I value sitting. Yup, sitting time is valuable to me. I love to just sit and... be. I actually schedule time to sit. I sit and read or I sit and think - whatever - the point is, I sit. And I love it. I got that from my mom. Isn't she great?

4) My hair. (While, technically, my gut tells me the hair came from Rachel Hodgeson... it came to me through my mother.) From generation to generation, this wavy/curly/crazy hair has been traveling down the line on my mother's side of the family. I'm the daughter in my family who got the crazy curl/body that cannot be controlled. I have a total love/hate relationship with my hair, but one thing no one will ever be able to call me is "mousy". Thanks, Mom, for that. (And Granny Rachel, too.)

5) An absolute sense of self, and the knowledge that I'm okay just as I am. (Okay, I'd said these were my random top 5 in no particular order. That was a lie. This is the very best thing I have, and I owe it to her.) My mom always let me be who I wanted to be - always. From the time that I threw down the law that I wouldn't speak in Primary unless the leader called back and spoke with me personally (I was 4), to when I was in High School and wanted to take the 32 yards of blue/flowery crepe fabric and make a "Scarlett O'Hara dress", to when I was trying desperately to decide between moving here or to Kentucky (to fulfill a childhood wish of living in the heart of horse country... honestly), she has always supported me, letting me be who I was and do the things that made me happy. Growing up, I thought that this is just what parents did... accept their children for who they are and love them. Now that I'm older, I know that not all children are as fortunate as I was in this regard. I'll never be able to thank my mom enough for letting me stubborn and silly, for not trying to tell me how to feel, look or act. I'm incredibly grateful for the absolute knowledge that she loves me for who I am, as I am. Knowing that my mother loves me so completely and unconditionally has helped me be able to love myself. And that, I believe, is the greatest gift a parent can give a child. So thanks, Mom. Again. And forever. I love you!

Happy Mother's Day!