Letter from Mom - Salt Lake to Detroit

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Dear Kaitlyn,

WOW! You made it. You are currently sitting at the Salt Lake International airport awaiting an airplane to take you on the first leg of your flight to Boston. It has been an early morning and I know I haven’t slept much as I have anticipated this morning.

It feels like just yesterday we were anticipating your call arriving. I can remember as clear as day being on the treadmill and having you show up next to me just glowing! You were so thrilled on that morning. Do you remember how ‘off’ that morning was? You didn’t really feel like going into work, you were dragging a little bit as you got ready, and you mentioned you just kind of wanted to have a day to just hang. I remember that morning…I got up and as the kids got ready for school I just KNEW that your call would be there. I could feel it. And even as you chatted with me and talked of not wanting to go about your normal, there was something truly special in the air within our home.

I have watched you from the moment you opened that call and discovered where you were needed by your Heavenly Father up until now and have been in complete awe and admiration. You have embraced and fallen in love with the Portuguese language and the idea of the people you are headed off to serve. You immediately went to work, even more than you already had. You began language study. I could see that you had different approaches in your personal study and prayers. You immediately began to grow into someone that is even better than I ever imagined you could be!

As a Mom I have always known you were destined for really truly magical things. I knew that as you continued to grow up and mature into an adult, that those who were lucky enough to come into contact with you, they would be changed for the better. I knew that the influence and spirit you bring would be a shining personality trait that people would be blessed to get to be a part of. I knew that your smile, your laughter, your compassionate, and your attentiveness would play into the lives of many. I always knew that I was given the opportunity to help raise one of our Heavenly Father’s greatest and choicest spirits here on this Earth. I just never realized I guess that at some point I was going to have to relinquish my part as ‘Mom’ and let you go off into this world and have to actually share you with others. Ha! I want to be selfish and keep you all to myself. (I’m sure that is JUST what you want…not so much!)

These past 6 weeks of you being home in the home MTC or CTM or whatever is the right title for it (I don’t think I still know why it is backwards??) has been incredible for me to sit on the sidelines and watch you grow. Man have you crushed the heck out of it. The language learning is something I will forever want to remember and cherish as I have watched you figure it out. You never even hesitated and you made flashcards that I think stuck around for only a mere moment. The Lord has been with you and blessed you because of your faith and trust in Him to be able to do all you have done. You have done your part and He will continue to do His as long as you never put Him aside. I am so stinking proud of you!!! (And yeah, I am bawling like a baby while I type this up in case you wondered) Because of the growth I have seen in my ‘baby’ (because I will forever see you as my little girl) I won’t lie, it is hard to know that I am passing off the torch to others. They will get to witness first hand the growth and change you will continue to make each day and I am slightly jealous. Not going to sugar coat it at all. But I am also on the flip side, so dang stoked that others will get to see it, meet you, and have their lives forever changed by you. 😊

These next 16 months are going to FLY by. You are going to make memories that are going to last a lifetime and will change lives into the eternities. You are going to work harder than you will ever work, you will meet people you will never have dreamed of meeting, and you will gain a relationship with your Heavenly Father deeper than you could ever know at this point. Always remember I am here cheering you on, praying for you, thinking of you always, and looking forward to when we can chat again next.

I admire you Kaitlyn. I look up to you. And man alive am I so dang proud of you! Today is the first day of the best 18 months of your life thus far. You are one of the best things in my life I have ever done. And you are one of my very best friends in this world. Have a safe flight. I love you for forever and for always.

To the Moon and Back,

Mom

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