My First Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day was a few weeks ago. And for me, it was my very first Mother’s Day. It should’ve been my eighth, but it was my first.

You see, back in 2013, I would’ve celebrated my first mom-to-be Mother’s Day, but that dream was very short-lived. In March, we had reason to celebrate that it would be a great year. But by April, we were wiping away our own tears and not in a celebratory mood. Our baby at the time didn’t survive past seven weeks. Mother’s Day that year was just a mix of sadness, tears and broken hearts.

The next several years were mixed with waiting and trying and waiting and trying and waiting. Lots and lots of waiting and lots and lots of praying.

Then in early 2020, before the world shutdown, we found out we were pregnant! You’d think it would be hard to be pregnant in such an environment as 2020, but it really wasn’t. I got to be at home most of my pregnancy, resting and relaxing and getting ready for our sweet boy’s arrival. I know 2020 holds a lot of bad memories for people. But for us, 2020 was the year our dream came true; the year our prayers were answered; the year we brought home our son.

For Mother’s Day, my husband made sure it was extra special since it was the first one we got to celebrate. He sent me flowers and showered me with sentimental gifts, all of which I love and wear proudly. But for me, the best part about Mother’s Day was introducing my son to his great-grandmother for the first time, face-to-face. You see, my grandmother has been in a nursing home for the past few years. And with 2020, I had to tell her about my pregnancy through a glass door; we didn’t get to celebrate at all. So, seeing her this weekend in person for the first time in over a year and introducing her to her newest great grandbaby was the highlight of my whole day! It was a beautiful day, and I will hold all the memories close to my heart for many years to come. For the women still waiting for your little miracle, keep praying and believing! I know the words fall short, because they always did for me on this day every year but do it anyway. My heart breaks with yours because I’ve been there. But I believe that one day soon, you’ll see your prayers answered, too!

My grandmother meeting my son for the first time, face-to-face

A Letter to my Dad

First, I want to say how grateful and thankful I am to have a Dad like you! You’ve taught me so much throughout my life and as an adult I can see how truly blessed my life has been because of you.

You’ve always been there for every event, big or small, in my life! You have a love of sports and you wanted to share that with me, your oldest daughter, by putting me on teams when I was younger. You taught me how to play basketball and golf. Basketball didn’t work out too well for me, though, as I ducked for cover every time the ball came at me…so much for the tall working in my favor for that sport! 🙂 Then, you showed me a hurdle because you knew my long legs could leap over those in a race. But I just looked at you like you were crazy!!

As it turned out, music was more my speed, so you exchanged exciting basketball games for less exciting band concerts. But that never stopped you, because you were there for every single one…from junior high to high school and all the way to college. You were there at all the football games and all the concerts. You came to all of the Parents’ Days at Texas Tech and watched me march the halftime shows during the football games. You even traveled to watch me play my trumpet at church and in Christmas programs…you’ve been there for it all, Dad.

And you continue to support and encourage me in my adult years. A couple of years ago, you took all of us to the Texas State Fair in Dallas; something you’d wanted to do for so long. You come to Lubbock when you can to play in golf tournaments with me (mostly with Jim, but I play when I can); you get up early on your vacation to come watch me at my Crossfit class. And most recently, you went to watch me run a 5K at the Mayor’s Marathon and took me to breakfast to celebrate when I finished.

As I’ve gotten older, I know the true value of a dollar and what it means to work hard and those are things you taught me when I was growing up. You and Mom worked a lot to save for family vacations we took during the summers. And we didn’t just go camping; we loaded up and went to places like California and Montana. But they weren’t just trips to get to those places; it was the trips to those places. Because of those vacations, I’ve been to the 4 Corners, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park; I’ve even been to Canada and Disneyland.

When I was younger I wondered (and sometimes complained) about why we had to drive and not fly to all those places and why we always stopped at parks for picnic lunches instead eating in restaurants. But now I know it was to save money for all the good stuff…the fun stuff; not waste it on expensive restaurant food. Because of your good work ethic, I not only have great memories from those family vacations, but I also know how to work hard to provide for my family.

You’re always there Dad, for everything! You’ve taught me so much and I just wanted the opportunity to let you know that I noticed. Life is short so we need to make the most of the time we have. We need to make the time to tell those we love that we love them. And we need to tell our loved ones why they mean so much to us.

