Happiness-Faith-Hope: Family IS Everything--I Love you More Than ...

This is the saying on a plaque that hung in our home as the children were growing up:

Guide for a Loving Home

May we treat one another with respect, honesty and care, for that is the only way we will ever grow together.

May we share the little discoveries and changes each day brings, remembering that each one of us has something to say, and listening is important too.

May we try always to be sensitive to one another's joys, sorrows, needs and changing moods, and realize that being a loving family means sometimes not understanding everyone all the time, but being there to love and help them just the same.

Today is Mother's Day and a time when older mothers, like myself, reflect on their children's growing up years and the sweet and tender moments of joy they brought at each milestone in their lives. No mother ever forgets the birth day of each child as he or she was laid into her arms. No mother forgets the day their child leaves home to make a way in the world. The theme for mothers of infants is, "I can't wait until I can get a full night's rest." That is when a mother can't wait for the next phase of her child's growth. The theme for older mothers is, "Time went too fast!" That is when a mother wants to s-l-o-w down the clock and enjoy the company of her children and grandchildren whenever they are able to stop running for a while. Sometimes it is the other way around--when I stop running for a while.

I feel so fortunate to have children who do slow down for me and get off their speeding life cycles to call or visit. My children, no matter what age, have been the greatest blessing in life. They have brought me the greatest joy and the most sorrow. All I desire for them is happiness and whatever they feel is success. It hasn't always gone the way they like, and I then suffer with them. When it does go well, we celebrate together. Our roller coaster ride has been life with all the ups and downs and sharp, unexpected turns, but we hang together pretty much in tact (well, almost all of us).

Today, love flows more abundantly towards mothers around the world, where this day is celebrated, because it is dictated that mothers get honored in some way. Thank goodness, it doesn't take my kids a special day to make me feel loved and appreciated!

Here is what I got in the mail yesterday from my youngest daughter (it thrilled me to the core):

This is the cover of the book my littlest angel (L.A.) made for me. I didn't even know this picture had been taken by her husband in the Florida Keys when we were out there for their wedding.

A few years back, we, out of the blue, started the "I love you more than" in our daily e-mails.

She went back through all the old e-mails she saved over the past three years, and chose ones that go with the pictures of good times that would touch her Mommy roo's heart (her nickname for me, which I have no idea why it popped into her head to call me that. I guess she just likes the sound of it). The dates and names show who said the quote. The picture on the left is with my youngest daughter and son in the Keys. The picture on the right is when my husband brought all three daughters to surprise me on my birthday when we were on our mission in Georgia. That WAS the biggest and most delightful surprise of my life! They even brought me a Baker's cake from Salt Lake City! If you have never seen or tasted one, you have no idea what you are missing.

Purple is my youngest's favorite color, so I would sometimes send her purple flowers in an e-mail.

I helped my daughter move from Colorado to Oregon last year and swore I'd never clean another window with leftover tape from the decorations that were hung the year before. She is a huge fan of Halloween--and tape.