My Inspiration

When I think back to my childhood all I remember is playing nonstop! My mom taught me that a Mother has the best job, she gets to play with her kids all day. We were constantly doing crafts and playing make believe. One day she switched out all of our milk to powdered milk to help us appreciate what we had. I remember countless times she would find a homeless person, pull over, ask them to wait there while we went home and boxed up our dinner to take back to them. If there was a baby born in the ward it was pretty much a guarantee that she would not only take dinner but also be at their house cleaning and watching kids while the new mother took a nap.
One of our favorite games is hide and go seek in the dark. We would use the front door as "safe", turn off all of the lights in the house and try to find the best spots to hide. My mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in April of 2007. She went through severe chemotherapy treatments and then went through them again when the cancer came back in 2009. It was during the first chemotherapy treatments that Thomas and I were trying to entertain my youngest sister Julie and her friend so we decided to play hide and go seek in the dark. (This game usually ended with someone getting hurt or my Dad ending it because he was worried we might break something). During this specific game my Mom came downstairs, her hair was gone and her body was very frail from the chemotherapy and we automatically all felt bad for being too loud. To our surprise she wasn't coming down to tell us to be quiet she said that she heard us having fun and wanted to join in on the game. We were all thrilled and quickly changed the rules of the game so instead of having a "safe" we just had to stay in our hiding spot until we were found to avoid anyone getting hurt. It was my turn to be it so I was searching for everyone and as I walked through the family room I fell over laughing, my frail Mother had crawled under the coffee table and was lying perfectly still so no one would find her. That night taught me one of the most important lessons of my life, we need to enjoy every minute we can with our family! And there is no reason to not play with your kids.
My Mom passed away in March of 2010 at the age of 49. Even though it sometimes feels that she was taken too early I know that she accomplished everything she was sent here to do. The world is a better place for having had her in it and I am so grateful for the example she set for me! I know that my family can be together forever and I will see her again!