Thanksgiving Remembered

This post has arrived late due to the bermuda triangle of internet service at my mother's house in Spokane.

I think my favorite Thanksgiving ever occurred in 1997. Chance and I had been dating for a couple months and I brought him home to meet my family for the very first time that weekend. It was the first and only time I ever brought a boy home to meet the fam in all my college years. I cannot describe the anxiety I felt on the drive to Vancouver. Would they like him? Would HE like THEM? Would his family resent me for taking him away during the holidays? Would we discover we really didn't connect after all and then have to endure a long weekend together? Would he understand my Black Friday shopping? Would he love my mother's cooking and properly praise it? All of these worries and more (much much more) ran through my mind continuously. The torture of this was magnified by two things:

1. Chance was just as pensive as I was during the trip (it was quiet ... too quiet ... radios are good); and

2. There was monstrous traffic on I-5 for most of the drive.

The normal 2.5 hour trip ran more like 5+ hours that day. A long drive spent torturing myself. I wish I could find my journal because I'm sure I recorded something about the weekend. Right now, I can only remember two things. First, my mother's house was beautiful. She had spent hours killing herself cleaning it for me and my "boyfriend." I'm sure this was compounded by the fact that I had not decided to invite Chance for Thanksgiving until about 24 hours earlier. And second, I was filled with an immense sense of relief after we arrived and Chance settled into place in my family like he'd known them forever. That was the beginning of the end for us. We were engaged about two months later. Looking back to that tremendously joyful Thanksgiving 11 years ago ... how very grateful I am that I brought him along.

"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."
~Author Unknown

Sorrow

I've been neglecting this blog all month. Life has been very busy, but the truth is I haven't felt much like writing. I'm exhausted and we have had some difficult times in our family.

My stepmom passed away suddenly last Thursday. It was completely unexpected and the reasons behind it are still unknown. Kim was a wonderful person and I am grateful that she was a part of my life. I am grateful for the love she gave to my dad and to his children. What a kind and generous spirit she had. I will miss her love and support and the way her comforting and encouraging words felt like hugs over the phone. That was Kim to me. She was one great big long beautiful hug. I will miss her.

We love you, Dad. Hang in there.

“...Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.
“And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.” ~Alma 40:11-12
http://www.lds.org/