Not any Woman

This is something my Cousin Ivory wrote --I think at 2 am after my mom passed away or maybe right before--I love it and it says a lot of what I want to say about my mom for mother's day.

Not Any Woman

Any woman can get married and have eight children...any woman can have five daughters and three sons (with technology now, really ANY woman could) and hold them, feed them, teach them and change them.

But Peggy Hicken Baldry is not ANY woman.

She is our daughter, our wife, our mother, and grandmother. She is our sister and/or best friend. She is our aunt or A.K.A. adopted half-biological mother. She is our sister and law; our daughter and law. She is part of the Hicken Herd, Hicken sisters, the Gang, the Raymond Playhouse Society, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

If you are not biologically blessed to be related, then she is your best friend and confident. She is our hiking buddy, fashion designer, our seamstress. She is our co-worker and counsellor. She coined the term "slogging" which many of you know if you graduated from RHS between 1991 and 1993. I am sure she has coined many other terms.

She is our chef - her specialty is Caesar Salad, baking bread, cinnamon rolls, and pretty much everything else delicious. She is a nurse - mainly to her own children, but also to dozens of other children blessed to be in her care. She started cheerleading as a teen - and hasn’t quit since. She cheer-led for t-ball, swimming, soccer, volleyball, piano, dance, track and field, singing, Grade 9 plays, baseball, basketball, football, rugby. She actually cheered for the cheerleaders and does for Stake Presidents, bishops, missionaries, life, and love. We think she has a world record for most years spent as a cheerleader. Not many are dedicated enough to actually cheer for the high school coach (can you DO that?) But Peggy is. And when he quit coaching, she found another coach to cheer for.

Any woman can get married and have eight children. She could have 5 daughters, 3 sons, 15 grandchildren - granddaughters and grandsons, and hold them, feed them, teach them, change them. But NOT any woman can give birth to THIS family then hold them, feed them, teach them and change them into the best person they will ultimately be. NOT any woman can do all of the above and touch so many lives with such grace, tenderness, and love. NOT any woman can hold them, feed them, teach them, change them, and then leave them with a hand-print of her spirituality that will be forever in their hearts. And then pass her hand-print on for generations to come, while showing them that the prints in His Hands are the ones that really matter.

But we know that Peggy Hicken Baldry is NOT just any woman.

Love, Ivory

AKA adopted half-biological daughter