My Mom Is Amazing

Our community has a tradition of sharing neighbor gifts during the holidays. One neighbor every year ties a cute sprig of greenery with a red bow on everyone's mailbox. Others shared with us everything from fruit to nuts, literally -- we received candy, cookies, Clementines, jams, jellies, and syrups, breads, roasted peanuts, you name it. For our gift giving, I found these foil pans at the dollar store and filled them with an assortment of candies and cookies, and then topped them with these cute Christmas tree potholders, crocheted by Grandma Barrus, which is the point of this post. My mother is amazing. I don't want to embarrass her, but I want to share with all of you what she does -- I don't think she checks my blog often (or maybe ever), so hopefully this will be okay.

Mom has macular degeneration -- she is legally blind -- and some other health issues which are probably not surprising in someone her age. I know she is frustrated with the limitations she feels this places on her, but I'm honestly not sure how she could fit any more activity into her days. Mom crocheted, I think, 13 of these potholders pictured here. She crochets baby afghans for the new babies in our ward, and then goes with the Relief Society presidency to deliver them, as well as crocheting afghans for her own children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She makes chocolate chip cookies that are simply the best ever, hands down. She keeps a few dozen in her freezer most of the time, and sends a box of them to her three missionary grandchildren each month. She brought over 16 dozen to our last family reunion. She makes dinner rolls, and when I requested it recently, she made 90 or so for a Primary activity. She makes and sends birthday and anniversary cards to her children (8) and children-in-law (8), grandchildren (50-something?) and grandchildren-in-law (how many?) and great-grandchildren (60+). That's a lot of greeting cards -- and she sends a stack of them out every month, with a little monetary gift tucked inside. She attends the temple with a neighbor about once a week, and would go more often if she didn't have to depend on someone else for transportation. She is a visiting teacher and a visiting teaching supervisor and she is conscientious and faithful in those assignments. She stays physically active -- she walks outside every day in good weather, and now that it's cold, she walks indoors, goes up and down the stairs, and occasionally uses the elliptical. At age 83, she does her own cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc., she listens to books on tape and reads with the help of a magnifying glass or a large screen magnifier. She uses a computer and on occasion gets about as frustrated with it as I do. She attends a Low-Vision Clinic support group and welcomes new information, equipment, and ideas that help her continue to be independent and self-sufficient. She travels to visit family when possible, and loves having them come visit her. She is very generous to all of us, particularly at Christmas time and with those missionary grandchildren. She makes a point of staying busy, active, productive, and (most of the time) positive. On New Year's Day, we were having some difficulty with our furnace and Bruce had to turn it off until he could get repair parts the following day. When he went upstairs to tell Mom it was likely to get cold (and we know she likes things toasty warm), her response was, "No problem, I'm making several batches of cookies today and the oven will heat things up."

I could go on and on (guess I already have), but you get the idea. I recently came across the following quote: "Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the wrong. There will be times in your life when you will have been all of these." (Anonymous) Well, Mom is aged, she definitely is striving, and she often considers herself weak. But there's no feeling sorry for her. We would all do well, rather, to look to her as an example of how to conduct ourselves when we are aged, striving, or feeling weak. She is a blessing in my life and yours.

Thank you, Mom. I love you.