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my bff ♥

By January 7, 2012 3 Comments


This is a favorite movie of my mom and I. The whole clip is great but our favorite scene of the entire movie starts at 3 minutes into the clip.

I was born in November and the following February, my mom found out that her dad was dying of cancer. Just sixteen days after my first birthday, he passed away. My mom tells me that I was joy to have during that time of grief and sadness. I’m told I was an easy and happy baby and had many smiles to share when my mom needed them the most.

I have one random, early memory and it includes my mom. I was sitting in a chair and she said to me, “if you sit still and don’t cry, you get this candy.” Come to find out, I was getting my ears pierced and that candy was a tootsie roll. I believe I was 18 months or 2 years old. The story goes that my mom took me home and showed my grandma and my grandma cried that my ears were ruined. I remembered this story fondly both times I took my girls to get their ears ruined pierced when they were only 5 months old. ☺

Four years after my grandpa passed away, my mom led me to the Lord on Christmas day, 1986 while we were visiting his grave. I can remember her smiling and telling me I could ask Jesus into my heart anywhere if I was ready to. The cool part about it is that my mom never assumed her kids would just grow up “saved.” She pointed each of us towards Jesus and a personal relationship with Him and when we were ready, she and my dad led us to the Lord.

My mom home schooled us and I loved every minute of it. I know without a doubt that she is the one that instilled in me such a love of learning. She is the one that taught me that every moment is a teaching moment. I was an imaginative and creative kid that wanted to make a mess. She let me make messes. I always wanted to play outside in my own made up world. My mom allowed me to be a little girl for as long as I needed to. She gave me a passion for teaching which ended us being one of my careers.

She also let me work alongside her. I have since learned that children are more work than help and appreciate her efforts even more. We baked and cooked together. I remember mopping the floor and cleaning the bathrooms together. She taught us work ethics at a young age. We had regular chores and then we had extra “paid chores.” Paid chores, however, meant that we needed to tithe 10% and save 10%. I never realized how much my mom had taught me until I moved away to college and discovered how many young adults didn’t even know how to do their own laundry.

I think I was an easy kid, a decent teenager and a challenging young adult. As a young adult, I found myself wanting to distance myself from my parents like me peers. I found myself buying the lies of the world that I needed to “spread my wings and fly” and “find myself” outside of my own family. I enjoyed “being my own person.” I can only imagine that I caused some pain during those years as I attempted to push my family away yet my mom stayed in my life, praying for me and loving me. As an adult I finally can look back and realize that my mom was actually teaching me to be my own person within the love and security of a family.

I think since having children of my own, I have begun to understand my mom more. I find myself understanding why she did and said certain things. I find myself wishing I had understood these things fifteen years ago. My mom taught me to sew in high school, but I didn’t really try to learn. Now I find myself emailing her sewing questions. I find myself wishing I had appreciated the sacrifices she made for me.

Living here with my parents has been a lot of fun. It has also been an eye opener for me. I have a very special privilege that not many can claim to have. A few weeks ago, my mom and I was chatting and she said to me, “you know Marie, I really like you.” I think I may have answered, “I love you too” without giving it a lot of thought. I know my mom loves me fiercely and I love her. The next day however, during my shower (my place of great revelations) it hit me that parents love their kids no matter what…through every good and bad choice. But what my mom was expressing was that we had been able to go from a mother/daughter relationship to a friend relationship. I realized that I had come to a place of calling my own mom my close friend and confidant. I don’t think this is extremely common and I am realizing just how privileged I am that my mom would want to be my friend.

As I am getting ready to trek across the country to live in a different country, I find myself aware that soon I won’t be able to pick up the phone and call my mom any time I feel like. Yet I am also comforted knowing that our friendship has grown through some pretty big mountains and some pretty low valleys. I am confident that we will continue to grow in our friendship no matter where we live. My mom is already planning her visit in October and I find great comfort in that.

No matter where I live and no matter where you live, Mom…I just want to make sure you realize something. I love you of course. That one is a given. But you know what else? I really like you, Mom.

Thanks for being my bff. ♥

Marie Klein Burtt

About Marie Klein Burtt

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