Praise to the Mom

In honor of Mother's Day, I would like to express a few words of appreciation of my mother, Royce Piggott. How lucky I was to be born into the home I was, with the parents I have. I don't think I ever comprehended the sacrifices she made in the name of motherhood until I became a mother myself. And I don't think I even started to really appreciate having her in my life until she visited death's door and returned when I was 17 years old.

My mom was very diligent in teaching her children the gospel. Family Home Evening was habit, family prayer regular, and family scripture study excruciatingly consistent (usually before early morning seminary!).

Service, economy, and self-reliance were standards by which my mom lived.

Service: I have memories of my mom serving as RS pres, YW pres, Prim pres, and all the callings in-between. I also remember her taking meals or loaves of homemade bread to neighbors, picking up and taking ward-members grocery shopping, and watching others' children for free. She rarely saw another's need without trying to fill it. And all the while, her children were watching....

Economy: My mother could have written a book on frugality. I still have nightmares of the powdered milk we lived on in my youth because store-bought milk was so expensive in Alaska. Homemade bread, hand-me-downs, sack lunches, and handmade dresses were all a part of my youth. There was even a lock on our pantry door to keep the bottomless pits that were her children from consuming all of the lunch snacks when she wasn't looking. And all the while, her children were learning (and starving! -just kidding)....

Self-reliance: There is a book called Raising Self-Reliant Children in a Self-Indulgent World. This is the parenting manual that my parents used (in addition to the scriptures). We children were taught how to do our own laundry at a young age, were given regular assignments to cook dinner, and were..... encouraged...... to earn our own spending money through chores, babysitting, etc. We are all strong, independant adults now, so her children must have been paying attention.

We have not all always done what our parents would have liked us to do. There have been many, many moments of confusion, frustration, disappointment, heartache, and anguish in my parents' lives because of decisions we as their children have made over the years. But they must have done something right, because we are all doing okay. My little brother proposed to his girlfriend yesterday, so for Mother's Day, my mom was given the news that by the end of the year, all five of her children will be married in the temple.

To my mom: thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you. Just relax. You have taught us well; now just sit back and watch our lives unfold, and just enjoy being a grandmother.

(I apologize for the graininess of the pictures in the slideshow. Most of them were scanned in.)