My chemo stuff

Mom really didn't like anyone else taking me to chemo treatments. It was cute. Thinking that I would take some pressure off of her, I arranged to have Heidi take me once and soon realized Mom was very, very, very anxious the whole time. I realized it was a mistake to try to lesson the pressure on her that way because she was even more tense about it than she would have been if she had come with me. I know she called Heidi several times beforehand, a few times during the treatment, and I think she gave her the third degree after my treatment.

I think Alex took me once and that was the only time she didn't try to change my mind, though I wonder to this day how hard it was for her to not say anything. (She was always very respectful of the marital relationships of others.) But the other 10 treatments, Mom took me every time. She felt better doing it.  She nearly always had at minimum 2 questions to ask Dr Breyer and/or the nurses. She always bought me whatever food I wanted to eat during the treatment. She made sure I had a blanket ready because I always got cold. And she kept her nurse's eye on my IV's. She was cute.

Watching Mom laugh

One of the few times I ever saw Mom nearly lose control laughing was when we watched the movie Better Off Dead the first time. The scene where the main character remembers the first time he met the girlfriend and they are sitting at a picnic table. One brushes their nose and the other thinks it's a hint that there is something hanging off their nose so they then brush their nose off, which leads the other to rub their nose even harder, and on and on and on. It's likely the funniest scene in the entire movie and Mom laughed so hard at it. We all were nearly falling off of the couches laughing.

Every time I watch that movie, when I get to that scene, I laugh even harder at it than it probably deserves because I always think of Mom. :D

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

A ward member sent me some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies today on a paper plate from Costco (the white one with green and red flowery stuff), and in a ziploc bag.  I saw it before I knew where it came from, so it obviously brought tears to my eyes, more than a few.  It made me think of mom and an almost overflowing silver bowl of cookie dough, and at least 2 of her kids right there next to her ready to burn their tongues on the cookies the moment they came out of the oven.  What I love about that is that we were RIGHT THERE close to her.  And most certainly we were talking to her, maybe cracking some jokes old or new, and she just patiently kept spooning out the dough and enjoying being with us.

Pic of mom with sisters and Gma Y

The Rumble

So, for some reason I can only post as Jeremy, so just know that this is Heidi.  :)  and I am not mostly broken.  I remember the day in jr high,  that Craig told me to "not tell mom" that he was going to a rumble , so when I got home I promptly told mom that Craig was going to a rumble,  Mom immediately got in the car drove to the place of the rumble, with no fear, got out of the car and went into the crowd of kids.  I'm sure she searched for Craig, but what I saw was Craig following her out of the crowd of kids, and Steven Tiffany following her.  So she saved lives that day. . . or at least saved kids from getting injured because there was not a rumble that day. 

I remember when I was in Jr. High, and I was struggling with friends, and feeling left out, etc. And Mom talking to me and helping me feel better. I don't remember really anything she said but I do remember that she took the time to listen to me cry, and then helped me feel better about who I was, and that I was important.

Support for dance

I remember distinctly when I was a sophomore in college, some 15 or 16 years ago, I was auditioning to get into the dance major at BYU.  I had done the audition, and had to wait several days for the results.  I was hanging out with Mom in the kitchen, next to the stove, and I asked her if she thought I would get in.  She said, "Yes."  She said it so firmly that I said, "What do you mean, are you inspired I will get in or what??"  She told me, "I'm not a soothsayer!  But I think you will get in."  She was right; I got in.  But more than the story, I loved the total confidence she had in me, confidence I didn't have, but that undying support for us is something we will take with us forever.