I thank you for my love of the Dallas Cowboys and the Texas Rangers. We weren’t just fans that watched on TV, we were fans that sat in the stands and cheered on our teams. And I know now that those tickets weren’t cheap, so I thank you for taking the time and the money to take us to fun games like those. Like the family vacations, those are priceless memories I will treasure forever

I know my husband thanks you for my love of football, playing golf and watching action movies! Thanks to you, he never has to go to sappy chick flicks; he gets to watch the good stuff because that’s what I always want to see…the good action movies! 🙂 But I thank you for taking the time for Daddy-Daughter dates, too, to dinner, the movies, to play Putt-Putt or whatever I wanted to do; I treasure those memories to this day.

Thank you, Dad for always working so hard to provide for our family! You gave us a happy childhood, good work ethic, memorable family vacations and a great role model to follow. Next to the word “Dad” in the dictionary, should be your picture because to me, you are everything a Dad stands for and was created by God to be.

You’ve been there for me from the beginning…I think there’s a picture of you sleeping in the waiting room when I was born. And you’ll keep being there for everything I do…as long as God allows. So until that time comes, we’ll make the most of every opportunity we have to make new memories.

Thanks for E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G, Dad! I love you so very much!!!

Sweet Daisy

Last week we experienced the loss of our family pet, our sweet Daisy. We had Daisy more than 10 years and she was as much a member of our family as any human. I know some people don’t think of their pet as family, but we did!! When we went on trips, she usually went with us. When checking hotels, we always checked for pet-friendly.

There are so many things about Daisy that I’ll always remember. She hated cats with a passion! She always barked & tried to chase our neighbor’s cat when she saw him. Once, my husband found her after she had “found” the cat…she had the cat pinned to the ground underneath her paw. She wouldn’t hurt any animal, but she would bark at them like she meant business. When we first got Daisy, she would run like crazy around the house. She could go from 0 to 90 in a matter of seconds. She’d zoom around the living room, out the doggy door, run the fence while barking at the neighbor dog, zoom back into the house and soar over the side of the couch like it was six inches off the ground!

She also had a love of chocolate! Yes, we know dogs aren’t supposed to have chocolate, but this dog had a stomach of steel! She was known to get chocolate out of jackets (I have a hole in a pocket to prove that), off the kitchen table, from the bar behind the couch and then anywhere else you left it without remembering to place it up high. This one Christmas we had given my mother-in-law a coffee basket with chocolate truffles. These weren’t just any truffles, they were the kind you got from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory…they were huge and there were six of them. We had opened the gifts at my mother-in-law’s house that morning and then went to another family member’s house for the rest of the day. When we got back that evening, the basket was on the floor, some of the coffee ripped open and the white sack with the truffles…ripped to shreds…and EMPTY!! We checked on Daisy and her stomach was so full. She looked miserable and she didn’t eat anything else for a while, but she was just fine. That was several years ago and we still laugh about that every Christmas.

Another food item she loved was ice cream. Any time any of us had ice cream, she had to have some. We got to where we just fixed a bowl for her when we had it. There was a time I was scooping ice cream for the two of us. The ice cream was still pretty solid, so when I scooped it out, it popped off of my scoop and was headed to the floor…except that it never hit the floor. I looked down and Daisy had caught the very generously-sized scoop of ice cream in her mouth! 🙂

There are so many great memories of our sweet Daisy. I like to believe that she’s not alone in heaven…that she has a special little boy to play with. I like to believe that she and this little boy chase each other around and play all day and the he rubs her belly at night, just like my husband did every night before he went to sleep. I like to believe that these two will keep each other company until we see them both again one day.

Matthew 5:4 (MSG), “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.”

Here are a few of our favorite pictures of Daisy…

We love you so much Daisy and we miss you like crazy!!! ❤

To the One I Love…

Today is my husband’s 40^th birthday! Lucky for me, he reaches this climactic age before I do!!! But, I’m not all that far behind…mine is only 6 months away.

But today, my focus is on my sweetheart, my love! I wanted to do something really meaningful for him to commemorate this special day in his life. To my husband, my love, I dedicate this blog to you…my one and only!!!

