Happy Mothers Day

Today in Sacrament meeting a sister who could have been my own mom said, "Just when you think you're a complete failure as a mother, your children call to ask for advice about their own children, and you realize that maybe you were all right after all."

I cried. Because I grew up with her kids and the one who slept through seminary is now in our bishopric. Because I went to girls camp and sang musical numbers in church with her daughters. Because her husband was my seminary teacher, then my bishop, and usually our home teacher. Because I watched her and her husband visit my mom and dad more and more frequently as my mom got sicker and sicker. Because I am her visiting teacher and going to her house feels like going to the home I grew up in. Because I am light years away from my kids having kids. (That one kind of scares me.) Because my kids are small enough to be so forgiving and so loving, but I know that I can be better, so I have a hard time forgiving myself for being less than loving to them. Because yesterday morning I woke up and went out to the kitchen to find my six-, five-, and three-year-olds mopping and drying the floor. By hand. Because I was recently called to the Primary Presidency. Again. And it's hard to smile and sing about trying to be like Jesus when my daughter was kicked out of nursery for biting another child. Because my dad sent me a Happy Mothers Day email this morning telling me "there is no greater challenge than being a mother. And there is no other way to receive such great blessings."

I really, really love what my friend Jen wrote about our relationship as mothers with God and with our children. It is so comforting to know that God loves me horrid.