One Good Woman

Life is hard. Things go wrong and fall apart. We cry. We get our hearts broken. Our dreams evaporate in front of us. But in my life, I've always had the support of one amazing woman who gets me through everything.

She answers my late-night calls and sits up with me when I need a good cry.

She sends me notes filled with love and reassurance at the most unexpected and most opportune moments.

She believes in me when my own faith grows frail and weak in the face of trials.

She celebrates with me when I accomplish something.

She never, ever holds me back from my dreams, no matter how far they may take me away from her.

Never once, has she turned away from me when I needed her.

My mother. Hands down the most wonderful woman in the world. She is a powerful example of the influence one good woman can have on the lives of the people around her. I can't begin to name the people whose lives she's blessed, because no matter where we live, or how long we live there, she reaches out to everyone around her.

The young women of the Westland ward. I still remember climbing over backyard fences and ducking behind bushes as she took them (and five-year-old me) ding-dong ditching with plates of goodies. Some of her girls were my favorite babysitters.

The youth of the Lapeer ward. I remember watching her pour herself into her Sunday School lessons as she tried so hard to reach those quiet, reserved 12 & 13 year olds.

All the women of the Bettendorf ward. I watched her pray over her women and organize Visiting Teaching on a big silver magnetic board. I learned from her to always seek the Lord's counsel in our callings. She also blessed all the young college families in that ward. I can't remember very many Sundays when we didn't have someone over to our house to share Sunday dinner with us. She was always so willing to share our bounty with those around us.

I wish I could go on about her California and Texas wards, but I haven't spent much time there now that I'm out here at school. Naturally, I never hear anything but glowing reports from women in Relief Society about how wonderful my mom is. They may not know me, and I don't know them, but they know my mom, and they always love her.

My family. My friends. People I barely know. I have never met anyone who didn't have something wonderful to say about my mother. She is fun, she is loving, she is faithful. So many of my crucial life lessons have been taught to me by her.

And she's my best friend. When I was 13, we went for a late-night swim in our neighborhood swimming pool. It was just the two of us, and I remember us laughing at the big, clumsy junebugs dive-bombing the water and struggling until we flicked them out. All of a sudden, she snuck up on me and dunked me right under the water, laughing the whole time. I came up for air and she came after me again, and we began a game of tag all around that pool. That was the first time I met Marcy, the woman behind "Mom." As we dried off, we had a long talk about things that I don't remember now, but that was the moment that we were no longer just mother and daughter; now we were friends, too.

Ever since then, my mom has been my confidante, my guide, my mentor, and my example. She never failed to discipline me or to correct my errors, but she also never failed to show me how much she loved me. Because of that, I learned that there was nothing I could ever do to push her away. I trust the unfailingness of her love more than I trust the sun to rise everyday. Because someday the sun may stop rising, but I am sealed to my mother for eternity, and her love for me extends into that infinity.

Her constant faith in me, her ability to see my potential when I'm drowning in my own doubts has given me a clearer understanding of how my Heavenly Father sees me. I understand that it is entirely possible for someone to love me, no matter how despicable I may feel at the time, because I see it every day in my mother (my father, too, but this is Mother's Day: it's about mom). I haven't committed any grave sins in my life, but I've made my share of whopper mistakes. Through it all, she has never treated me with anything but the utmost love, pushing me to be a better person.

All it takes is one good woman to create a big change in the world. When I look out and see my potential, what I hope to accomplish, I see a way that my mother will be able to change the world. My younger brother, a brilliant scientific mind and an incredibly faithful missionary, has an even brighter future than I do. He is going to do great things with his life. My younger sister, with all her love and nurturing power. My baby brothers, whose futures are still open books. All of us will make a difference, and that is only possible because we have been raised and taught by one good woman.