Everything I need to know I learned in Boise.

I've lived in Boise more consecutive years than any other place. It's home. I've spent practically all of my child-bearing, child-rearing years (thus far) here. And occasionally I pause a moment to reflect on how my experience here in Boise has shaped me, as a woman, a wife, a mother. Mostly as a mother.

I am blessed with an exceptional mother. I aspire to her kind, charitable ways with little hope of ever developing them. Dang, I should have paid more attention while I was growing up because now as I flounder in my attempts to teach my children, I could have used the lessons I could have gleaned by watching her. And she sure as heck doesn't remember much of anything.

Despite my attempts to mimic my own wonderful mother, I also feel as though everything I ever needed to know about mothering I am learning here. You see, I am surrounded by a wide variety of wise, deliberate mothers. They've taught me to can, to cook, to be patient with my children, to garden, to sew, to decorate (a skill that desperately needs to be employed), to plan meals, to simplify, to make my own laundry soap, to teach my kids responsibility. I could go on and on. I owe it all to the amazing women that surround me. Today I feel grateful for the sheer luck (though I don't really believe that's what it was) that landed us here during this particular stage of life. I certainly don't subscribe to the idea that we must all be cookie-cutter copies of one another in order to be of worth. However, I am so thankful to have gleaned bits and pieces from each person who has influenced me these past eight years. The mother I am today is one big conglomerate of a whole list of traits I have copied from all of you.

P.S. I just reread all of that and it sounds strangely like I'm saying goodbye. For the record, we're not moving.