
So, inspired by my journal-giving friend, today and over the next several blog posts, I want to tell you some things about my friends and family that I find incredible. I shall, to protect the innocent, withhold names. They may or may not know who they are, and them or you guessing is not the purpose of this post. The purpose is to help me remember that the Lord has blessed me with amazing people and, hopefully, encourage anyone who reads this blog to realize that what we see in ourselves is not all we are. We can often be our worst critic and can tear ourselves apart because of the bad we see in ourselves. Thankfully, we have people who love us to remind us that we are much more than our own sometimes limited vision.
My journal giving friend is one of the most loving people I know. We have a program in our church called Visiting Teaching, where women in the Ward are asked to go out every month as partners and visit each other in our homes. It's an opportunity for service, communication and sharing the truth of the Gospel. Let me fully come clean here: I am not the best visiting teacher and, quite honestly, when I was assigned my friend as a companion I thought, "Oh, man, we're gonna be going EVERY MONTH." (The tone here was not one of joy.) We've been companions for a while now and she has been a great influence in my life. Watching her with those we visit and how easy she is with them and in tune to their needs has been a wonderful blessing. She knows everyone's names - not just those we visit but the 200 some sisters we have in the ward; that's impressive to me because I struggle all the time to remember people's names when I don't hang around them a lot. Knowing a person's name is a symbol of love to me. I want to be better about that because of her influence. She's leaving me - much sooner than I like; she and her darling family are moving on with their lives, both emotionally and physically. I am so thankful for our time together and what she's taught me. And because of her, every month, I think, "Oh, man, I'm going visiting teaching this month!" (with a tone of joy.)

Okay, last one for this blog: I'm naming this person because...well, I kinda have to. She's my mom and how on earth are you supposed to write something about your mother and try to keep her innocence? And trust me, my mother is as far from innocent as one can get. She's guilty of everything I could spend a lifetime writing about...and I love her for every little thing. Trying to narrow down all the wonderfulness about my mother to one thing, though, is difficult. Don't get me wrong: my mother drives me nuts. She is in no way perfect, and she will be the first to admit it. I guess one of the main things I appreciate about Mom is she knows how to have a good time. The group of friends I hang with the most takes the week between Christmas and New Year to play games. All sorts of games. One year, mom visited. Watching her laughing and chatting with my friends and their kids - mostly people she hadn't met before that moment - and how easy she was with them deepened my respect for this woman. She can be a little competitive (okay, all right, she can be A LOT competitive), but even in her competition, she's a grinner (except when Aunt Marcia beats her at Casino - Mom gets a little excited about that). I wish I had her way of just letting things go. Mom thinks that's a failing of some kind, and maybe she's right. But if I could learn to let hurts and losses go like she does and remember life can be fun, I'd be a much better person.

I've bored you enough. BUT! I will post more later because I think it's important we tell people we love what we love about them. For now, a parting line from one of my favorite movies: "It pays to tell the truth, Lord. Thank you. I see that now."