Forty wonderful years ago, my sweet hubby was born. Isn’t he just the cutest baby!?!?! Check out that full head of hair!!!

Knowing that he is really going to get me good after this post, I might as well go all out & share some other great pictures of him growing up…

He’s such a cutie…even at a young age!! I didn’t know him at this age, so let’s move on to the years where I did know him…junior high & high school!!

This good-looking guy first caught my eye in the eighth grade. Not only was he good-looking, but he was also one of two guys that was taller than me at the time…that was a huge factor for me, being the tallest girl in our class!!

Now, to the man I fell head over heels in love with my senior year in high school and have been captivated by him ever since…

Ruggedly good looking, I say…but I am 100% biased!! He stole my heart on Valentine’s Day when we were seniors, the same way he did when we were in eighth grade! He asked me out on March 22 and my life has never been the same!!

Several years ago for Valentine’s Day, I made him a picture, listing the “47 Things I Love About You”. I’d like to share some of those today…just as a reminder to him how much I love him and how thankful I am that God chose me to be his wife!!

I love your smile

I love your sense of humor

I love when we curl up on the couch and watch movies together

I love that you call me the love of your life

I love that you know my faults and love me anyway

I love the way that you still open doors for me

I love the way you make me laugh…even after all these years

I love that I can wink at you in a certain way and no matter your mood, you’ll always laugh

I love that you miss me even on a day trip

I love the way you make me feel safe and secure

I love your big bear hugs

I love the way you hold my hand

I love your honesty

I love your work ethic

I love your compassion for people

I love that you listen to my opinion

I love to hear you laugh

I love that no matter what we go through, good or bad, we go through it together

I love that you’re a family man and don’t want to be anywhere else

I love that I already know you’ll be the best dad

I love that you’re a problem-solver

I love that you’re ticklish…even when you say that you aren’t

I love your eyes

I love that you’re a godly man and the head of our home

I love that you’re my husband

I love that you still take my breath away

Happy 40^th Birthday Jim Hyden!!!! I love you more and more every day!!! Thank you for letting me share this life with you!! I love you!!

Mom

Today, June 20 is my Mom’s birthday. She’s…well, let’s just say that when you look at her, you won’t believe she has a daughter that’s 39 (which is me)!! She looks great!!! And a quick Happy Birthday shout-out to her twin sister, my Aunt Sharon!

My mom and I have had the typical relationship that you’d find with most mothers & daughters; the kind where we didn’t always agree or didn’t quite see eye-to-eye on everything. But the one thing I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older…I’m a lot more like her than I’ll probably ever want to admit! 🙂

I can say that I owe my music ability to my mom. I tried the sports thing, which would’ve been pleasing to my dad, but I let my sister handle the athletic ability in the family. I have a picture of my mom & me sitting at a piano in my grandmother’s house. I’m not sure of my age in the picture, but I would guess I was age 4 or 5. My mom started me out with piano lessons from the 1^st grade and I took them through my 6^th grade year. In 6^th grade, I joined the band and have been forever known as the band nerd. Music has been a part of my life ever since then and that all came from my mom.

She is the most talented pianist that I have ever seen or heard! She used to partner with us during my band years for the solo portion of the solo and ensemble competition. I had the privilege of practicing with my accompanist any time I wanted. The others often practiced with her for the first time at the competition. But she’s such a great player that she could sit down at any piano and read the music for the first time and sound wonderful. If that player didn’t win, it certainly wasn’t because of her!!

Aside from her incredible piano talent, she can also sing. She and my dad used to be in the choir in college and also toured with their church on choir trips. I, however, did not inherit the singing gene like I did the music gene. Oh well, it’s still fun to listen to her sing harmony when I stand next to her in church.

My mom is smart and beautiful. I know I don’t say it very often and probably don’t show it as much as I should, but I love her very much. God blessed me with an incredible woman for a mother. My husband and I recently went through a tragedy; one my mother had never experienced. But that didn’t stop her…she made herself available to me for whatever I needed to cope with the loss we suffered. I’ve felt a lot closer to her since all of that happened. I might even refer to my mom as a Super Woman!

Mom, I hope you have a wonderful birthday today!! Sorry I can’t spend it with you in person, but I’ll see you in a few weeks. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! I love you!!!

Here are some pictures of us throughout the years…