Tag Archives: Grateful

The Meanest Mother In The World

I had the meanest mother in the world …

As a teenager I was asked to give talk in church on Mother’s Day.  I remember rummaging through a book of poems and short stories (this was long before the internet and “google”) and coming across one that described my mother perfectly. With a few minor changes the story became ‘my story’.

“The Meanest Mother”

I have the meanest mother in the whole world.  While other kids ate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal, eggs or toast. When others had soda and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich.  As you can guess, dinner was also different than the other kids. But at least, I wasn’t alone in my sufferings.  My two sisters and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did.

My mother insisted upon knowing where we were at ALL times.   You’d think we were on a chain gang.  She had to know who our friends were and where we were going.  She insisted if we said we’d be gone an hour, that we be gone one hour or less–not one hour and one minute.

I am embarrassed to admit it, but she actually spanked us.  Not once, but each time we had a mind of our own and did as we pleased.   Can you imagine someone actually spanking a child just because he disobeyed?  Now you can begin to see how mean she really was.

We had to wear clean clothes and take a bath. The other kids could wear their  clothes for days.  We reached the height of insults because she often made our clothes herself, just to save money.  

The worst is yet to come.  We had to be in bed by nine each night and up early the next morning.  We couldn’t sleep ’til noon like our friends.  So while they slept-my-mother actually had the nerve to break the child-labor law.  She made us WORK!  We washed dishes, made our beds, learned to cook and all sorts of cruel things.  

I believe she laid awake at night thinking up mean things to do to us.

She always insisted upon us telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, even if it killed us-and sometimes it nearly did.

By the time we were teenagers, she was  much wiser, and our life became even more unbearable.  None of this tooting the horn of a car for us to come running.  She embarrassed us to no end by making our dates and friends come to the door to get us.  While my friends were dating at the mature age of 13 or 14, my old fashioned mother refused to let me date until I was 16.

Through the years, things didn’t improve a bit.  We were expected to be honest, dependable, trustworthy and kind to others. As the years rolled by, first one and then the other of us was put to shame.  We graduated from high school and went on to further our education.                                              

     My mother was a complete failure as a mother. 

Each of my siblings went on to marry and raise children in the same horrible conditions.  And whom do we have to blame for the terrible way we turned out?  You’re right, our mean mother!  Look at the things we missed; we never got to march in a protest parade, take part in a riot, burn draft cards, and a million and one other things that our friends did.                                                                                                                                                                                               

She forced us to grow up with a testimony of a loving Heavenly Father and to know our Savior Jesus Christ.  She taught us the power of prayer.  She taught us the importance of families and to love and serve and love one another.                           

NOW YEARS LATER ….

I confess!  I have raised my seven children in the same MEAN way that my mother raised me.  Six of my children have graduated from High School, the youngest at home is on track to do the same.  Three have their bachelors degrees, two daughters have their cosmetology license. (they keep my gray hairs covered)  Four are married and are raising their children in the same mean way.  

Thank you mom for smothering me with your love and most of all for your example of  living life with integrity,  dignity and for the courage to teach morals and values that I pray  will carry on for generations to come.

THANK YOU MOM for being the meanest mother in the whole world!                                                                                                 

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This blog post is dedicated to my mother, who I love with all my heart.  I owe who I am today to her.  She passed away March 12, 2014.  Until we meet again mom.  I Love You!                         

An Answered Prayer

An Answered Prayer…

Today at church, I was asked to share a story in primary about PRAYER.  I knew the toughest part about fulfilling this request would be to do – it – without – crying! Prayer has helped me through some pretty tough stuff in my life.  It has been a means of comfort, inspiration and daily guidance.  Several prayer stories raced through my head making it somewhat difficult to choose just one.  The story I chose to share with those adorable 7-11 year olds was a story that took place last summer…..

My youngest daughter Myley, went on a three week LDS youth church historical tour called “Heritage Tours”  They traveled through 26 states in 21 days.  To document their experience, the one-hundred 18 year olds were asked to bring an actual hands-on camera, no cell phones were allowed.  About half way through the tour,  I got a frantic emergency phone call from Myley saying she had left her camera at their last stop…a truck stop…one state over from where she now was.  She gave me the name and location of the truck stop where she last used it.  I told her to pray that someone with integrity would find it. She said she already had. (thats music to a mother’s ears) The first thing I did was get on my knees and pray that somehow the camera would find it’s way back to Myley. Next I “googled” the truck-stop and called the number listed.  A lady answered, I explained our dilemma, she put me on hold as she went to check the  restroom, the adjourning fast food joint, and the lost-n-found.  No luck.  I thanked her and left my name and number just in case someone turned it in.  For several days I continued to pray for the return of the camera and made several calls to the truck stop.

Three weeks later, a package addressed to Myley, was delivered.  You guessed it!  It was the camera along with a letter from the lady who found it. She said she found the camera in the restroom and could tell from the pictures that these were teens traveling across the nation on some kind of tour.  She searched the truck stop looking for the girl in all the pictures.  She said she thought about turning it in, but decided against it, not knowing if they would be honest and see that it got back to the rightful owner. She then took the quest upon herself.  She searched the pictures one-by-one hoping for a clue of its owner….  then whaa-laaa…. she FOUND a clue!

While in Palmyra, New York at the Sacred Grove, Myley had taken a picture of her scriptures lying next to a special written blessing she had received.  The lady was able to zoom in enough on that picture to see Myley’s name, her parents names and state in which she lived. She used those clues to begin her search. For the next two weeks she was very diligent in searching facebook and calling all the Mackintosh’s listed in the whitepages until she finally found someone who still used a “home phone” …..an uncle who gave her my husband’s cell …..then she made the call.  My husband was elated at the news and knew Myley would be ecstatic.  He asked if we could send her a reward…. she said,  No, that she had had so much fun playing detective the past two weeks that her reward was being able to return it to the rightful owner.   How cool is that!

It’s a great feeling knowing there are good people in this world who are honest and desire to do the right thing under any circumstance.

The letter also told Myley to look at the LAST picture on the camera …..Image

Thank YOU Carol!  And Thank you Heavenly Father who heard and answered the prayers of a teen and her mother.