Who is My Naomi?

This week is (or would have been) Grandma Genevieve’s 97th birthday, April 15. I couldn’t have asked for a better mother-in-law. Yes, sometimes (okay too many times) I complained about how she did this or that. For the most part she really was the one I looked up to and turned to for help. All I had to say was ‘Boy, I could sure use this or that’ and believe you me, it was done. None of my daughters or son-in-law can even hope for that kind of speed or dependability.
Did I appreciate the time she bought five dresses at the DI and overhauled them so Jennifer could have clothes to wear? No, I complained they looked like a fifty year old should wear them.

Did I thank her for tending, you those years I had the LiL Wooden Things shop in WVC. Or the time Dad & I went to Texas for a week while she nurtured you through the chicken pox. Not enough thanks for those days & nights I spent finding myself while she so unselfishly served with open arms to tend, feed, cloth, teach and love you.

How I loved this woman and looked up to her. Every Sunday when I do my RS President job, I put on the tan skirt she gave me (packaged from a mail order service, that I hated when I got it) but now use it faithfully, praying I can be as good of a president as she was.

I see her in Jennifer as she serves in her ward activities calling and doing community service. I find her in the drive that Mauri has to be dependable to her employer and never complain. Alicia has those organizational skills from her that I long to achieve. Breann doesn’t give up in the face of adversity with her nose to the grindstone. Jory is the great school teacher that she was as she earned and paid for every single son to serve the Lord. Dad is the most trusting, best worker and giving person that exists thanks to her.

This is why when I read the words of Ruth many years ago, she became my Naomi. ‘Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee. For wither thou goest I will go, and wither thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people and thy God, my God.’ Please know I loved her very much and will always treasure her gifts through you.