Dear Emi

Dear Emi,

This is the beginning of multitudes of letters and file cabinets full of advice - STORE them.  One day you will find them worthy of your perusing.  This is also the beginning of my blog, taking a new direction.  You see, your Great Aunts (#2 and #3 in particular :) told me that I can be a little preachy when I provide the world with my sentiments.  So, I thought I would provide it in a different way.

My sentiments were always meant for my children and their children.  And Yes!  I was always preaching to you, it is my job. (And this way, not even the grave will deprive me of my favorite pastime:).  As for the rest of virtual world, lucky for them, they were not born into the "clan"  so they can choose to enjoy the journey of young motherhood or not.  No guilt, no offense, no strings, to them , just sentiments.  To you, WISDOM...consider it carefully!

Why Emi?  Well, we were only blessed with one girl.  We named her Ally, simply because we wanted to leave the hospital with a name.  For months, her name was considered.  I wanted Emma, Cory, anything with a little depth, meaning and history.  Jared wanted Ally.....Ally it was.  (It seemed to be a moment of weakness on my part, after all, I had just endured 23 hours of labor and had never known the meaning of TIRED until that moment).  However, in the long run, it all works out.  I kept reminding Jared that he got to name the first one and all following (Sam, Gary, Joseph, Daniel) have been named by Yours Truly :)  It wasn't until recently that I fell in love with a girl's name.....Emi.....but the children have all been named, and Ally seems to be content with her title, so we will look to the next generation.  Emi!  It is!

Tomorrow we start school.  Ally is a 4th grader, Sam a 2nd grader, and Gary a kindergartner.  I never sleep the night before school starts.  Not  when I was in school, and especially not NOW!  The world seems to rest on my ability to meet nutritional, emotional, and "perfect first day outfit" needs.  Talk about stress.

It is times like these that I want to absorb myself in some sort distraction.  Anything crafty would do, or physical (hours at the gym-never sounded like a break until now) or even intellectual.  A full day with a good book could erase all of my worries.  But I can't...because I have serious guilt issues.

Sister Beck came to your Aunt JoDee's stake several years ago to talk to the Relief Society sisters and engaged them in a session  of question and answer.  According to your Aunt's account, a tired young mom got up and asked a forgettable question, but Sister Beck's response has been burnt into my mind......"Just remember, young motherhood is where it is at.  It is the time that you learn about the God's purposes for the family, or you learn to be distracted."

Emi, don't get distracted!

Love, Your sleepless Grandma!

P.S.  Last night I browsed through a book..."Dear Me"  where actors wrote letters to their 16 year-old selves?  Do you know what I learned?  You can actually be dumber at 65 than 16.