Gratitude day #9
Today I am really grateful for Kerry's parents.
I mean really, really grateful.
Orson and Shirley Lauritzen were two of the finest people that I have ever known. When Kerry and I were engaged, we flew out to Utah about three months before the wedding so I could meet them and his siblings.
I was overwhelmed at their grace, and how they made me feel so welcome in their home. Orson took to me right away, and provided time for some wonderful conversations about the importance of marriage, and the relationship that makes a successful marriage. It took Shirley a bit longer to warm up to me, for Kerry was the first of the children to really step out of that "Mormon Corridor" on the western front. He had served his mission in the Delaware/Maryland area, and loved it so much that he returned a few months after his mission was completed. There would be other children who would leave, and even live around the world. But, Kerry was first.
These two wonderful in-laws became two of my closest friends. Shirley would often call me during the day, knowing that Kerry was working. She just wanted to talk and see how things were going.
She taught without making it look like she was teaching. Example: when we had our first baby, I'd had no experience being around young children. They came to Ohio for his blessing (christening), and as she held him she showed me how to hold him to give a little bit of pressure on his abdomen to help him burp. Kerry learned from her other helpful tricks, like how to gently pull the bottle away from his mouth when he fell asleep drinking. It would cause him to begin drinking again.
Little things like that helped me settle in to motherhood.
However, I overheard one of the most extraordinary conversations that I would end up never forgetting. Their house was huge. On the top floor, I could go out onto the balcony and see this massive sky, and also see the Manti Temple glowing in the distance.
One night, I went out there to ponder, and I overheard Shirley and her daughter Gay sitting one the grass below me. Shirley was getting ready to do a project on her home, and was asking Gay's advice on different colors, fabrics, etc. (Gay was an artist.)
That may not seem like much; but I couldn't stop listening. A mother was asking her daughter for advice! As the baby of my family, no one had ever asked my advice on anything. Babies don't often have much credibility, and apparently I had none.
I later told Shirley just how touched I was at this scene, and her words to me were, "I just think that when our children become grownups, we are all equal."
Again, she taught me.
Kerry's dad had a dairy farm with over 400 head of cattle. He had other enterprises, too, but one of his main businesses was that of being a CPA. This is why we've never had anyone else do our taxes. Kerry learned from him just how things work. And, he valued advice from his dad, calling him nearly every Sunday evening throughout his life.
They made every grandchild feel like there was no one more important than them, and made sure they attended every blessing, baptism, and other milestones in their lives. At their death, they had over 40 grandchildren.
When they visited anyone, they made it clear that they did not want to be entertained. They were there to help and to serve. They went to work at our house installing new ceiling fans (Orson was an electrician in the Navy), Shirley wallpapered our bedroom, and she and Erik tore carpet off our basement stairs and stained them.
It was pure joy to have them come. And, I wish I could welcome them through the door one more time.
I am grateful for their marriage example, the enjoyment they had as a married couple, their dedication to hard work, their betterment of the community around them by saving and preserving pioneer time period buildings, and just plain loving their family.
I hope they know that their son is taking good care of me, as per their own example. And, I especially hope they know how deeply he is loved by me.
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