GRANDMA PATRICIA JOHNSON TROFF
My Grandma Pat died when I was only 8 years old from a rare form of lung cancer. She was not a smoker and the cancer was very quick - 6 months from beginning to end as far as I understand.
I still vividly remember my Grandma Pat. I guess that is the advantage of being the oldest grandchild. I have so many fond memories of things we would do together. She used to save egg cartons and fill them with pieces of sandwich meat, carrots, celery, etc. We would take them to the temple grounds and have a picnic. She would take us to get ice cream floats that came in iced cups shaped like boots. We would make jelly filled muffins in her kitchen.
I don't remember her "Guess What?" game very well. She would ask us all the time, "Guess what?" and would always respond to our inquiry, "I love you." I play this game with my kids all of the time now and feel her influence and spirit with us.
Although, comparatively, my Grandpa Pat only lived for a small portion of my life I know that she had a huge influence on who I am as a mother. Her quiet gentleness and capacity to love have taught me how to treat other people. I wish she could be here while I raise my children, but I know that she knows them and has spent time with them before they came to me.
GRANDMA SUSAN MCGHIE-TROFF
Our lives were greatly blessed a year after the death of our Grandma Pat when my grandpa married this amazing lady. This beautiful, vivacious woman leads with a generosity and intelligence that I greatly admire.
Grandma Sue wasn't married before she married my grandpa and so becoming part of our family meant not only becoming a wife, but also a mother and a grandmother to a rich heritage. She is the only grandmother many of my siblings and cousins have ever known and she has filled the shoes with more love and acceptance than we could have ever hoped for.
My Grandma Sue is someone that I can always count on to recognize my efforts. She builds me up and cheers me on. She has helped me feel much more confident about my mothering efforts because I respect her opinion and intelligence. There have been several times when I wondered if I was just failing miserably at this whole mothering business and my Grandma reassured me that I was on the right path. I love her strength and faith and she helps me to be a better person, and certainly a better mother.
GRANDMA TRACI ANAY LINDORFF DUNFORD
Besides my own mother there is no other mother that I have been closer to than my Grandma Traci. I have taught piano lessons for almost 14 years now.... and most all of that was at her house until the birth of my son about 3 years ago. After high school I lived with her and my grandpa for about a year before I married Jake.
I have many fond memories from my past - and so many of those include this woman. I don't know anyone who exemplifies Christ-like love better. She is always serving other people - always. She always remembers special events, and even seemingly insignificant ones. There have been many times I have been surprised by my phone ringing only to find out that it was my grandma calling to find out how I was doing.
I wish I could be more like her. I want so much to be as loving and selfless as she is. She loves with a gentle love that is also so fierce - I never doubted or wondered how much I was loved by this woman, no matter what was going on in my life. I want to be the kind of mother that she is and I am so grateful for her influence to show me the way.
MOTHER-IN-LAW DANA FREESTONE BENTLEY
I hope she won't mind me using this picture of her selfie with Abrielle but I just love it. I owe this woman more than I could ever repay. She gave me the greatest gift of my entire existence - she raised my wonderful husband into the honorable, loyal, loving man that he is.
Besides being very talented she is one of the nicest people that I know. She is always thinking about other people and I know that if I ever needed anything that I could count on her to be there for me.
One thing that I love the most is her special relationship with Abrielle. Abrielle isn't very open with a lot of people but she has a very unique relationship with her Grandma Dana. Abrielle laughs with her and wrestles with her and pretty much talks her ear off every chance she gets. I greatly appreciate the way she loves all of her children and grandchildren. She has taught me so much about love and generosity in the short time that I have been privileged to know her and I am so grateful that I get to call her another mother.
MOTHER KIMBERLY DUNFORD TROFF
It's probably not a good sign of my emotional state when I tear up just typing her name... wow... where do I even start?
My mom has the (unfortunate) privilege of sharing her birthday with mother's day quite often. This year, they fall on the same day. Happy birthday Montil!
I am so grateful to be the oldest child. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to have the relationship that I have had with my mother for so much of my life. We are best friends and there are very few people (if any) who know so many of the intricate details of my life like my mother does.
She has always loved me at my best and at my worst. She has always been there for me at my best and at my worst. She has encouraged me, cheered me on, inspired me, and motivated me. I know of very few mothers who show love for their children like my mother does for us. She endlessly works for our benefit and in our behalf. So much of who I am and where I am and what I hope to be I owe to my angel mother. If I can be a fraction of the mother to my children that she has been to me I will consider myself successful.
I am so grateful for the influence of these wonderful, beautiful women in my life. I have truly been blessed this day and every day. Every bit of the mother I am is because these women taught me and showed me the way, and continue to lovingly teach me every day.
For a beautiful mother's day message watch THIS video. #itwasmom
Love, Shayla
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