Guest Fay Klinger

My guest blogger today is Fay Klinger, a friend and fellow author who writes today with heart and helpful tips on connecting generationally. She is the author of several books including her newest, We are Strong, a powerful and poignant reminder of the inner strength of young women and their mothers.
Enjoy!
Connie
[Check out Connie’s blog post on The Red-headed Hostess blog about overcoming perfectionism, overdoing, and inappropriate guilt! CLICK HERE]

Motherhood Matters Forever

The thought keeps coming to my mind, Once a mother, always a mother. Here I am a grandmother to 35, and somehow I never looked ahead to this time. Oh, I thought and prepared in great detail how I would be as a mother. I loved bringing my children into this world. Motherhood was my life’s goal.

Fay with her sixth child

Now I am still a mother; my love grows, and I worry and pray for the safety and well-being of every individual in our expanding family. How could I have guessed I could have a mother’s love for so many?

It is interesting to me that no matter how old my children are, my heart still wants to be close to them. I so much enjoyed the e-mail conversations I had with two of my children that met a couple months ago in England. One was taking her daughter to college. The other, there on business, helped them get settled. I shall love my children no matter where they are . . . forever.

My mother set the perfect example for me. She didn’t sugar-coat life, but instead taught me how to face and handle my challenges. When I felt overwhelmed as a young mother, I called my mom on the phone and pleaded, “Just tell me it gets better. I’m going crazy!”

My mom didn’t even hesitate in her response. She said, “It doesn’t get any better. It just gets harder, but you can handle it!”

Even today, at the age of 92, my mom continues to encourage me in doing hard things. I’m trying to learn a computer program. It’s difficult for me and I tell her about it in my daily e-mail communications. At one point I was feeling particularly frustrated because the manual I purchased did not have accurate information in it—some directions were faulty and some of the diagrams did not fit what really showed on the screen. After expressing how despaired I was, my mother responded in an e-mail with, “It is really frustrating for you when that computer does not give you the right info for those manuals. However, you can do it!! Too bad that it is so frustrating!” My mom’s consoling words made a difference for me, just like it always has.

Mom prepared me to be a mother. Now I realize she also prepared me to be a grandmother and a great-grandmother. Mom consistently teaches love, integrity, charity, and compassion by her unfailing example. When I grow up, I want to be just like my mother because motherhood matters forever.

My mother, teaching my grandson how to play Uno

Author and illustrator Fay A. Klingler is an award-winning creative and technical writer. She is an often sought-after motivational speaker for women’s groups and radio and television audiences. Among others, Fay is the author of A Woman’s Power: Threads that Bind Us to God, Shattered: Six Steps from Betrayal to Recovery, The LDS Grandparents’ Idea Book, and her two new books to be released in 2014—We Are Strong! Mothers and Daughters Stand Together and I Am Strong! I Am Smart!
Together, the Klinglers have twelve children and thirty-five grandchildren in their blended family. They reside in Draper, Utah. Fay loves to hear from her readers. Send her an e-mail at fay@klingler.com, or visit http://www.fayklingler.com or http://www.facebook.com/FayKlingler.
http://bit.ly/AWomansPower
http://bit.ly/LDSGrandparents
http://bit.ly/ShatteredSixSteps