Mis Padres

In this month of an extra-grateful heart, one of the blessings that is mother to many other blessings on my Gratitude List is my parents. I know I always talk about my parents on this blog, but I can't help but do it again. Perhaps it's because I think more now about being a parent than I ever have before, perhaps it's because I'm a nanny right now and I have internalized the magnitude of what it takes to be a mom and maintain a house, perhaps it's because I just missed them so much.....but whatever it is, my parents seem better than ever before. 

This past weekend my dad and I went to Mesa, just the two of us. My dad wears a couple very heavy hats. He's not only the bishop of our ward and constantly helping solve problems and serve and help members of the church and non-members alike, but he's the city attorney and solves and helps even more in that regard. But he took time and patiently went shopping with me. He got nothing and did nothing for himself the entire trip. It was all for me and my family. We got to go to the temple together. I'm so thankful to have a dad I can go to the temple with. 

As I said, I'm a nanny for two kids, and I've first-hand seen how much work goes into maintaining a home. It's not like I didn't do chores before, but now I just see how many chores it takes, and I realize how much my mom has done. So many loads of laundry and loads of dishes. So much picking up. So much soothing of kids' heartaches. And yet, as I go about it, I feel the grand importance of it. Perhaps the world will never feel the influence of that extra loading and un-loading of the dishwasher, but for some reason I just feel like it is one of the most important things a person can do: maintain a home and devote their time to the raising and teaching of children. For me, what my parents have done and do means the world. 

I think, "What if I had parents who didn't understand the importance of what they do?" Thankfully, my mom and dad have their priorities more straight than anyone I know. 

 Seeing them again, along with the rest of my family, was really the only perk of finishing my mission. 

 They took me on a wonderful church history trip the week after I came home. This is us between the Sacred Grove and the Palmyra temple. 

In the beautiful fall foliage outside the Johnson Farmhouse.

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” 
― Marcel Proust