The poem is one that I originally wrote while my mom was still alive. It was for a Mother's Day talk on 17 May 1987. I was 28. Only two of my three children born: Meg, 3 1/2 and Lauren, 2, and Brent and I had been married almost 5 years.
I revised and read this version of the poem in Church for Mother's Day. My children are all grown: Meg will be 26 in October, BA in Fine Arts, married with a baby of her own; La is 24, BA in English, married and has her own on-line craft store; Nathan is 20, in college with an unofficial major in Engineering. Brent is a managing attorney for Florida Power and Light, keeping the house in one piece, our cars running smoothly and me happy.
I am 50 this year. I won't list the things that my body has been able to experience--but I am now in one piece, back to my normal weight, and free of pain. I could never have imagined being able to feel this content and excited about living my life.
And I know that my parents had a great deal to do with making that possible. Happy Mother's Day and Happy Father's Day. It is a good time to have a mother and father who love me and to be a mother who loves her children.
When my phone turns on, there is a phrase that appears on the screen: And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness. (2 Nephi 5:27)