Mom deserves a medal

We have had a running joke in the family that there has been a wedding in the Fillmore family every other weekend for the past 5 months.  In one such of these weddings, Mom, Grandma & Grandpa, Aunt Toni, and cousin Steve made it in the mix, traveled to the big DC to kick off the marathon wedding season.  You can imagine the ragtag group, hailing from large cities like Fairbanks Alaska and Salt Lake City Utah where traffic often adds hours on to your commute, as they drove the streets of Washington DC and the surrounding areas.  On one such of the driving extravaganzas, Grandma was so impressed with my Mom's driving that she repeated multiple times, "wow Paula, you're such a good driver, you deserve a medal."  One other family member in the car caught on to the repetitive praise and encouraged the bestowal of a medal upon my mother.  They were unable to obtain a medal for my mother at the time but the repeated praise given by her mother (Grandma) that day served as a great story and the title for this post.
   For those of you who don't know (which you all should) May 16th is Paralegals day where we celebrate the hardworking men and women who assist and lead in the legal field.  They are often the glue that holds the firms, the lawyers, and the cases together.  Brad, Amy, and I attended with Mom a lunch at the Marriott Hotel in downtown SLC to celebrate my Mom as a paralegal and a medal winner.  Although about 5 months  removed from my Grandma's declaration of medal bestowal, Mom was chosen as the Utah Paralegal of the Year.  This is a little pic of her acceptance speech. She looks like a medal winner.  

One of the many impressive parts about this is she accepted this award not 48 hours removed from the start of the second round of treatment for chemotherapy.  48 hours ago she was sitting in a chair with an IV pumping a various mixture of chemotherapy drugs through her body.  The committee that had awarded her the medal asked her if she wanted them to say anything about her recent cancer treatments and she asked that the focus of the award be on those who have helped her throughout her professional life.  She hasn't asked us to stay mum on the whole cancer thing but I guess you figured that out by this blog.  She's always been a person ready to deflect the praise and spotlight others as they have endeavored through life.

In the 2012 Disney movie entitled, "Wreck it Ralph", the main character, Ralph, is the villain in an old school video game approaching it's 30 year anniversary of existence.  Ralph sees his video game nemesis, Fix it Felix Jr., receiving medal after medal for saving the community from Ralph's wrecking tendencies.  As any of us would be jealous of a little success of others, Ralph goes on a quest to get a medal and everything accompanied with it.  I won't spoil the movie but I'll tell you this much.  Ralph figures out something that Mom figured a long time ago: while medals are humbling and wonderful recognition of outstanding efforts, there is something far more rewarding.  It comes in attending a family wedding every other weekend whether it be across the country or in your own backyard.  She sees it as she has committed her life, her talents, and her abilities to a workplace that has influenced our family's life for the last 30 years.  We saw it on Thursday as she humbly and gracefully accepted her medal that she deserves. Thanks to you Mom.  Here's your medal.