To Magical Women--I love Mrs Sowerby

As it is Mother's Day tomorrow, I am posting this since I wrote it a few months ago.
I am including a quote from Sheri Dew from one of my favorite talks:

Every one of us has an overarching obligation to model righteous womanhood because our youth may not see it anywhere else. Every sister in Relief Society, which is the most significant community of women on this side of the veil, is responsible to help our young women make a joyful transition into Relief Society. This means our friendship with them must begin long before they turn 18. Every one of us can mother someone—beginning, of course, with the children in our own families but extending far beyond. Every one of us can show by word and by deed that the work of women in the Lord’s kingdom is magnificent and holy. I repeat: We are all mothers in Israel, and our calling is to love and help lead the rising generation through the dangerous streets of mortality.

I love the character of Mrs. Susan Sowerby. In reading the final pages of the Secret Garden, as this character made her appearance in the garden so many thoughts were brought together in her. From the jumprope given shortly after Mary's arrival at Misselthwaite to the moments just before the sweet ending, Burnett creates a character who possesses a great number of nourishing and magical qualities that I should like to perfect. I think the part of her that I most admire is that aspect which persuades all three children in the garden to adore her, by her very nature. In many ways I consider myself more childlike than adultlike but, in other ways I am the contrary. I love the muppets, both the musical and the theatrical talents of Jim Henson. I share a love for them with my children, that has come very naturally for all of us. I love discovering life in general with them and finding ways to explain a true principle in a simple way that is true but in a way they can understand. (For example, Susanna once asked about how water is in the sky and on the earth. I was at the kitchen sink and I grabbed a washcloth and showed her how the washcloth (like a cloud) picks up water from the bowl (like a lake or body of water) and then can't hold on to it anymore and it squeezes it out.) I have a difficult time playing with my children at certain games, where my husband excels. I enjoy cooking and drawing with my children but, I almost have to force myself to put myself in their pretend world and not get distracted. Pretend is more likely to hold my attention if there are definitive pretend objectives. I feel bad that I have to impose some aspect in order to hold my attention, instead of just sitting and allowing myself to be encircled in their little world, to see what they are thinking and how they create the world around them when I am not adding my ideas.