Thursday, January 21, 2010

Friends and Family

I was thinking today how wonderful it is that my best friends are my family.

When we lived in Australia I served as the Branch Relief Society President. For the most part it was a close knit group and I enjoyed the sisters immensely. I had been serving for about 15 months when a new family moved in. The family was nice but the sister was "German" and she acted it.

In fairness, now that enough time has passed to possibly view this through another lens, perhaps it was just that she upset the status quo of our little group. Or maybe we just didn't understand her, or.... Anyway, it didn't take long and Germa had set everyone and everything on its' ear. She was built a little like a bulldozer and she acted like one too.

One day, after a particularly difficult time, Rich and I were sitting around with a group of members when our Branch President said, "Can you imagine what Larry (her husband) is thinking? He's got to be thinking, 'Geez - eternity with Germa.'" We all busted up laughing. It really was funny because I don't think any one of us would have wanted to spend eternity with her - and in our minds we couldn't imagine that Larry would want to either.

I have thought of that incident so often over the past 30+ years - and it has often helped me reevaluate myself and my actions. I have hearkened back to Germa and remembered that if I want to have an eternal family then I have to be the kind of person that they want to be with.

All of you know that I am not perfect - why else would I have to have to hearken back to Germa so often:) LOL In fact - I owe each of you so many apologies that I don't even know where to start!!! It is a testament to the kinds of men and women that you are that you have put up with me this long and have forgiven me so often. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I love each of you with a fierceness that is all consuming. I relish your calls and notes. I am grateful for your love and help, your unselfishness and kindness. I am grateful for your time, efforts, and sacrifice. I am grateful for your compassion and understanding - and not throwing in the towel and giving up on me...like Grandma Pehrson used to say so often, "Please be patient with me. God isn't finished with me yet!" Each of you make me feel whole, special, and loved - gifts that can only come from someone else. I hope that I can grow up to be just like you. I love you. My joy and happiness just makes me feel like exploding - there is not room enough for me to contain it. I can't imagine heaven being any better than this! Thank you.

2 comments:

  1. We feel the same way too Mom! You still didn't answer my question about the shoes in your previous post.:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thought I did - the shoes were heels and the same height and cut!

    ReplyDelete