Good Golly Miss Mollie

[Alrighty, so the thing where I don't use any names but just express my thanks in general terms and impersonal pronouns is getting tricky. This is my second recent post directed to a specific person.]

Mollie is leaving. It never occurred to me that she would go anywhere else. I mean, of course she is leaving. She is a college student, and she has been here for four years, and that's what college students do when the graduate: they leave.

Who is Mollie? Well, obviously, she is a college student. Mollie is a great person, with a 10,000 watt smile and a killer sense of style. She is a good sport and a loyal friend. She has been in my life mainly as the Primary teacher of my little girls. First it was Lucy, then Eliza, and then Yvy (pretty sure, it's been four years, I can't remember which ones). All of them have loved her. And shamelessly idolized her. Eliza named a doll after her. For a little while, Lucy started wearing her hair like Mollie.

And then there was the time my family had a big family even at the Winter Quarters temple, and Mollie (and her mother) opened her home to all (which is a lot) of my little nieces and nephews while the rest of us were in the temple. Without knowing any of them in advance except mine. And still liked me when it was over.

And the time we rooked her into dj-ing a Youth Conference dance with Mark (her degree is in broadcasting), and she pulled through in a big way with music from the radio station where she worked...not to mention working all day and then dj-ing all evening.

Mollie is a party in a box.

Mollie will be an indelible part of my girls' childhood. Whatever else she does in this world, she is effectively immortalized here. I am grateful for Mollie. I am grateful for the roll model she has been for my children (go to college! be active in the Gospel after you leave home! make sure your shoes match before you walk out the door in the mornings!). I am grateful for her and all the other young college "kids" who come to our church, who love my children and who are part of our extended family.

God bless you, Mollie! Success in whatever is ahead of you in life. And someday, when you have your own little girls, come back and hang out, and let my girls babysit for you.

What are you blessed with today?