Baylessfamily.org

When I was a young girl this cute little family lived across the street. I loved babies even at a young age and they had babies so I would go over there and the mom let me play with her kids. When I got older I baby-sat these kids, a lot. They eventually moved, but they only moved around the corner, so I would still baby-sit the kids. When I was 12, the mom told me about a church program that she was a part of called Young Womens. The girls got together every week and did fun activities and service and she invited me to go. The first time I went we played miniature golf at the church, each class had made their own hole for the course. It was at this activity that I met Teressa Love, who became (and still is) my best friend and a bunch of other girls who I spent most of my adolescence with. The “mom” who invited me was Anne Law, who is still one of my greatest friends and role models. Anne was awesome. She let us girls play at her house and with her cute kids, she hired us one summer to do yard work for her and earn some money, she let us come over to her house and just hang out and talk, she was always good for a talk, she even let us sleep out on her trampoline once. After awhile, we discovered that Anne and I had the same birthday! This started a tradition of going out for lunch for each of our birthdays, which we still continue today although Anne and I are the only ones who still live in Utah. The other girls, Teressa and Holly, my best buddies, have moved far away, much to my dismay, but we get together whenever they come to visit, usually at Anne’s house! Anne was there at my baptism and sealing and played violin at my wedding. She has visited me when each of my kids have been born, and has always been an amazing friend. When I got older and had a home of my own, I began to wonder, why did Anne always let us come over and hang out? We were so annoying at that age! We must have bugged the crap out of her! She is just that nice, I thought. Now here’s where the Deja Vu comes into play. I teach the 11 and 12 year old girls in primary and they are very sweet girls and love my kids. I was wanting to train for a few upcoming races but I had no idea how I was going to go running with all these little kids to look after. So I asked a few of the girls if they would want to come over a couple of times a week to play with my kids so I could go running. They all said yes! They come twice a week prepared with baby sitting kits and activities for my kids, and my kids love it. The girls are coming! The weird thing is this, when I am done running, we hang out. Just for a little while, but we talk and tell stories and laugh, just like my friends and I did with Anne. It’s like a part of my childhood is replaying before my eyes, it’s weird, but wonderful. I find myself really looking forward to their visits. I realize this post probably won’t mean anything to anyone but the people mentioned in it, but I really wanted to write it down. To be perfectly honest, the kindness of that one person opened a lot of doors for me and established relationships that have been paramount to the person I have become today. It sounds cheesy, but I am completely serious. I don’t know if I can been as an amazing influence on these girls as Anne was to me, probably not, but I am happy to begin to understand why Anne did the things she did for us. Life is amazing sometimes.