Dear Mum

As I'm sure every single person can attest, your childhood home and the memories you make there are priceless. For me, that childhood home carries so much significance because it's where my mom is, where my mom nurtured and taught me, and instilled within me Gospel principles.

It's where she loved me.

I have been gone for seven years now. It's been seven years since I moved away and went to college. In that time I have served a mission, cared for orphans in Ecuador, and picked up my life and established myself on the East Coast.

There have been dozens of trips home and although repeated over and over throughout the years, I will never get tired of pulling into my driveway, opening my front door, smelling the rich beautiful scents of my childhood, seeing the beautiful decorations my mother has meticulously collected, smelling the latest decadent dish cooking in the kitchen, and arriving in my childhood room, with my bed perfectly made and my mail waiting for me on my pillow.

It all means so much to me. And it means so much to me because that's where my family is and that's where my mom has been all these years.

In May I wanted to finally show my mom a little of my life here, the life I've established for myself and love so much. So one plane ticket later and my mom was due to arrive in October for a four-day extended girls trip here in DC.

I was nervous of course- nervous that we wouldn't get along or that she wouldn't like what I showed her, nervous that we wouldn't have a lot to talk about. It had been so long since we'd spent that much time together. I couldn't imagine that those four days would become precious to me and that I would enjoy them more than just about anything.

Oh but they were glorious! I got to finally show her this place that I'm obsessed with! So I took her to all of my favorites: the monuments and museums, Arlington Cemetery and Mt. Vernon, Founding Farmers and the Washington DC temple. To top it all off we did a Capital Bikeshare monument bike ride at night, my most favorite thing to do with visitors in DC. And she loved it all! I couldn't have been happier than seeing the sites sink down deep and have a real impact on her, just like they do me.

So thank you dear Mother. I'm glad we got to spend those precious days together. More than ever I'm grateful that you are mine. That I share some of your beautiful features, that I resemble you, that I think like you, that I laugh like you. Thank you for visiting me and seeing my life!

It means the world.