Best Present

I'm going to preface this post a little bit. My mother has Multiple Sclerosis, it effects her brain and causes a lot of pain, which means she's on a lot of medication. Her disease often makes her child-like or distant which means most of my life I've been playing the role of mom or caretaker. So when talking about my mom to my dad or to Dj it's become a thing to say that my mom "isn't there", which is just a nice way to say she's having a bad day and her mood/comprehension/whatever is just not good. So when after I talk to her on the phone Dj can usually judge how good a conversation it was by my saying where she was "there" or not.

So yesterday my parents stopped by unexpectedly on their way through SLO and brought me a pie from Marie Calenders (a fresh strawberry one, looks amazing!) my dad told me they wanted to come back to SLO the next day to take us out to dinner for my birthday and to give us a call later and tell them what time and where to meet them.

I called my parents back a few hours later and talk to Mom, she's "there", we have a really nice conversation and then I get passed on to Dad. After a little talk and plan making Dad says Mom really wants to talk to me again. So we talk a little longer, she's still "there" and we get on the topic of work and how exhausting it's been lately because of various things going on there. And my mother, bless her beautiful heart, says in the sweetest voice that she really admires me. She said that she's never ever had to do all of the difficult things that I've had to do in my life and that she truly admires me for what I do everyday. Let's just say my eyes were just gushing. And after that I could tell that she was "leaving" she was getting tired and she wasn't going to be "there" for much longer.

That's the first time in my 25 years of life that my mom has ever told me that she admires me. I honestly have not had a lot of times in my life where I have felt like her daughter, in the traditional, mother/daughter way that I love to see and have felt with many wonderful women in my life. I know that I was handed a difficult card but I am so grateful that Heavenly Father blesses me with these tiny beautiful experiences where my mom is really "there" and my heart feels like it's going to burst because I feel so loved. Heavenly Father gave me the best birthday present ever last night.

I don't share this story to make anyone feel sorry for me. I'm writing about it because I don't want to forget that it happened. And maybe to remind anyone who is reading that life is amazing and gorgeous and worth every single difficult experience it takes to live it. Thanks for listening.