Things my mom taught me against my will

To say I'm sorry:
I HATED it when she would make me hug my sister and tell her that I was sorry. One because it was embarrassing, two because the sibling would typically gloat after, and three I very rarely meant it.

To dive:
I still remember literally hours of kneeling at the edge of the pool with my hands pointed above my head rocking back and forth trying to get the courage to do the dive my mom wanted me to do. I am not sure she cared that much about diving but I do know my mom is stubborn and wasn't going to give up on me. I ended up making the dive and enjoying it, but I had to be bribed first.

To be tough:
I was scared to death of my horse when I was on the ground, and she knew it. If mom and I were trying to catch her she always made a run right toward me and I always got the heck out of the way... and boy did I ever hear about it! If I had my way, as a child, I would have band-aided up most of my body on a regular basis. "Oh cowboy up" became a popular phrase. Don't get me wrong when we were sick or really hurt mom was awesome at taking care of us and nurturing us back to health, but cowboy up was a frequent remedy for many wounds.

To be patient:
She taught me to sew, and at the age of 11 I made my first quilt. I was not allowed to piece any of those squares together though until they had passed her inspection. I spent half of that year, it seemed, with a seam ripper in hand. I still have that quilt. Most importantly I sew well and enjoy it now, and if I ever have daughters I am sure they will come to have the same intimate relationship with there own seam ripper.

To say thank you:
There was a rule. A rule that I did not heart and that was if I didn't say thank you then I didn't get to keep whatever it was I should have said thank you for. I remember being pretty bitter about a happy meal toy for quite some time.

Not to embarrass easily:
I know it is hard to imagine that a mom could embarrass her daughters but mom sure managed to do it from time to time. Mostly by hitting on men at the store or singing the wrong words to songs at the top of her lungs. I learned to get over it real early in life and Katy and I and the rest of us began to join in. From time to time Katy and I even embarrassed her. One of the last things I ever did with her was to go to a concert. We both sang as loud as we could and danced like crazy (literally) on the front row. Then we rolled the windows down and the radio up and hit on lots of boys on the way home.

To trust in Heavenly Father:
This is one I was taught not through her necessarily, but through the loss of her. How else do you pick up and move on and start living again? You have to know somehow, sometime it is all going to be alright again. I may have figured this out on my own but her example of learning to trust in him sure helped me to be able to face life without questioning his plans for it.