The Mothers in My Life (and What they Taught me)

My definition of a Mother is someone who loves you, teaches you, and helps you grow.

My Mother. Mother of 5 . Practiced on 4 before she got to me.
---She gave me space to grow and approval.
My older Sister. Apprentice mother. Nearly 12 years older and getting her experience with me.
---She taught me to schedule my time and my work.
Margene Knowlton. My Music Mother. My children's Music Grandmother.
---She said, "No one needs a music lesson more than someone who hasn't practiced this week."
---She knew that, "If you don't quit, you will eventually become a musician."
---I should have learned to practice at the same time every day.
My Young Women Leaders. Women with experience and Grace.
---They taught me that someone who was not in my family could love me.
---They showed me the beautiful variety in women.
Josephine Holbrook. Owner of Brooks Fabrics, my first real employer.
---She said she was "mean"....but she really wasn't.
---Because of her, I majored in Fashion Merchandising in College.
Marie Hafen. Mother of 7 young children... and of Ricks College.
---I learned, "If at first you don't succeed, Get some help."
---She taught me how to clean a house.
---I should have learned how to assign Saturday's work to the children.
Shara-Dee Seiter. Mother of 10 children (all older than mine)... and a ward.
---She taught me that it is possible to be a mother to a large family.
LaNae Knudsen. No older than me, but knowledgable about homemaking....And a friend.
---She showed me how to Bake Bread. (She tried to teach me to make freezer jam and frozen corn)
---She took me to Homemaking night every month.

I can't help but note the lack of a Grandmother listed here. One of my grandmothers died before I was born. The other lived until after my first daughter was born but she didn't live near me. I often wondered, when I called her, if she would know who was calling.

My life for the past 15 years has been amazingly void of new mothers. Maybe that would explain my empty,"homesick" feeling.
It's not that I haven't been looking for mothers. I looked anywhere I could find a group of older women with more experience than I have. I looked in the Utah Symphony Youth Guild Board, and the South Davis Garden Club. I have found wonderfully capable women who know a lot. But with encounters only an hour or two once a month, where other business is going on, a mothering relationship has not grown.

Who are some of your mothers? Have you told them thanks and that you love them?