I Am Thankful For Demanding Parents

There is a lot I could say about my parents and why I am grateful for them. They have been a huge help through our educations, and beyond, both financially and mentally. They have provided me throughout my life with wonderful cultural experiences. They have done so much that I hope I have said thank you for, and that I am so appreciative of, but today I just want to high light a few random things that you can't find a Hallmark card for (because I am sticking it to the commercialism Man).

I am truly grateful that my parents raised me the way they did. They had high expectations. They always told me "when you go to college" never "if." I remember my mom and I have a "conversation" about my grade point average, which was a 3.56 at the time, and her "explaining" that, that wasn't going to be good enough if I wanted to get into BYU and get a good education. From a young age I understood that you needed a good education if you wanted a good job, and that every woman should have a good education (job) because you never knew what could happen. I may not have had to work in my career field, but a B.S. in education comes in handy every day you have kids!

I am grateful that my parents have been so supportive of me in my life. They were never one to give false hope (one of my mom's pet peeves is when people tell kids "You can be anything you want to be...") but they would talk out plans and strategies and help me come to an educated decision. Even when I acted more on emotion than logic they tried to help me see both sides, good and bad, of situations (even creepy boyfriends that they had to put up with for 2 years).


I am grateful that my dad took one of us kids out every Monday on a date night. Once a month we had my dad's undivided attention. He would let us pick wherever the heck we wanted to go, and we got to spend $10 on the evening. Some of my favorite memories from junior high were playing the Area 51 video game with my dad at the mini golf place. We spent all $10 on it and made it pretty far. He also sat through the horrible movie "Sister Act" with me, because I asked him to. He didn't have to spend that time with me, but he did, and I think we have a great relationship because he was willing to spend the time. He passed on a love of learning new things (i.e. a million hobbies), the importance of a strong work ethic, and and always did a great job of helping me understand the gospel (I still call him to help me with my talks).
My mom was a great example of feminism and liberal thinking, all while being a good Mormon (shocker, I know)! She taught me compassion for those that were less fortunate (even the sad socially awkward), and she taught me that I was just as good and worth as much as my brothers. She did a great job NOT playing favorites and really tried to help us all feel like we were worthwhile.

I remember one night I didn't have a book to read and she pulled out a very well worn book on Greek mythology. I remember her telling me how she had loved reading about all of the myths when she was younger and hoped that I would enjoy them too. I stayed up so late that night, I just couldn't read enough. She is always introducing me to new things whether I want to be or not (She got me a subscription to Time magazine this year just so I could hold more intelligent conversations with her!). She taught me to love reading, baking, and history, and I only hope I can be half as great a mom as she is!