Today I went to a church meeting.

And it was basically a party for my mom, since she's leaving on Sunday. In the middle, we had to give our wishes/thanks/ and our farewells. As always, I wasn't saying what I wanted to say. I didn't speak my heart. Instead, I said, (and this is the truth, what I said):

"It's been amazing, being around my mom for all of my life, or rather, most of my life. And, being her oldest daughter, I really love those days where she talks to me about...well, girl stuff. And, it was really good to have a handy-dandy mom around who can tell you what sickness you have, remind you to clean your room, help you decide what clothes to wear, and, even, to cut your or help cut your siblings hair. Mom, I'll miss you so much,"

Then, it was my brother's turn to say something (my youngest brother), and guess what he said?

"Mom, I'll miss you."

And the way he said it, it made all of us girls think of Elvis, so we were doing imitations, and were laughing until it was my mom's turn to speak,

"As a mother, my first priority is to take care of my children. When my children were younger, and I went overseas, Jerry (my dad), would send me a letter, saying what they were doing, who got sick, and who is having problems. And, of course, it makes me want to be there, with my chilren, but I'm right here, hundreds of miles away. I just want to keep my children safe..."

She said more, but I'm crying right now so please don't ask me to finish that. Nine months. *sniff* But then everyone started hugging her, and then one of the preachers (we're a funny, small, weird, church, just saying. XP), joked that the way to make sure her kids were safe was to let the families of the church take care of them. So then, people started saying that they called Sarah, my little, cute, adorable sister, and my brothers' friends said that their parents would adopt them, and no one actually offered to "adopt" me until the pastor said, "If any of you want cookies daily, then call Emily!"

So, I was laughing so hard, especially when Nathan (my youngest brother) told me that he wasn't really listening, so why was everyone wiping tears out of their eyes while laughing at the same time?

~Emily Z., Emily Music, Emily_Dancing, EmmyZee, the girl who is crying in her heart, but laughing at the same time.