Remember the time...
No, not the Michael Jackson song.
Remember the time as in this.
REAL LIFE.
Everyone always knows that a good story is to follow when a sentence begins with "remember the time..."
I've been thinking a lot about the passage of time. With it being Mother's Day this past weekend, I've been able to reflect on some times that I have had with the women who have shaped, molded, and guided me.
I rode with my Grandma, uncle, and parents to Maddox for dinner (only the best place to eat) last Saturday and it seemed like Grandma was in a remember the time mood.
She was bringing up stories from when I was little about all the quirky little things that I used to do. How I would eat raw green beans when she and my Great-Grandma would be canning and how I can't do anything that takes concentration without sticking my tongue out.
That's what got me thinking.
I had to have picked these things up from someone...
Remember the time...
Great Grandma taught me to focus on my goals.
She also taught me that being able to cut a straight line in any material is highly overrated and that patience may be a virtue, but not all are blessed with it.
Remember the time...
Grandma Pickett taught me not to take life (or myself) too seriously. She taught me that family is everything. She taught me to cook, to can, to sew... basically all those little things that are good to know.
And that through God, everything will work out when and how it's supposed to.
Remember the time...
Grandma Tarbet tried to teach me how to be lady. How to hold still, how to be somewhat proper and polite. [Turns out that didn't really stick because I am a bigger fan of the farm and sports than she ever anticipated]. She did, however, teach me to value a garden. Flowers, squash (she's got a gift for squash), produce, whatever it is, she can grow it.
Remember the time...
My mom wanted the world for me. She sacrificed so much [and I am continually realizing that] so that I could play ball. So that I could pursue music. So that I could have my heart's desire, all while she was going through hell with everything else in her life.
Remember the time...
I went to Young Women's and I met an incredible woman, Linda, my second mother. She taught me
to love, to love beyond people's flaws, to see the good in them, to realize that sometimes some people
have to get hurt in the process of things becoming better.
Remember the time...
Nicole, another of my Young Women's leaders, taught me what it means to have an unshakable testimony. She is one of those women that you can feel how much she loves the Gospel long before you hear her speak.
I am so thankful to these women. These and so many others. I would be here for years if I were to go through everyone that I have learned a lesson from. But here is my main point:
Remember the time...
Remember when the hardest decision we had to make was choosing what color of Crayon we were going to write our names in that day?
Remember when we could pop in a movie and not have to worry about what would come up on the screen?
Remember those Highlights magazines? ['nuff said there]
Remember when we could entertain ourselves without all this technology?
WHAT HAPPENED?
Life. Life happened. We grew up. Friends moved. Friends left our social circle. Family passed away. Experience began weaving its influence into our everyday decisions. But just think, just think for one minute how it would be to be able to go back.
To go back to that time...
