Are you tired of hearing about my mother yet????

If you are you might want to just skip this post! Because I'm not ready to stop talking about her yet!

I have tried several times this week to sit down and write thank you notes. Just can't quite make myself do it yet. I apologize to all who should have them. They are coming....just not sure when.

Wednesday was hard, because when I come home from work on Wednesdays at 12:30 Mom and I would always (well, almost always) got to lunch and then run errands! It was a time that Mom looked forward to so she could get out of the house and I enjoyed our outings. There was usually a lot of catching up and laughter involved. Our most favorite place to go was "The Olive Garden" but sometimes we ended up at TGIF or Charlestons. And sometimes instead of or along with lunch there were pedicures involved! One time when Allison was home for the summer I didn't go with them, just Allison and Grandma went and Allison said, "you are going to be sorry because we went and got pedicures too"! And I was.

One of the stories that was told to me about my mother that if you were at the funeral you would totally think, "Of course that is what Phyllis would do". One of the families that she gives piano lessons to, when they found out about Mom's passing, told someone else in our ward that "Sis. Clay gave the gift of music to my children". When they first started taking lessons they couldn't afford the lessons, so my mom taught them for free. So she really did literally give them the gift of music. My mom did things like this all the time that we didn't even know about.

One year when we were first married and Anne Marie was just a little baby, we didn't think we were going to be able to buy a Christmas tree, but all of a sudden one day there was one laying up against our door. I don't know how long it took me to figure out that it must have been my mother.....but it was.

Also, when I had just given birth to Aileen and came home, my brother George who was probably 8, wanted to bring dinner over to me....so my mother helped George and his friend bring over and cook spaghetti and some kind of cake that had 8 layers and looked like a tower that George was so proud of! I remember thinking and saying, "Wow, mom that was really nice of you to let George do this and kind of a hassle, sorry" and she said "if George wants to do something nice for his sister, I'm not going to stop him!" And I must say it was an awesome bonding time with my little brother!

Ruth remembered a time when our family was watching some children whose family was very poor, so much so that every day they would have to be bathed and re-dressed because they were dirty. The little baby didn't have any cute frilly dresses, so my mother spent hours making this beautiful frilly dress with ribbons and lace etc... at a time that probably my parents couldn't afford that extra expense, because if you have ever made a frilly dress with lace and ribbon, its not cheap. She even stayed up all night at a time when she was also working full time and had gone back to college, so it was a sacrifice to make this dress so this baby would have something beautiful! Ruth asked Dad, "why is mom doing this, it's crazy" and my Dad said "Never stop a giving heart".

Just recently, my mother went to a couple of movies with my sister and I at the movie theatre! That was unusual, because of her instability in walking and her walker etc... she would rather watch a video at home together than go to the theatre. But just recently we saw two new movies at the theatre together, they were fun outings and times that I think Elizabeth and I will cherish!

I do miss my mother. I appreciate everyone who is calling to check on us. We are sad, but we do know that we will be with her again! And that her love and our family is an eternal one. I do not know how people go through something like this that don't have this knowledge. That is why my Dad can go to the Temple today to cover his shift and tomorrow his calling, and why Alan and I are back doing our callings and trying to magnify them.....even when people might say...it's too soon......are you kidding? We've got to be busy working on our Salvation so that we can be with Mom and LaDean again!