This is a picture of my mom (Mormor) who is retiring after 48 years in the nursing profession. I have honestly never met someone who works as hard as my mom--her capacity to work full-time at age 70, serve at church (she was released in the last year as the president of her congregation's group in charge of all the girls ages 12-18), serve with the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, serve with her political party, baby-sit her grandkids at the drop of a hat, and still send packages to us for every holiday she can come up with is absolutely MIND-BOGGLING. And I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting something! She is seriously my hero.
I'm not going to say I've never heard her complain--she's nothing if not straight-forward :) but her complaints have more to do with people not fulfilling their potential--people who don't seize the opportunities given to them. She's a home-grown farm girl with no patience for whiners. Just Do It was her motto long before it was Nike's.
Lately I've been thinking of how grateful I am for all that my family has. We're healthy, Superman and I both have good jobs, we've got great (active!) kids, we have a safe place to live, etc., etc. Listing everything made me realize what I'm really grateful for is the hard work ethic both Superman and I have had instilled in us. We both know how to do what needs to be done--yes, there's occasional whining :) but in the end, we get up and do it. Past experience has taught us that when something happens that's not so peachy, we can depend on each other and all that we've done thus far to prepare ourselves and our family.
I love you, Mormor! You'll take a chunk out of the nursing profession by leaving, but know that you've taught many people that they're able to do far more than they first thought.
