The Mother/Daughter Template

Long before I had a daughter of my own, I already knew what my relationship with her was supposed to look like.

 After all, I'd already seen a wonderful mother/daughter relationship.

Not just seen it, as a matter of fact, but been in it...experienced it...enjoyed it...savored it...thanked God for it.

As I grew up, my mother was my best friend.  She still ranks as my life-long best friend (sorry, Jeff...you're just my second-half-of-my-life-best-friend).  ;-)

I have so many precious memories of times spent with her.

I remember playing Bible dominoes with her, because it was so rare that we sat down - just the two of us - to play a game.  I remember handing her clothespins as she hung laundry on the line to dry, because it was so common that we did that together.

I remember helping her with the dishes (no dishwasher for us!): first, by standing on a chair and rinsing the dishes, then graduating to drying and to washing.  I remember her making pies and giving me a little bit of crust to make a just-for-me pie in a little foil pie plate.  I remember her reading to us children - after supper while seated on the couch, in the car as we were going on trips, even during the period of time when all of us children had chicken pox at the same time and needed our minds occupied for hours and hours.

I remember music - oh, so much music we've played together!  I remember shopping together and the fun of finding that just-right item.  I remember the talks we've had, sharing our hearts, her passing down wisdom to me, me appreciating the feeling of being heard by someone who cares so much.

Jeff told me something not too long ago - something that put a smile on my face...and likely, a tear in my eye.  Referring to Moriah, he said something like, "I think God gave you a special gift in her.  He gave you a best friend."

Because of my beloved mother, I have an idea what that kind of mother/daughter best-friendship can look like; and because of that great blessing, in days to come, through the tempests of Moriah's toddlerhood and all the way into her adulthood, I can refer to the model God gave me...the template of my mother and I.  Though she is not perfect, and neither am I, and neither is Moriah, I can think of no greater pattern to follow as I seek to build the best relationship I possibly can with my own sweet girl.

Tonight I'm thanking God for the mother/daughter template engraved within me!

Picture 1 - My mother holding me shortly after I was born
Pictures 2 & 3 - Mother and I - Christmas 1982
Picture 4 - Mother and I in a school picture (she helped out at my school) - 1983
Picture 5 - Mother and I - I'm not sure of the occasion - 1984
Picture 6 - My mother accompanying Chris Wingard, a talented vocalist - I'm turning pages for Mother, a job which I happily did, beginning when I was four years old
Picture 7 - Mother accompanying me as I played a violin solo - 1988
Pictures 8 & 9 - Mother and I on the day I graduated from high school - 1993