That for Which I am Thankful

This weekend totally rocked. Rocked in a way I have needed a weekend to rock for such a long time. This was the weekend of seeing people I love and haven't seen in such a long time. Too long. Anyway, let us start at the beginning.

The drive out to Wyoming Tuesday night was long but wonderful. Somewhere in South Dakota we lost an hour of time because of deer on the road. So many beautiful deer. Along the side of the road was the biggest buck I have ever seen with my own eyes. He was surrounded by harem of equally beautiful does. At least 10 of them. He was the pimp daddy of mule deer.

We arrived around 6 in the morning. Dog ass tired. I had coffee with my sister in law, snuck in several kisses on the forehead of my 17 year old son sleeping on the couch and bullshitted with my brother for a few before collapsing under the weight of my heavy eyelids. Skylee woke us up to let me know it was 12:30. Holy shit! I have to meet my Mom for lunch in 30 minutes. I rolled over and told Shawn it felt like I hadn't even slept yet. Then I jumped out of bed, rushed to the shower and threw my clothes on. Grabbed my keys and looked at the clock. 10:30? Huh? Dammit!! No wonder it felt like I hadn't slept. I hadn't, not for more than 2 hours. Ugh!

I did meet up with my Mom later and had lunch at my second favorite restaurant (my favorite was closed for remodeling), and ran some errands. I also made her incredibly late getting back to work. That is MY job! I ran and picked up my niece and nephew because I cannot wait a second longer to be completely surrounded by all of them. I adore my niece and nephews. They are the only reason I wish I lived closer and the main reason I go home as often as I can to visit. When I got back my brother had called to let Shawn know that his old roommate from when we were first dating was working in town and wanted to come see us!! Funny thing is, we had just discussed where he could be the week before. So, Mark came up and saw us and we all went for free Tom and Jerry's at the bar!

Thursday morning I woke early to help my sister in law get the turkey in. She wasn't up yet. What?? This thing should have been in half an hour ago. I had one of the kids wake her up because I couldn't find the pan to put the turkey in. She gets up and can't find it either. Apparently my brother threw the pan away! We ran to my Mom's. No pan big enough so we headed down to the store. They were out. I was freaking out but we eventually found a pan and got the turkey on about an hour and a half later than it should have been. As soon as I had the turkey in I sat down and wrote out a schedule of what time everything needed to go in the oven and the length of time it would take to cook. My brother added to the bottom of the list "drink beer all day". Turns out that is the only item on the list that was done correctly.

It is close to two, people are showing up and my turkey isn't even close to done. My brother looks at the schedule and says no wonder it isn't done, you didn't put it on the schedule. Ha ha! He gave me shit the entire day about my turkey not being done. Thank god we had a back up turkey and a ham. It was supposed to take the turkey 5 hours to cook, it took 7. We had fresh turkey with dinner.

The turkey coma hit and everyone was down for the count. Their were sleeping bodies everywhere. I woke up to someone poking me in the arm. I open my eyes, blink the sleep out and stretch. Then I scream. OH MY GOODNESS!! DEVINA!! She was one of my very best friends growing up. We had so many wonderful and not so wonderful times together. I haven't seen or heard from her in more than 10 years. She is a family members husband, they told her they were coming and she wanted to tag along. Yay!! We had an awesome time catching up. Here we are......

Thanksgiving day couldn't have been any better if I had planned it out. After the excitement of visiting with Devina my step kids showed up! Yes, there were tears. Huge wonderful tears of happiness. Lots of hugs and exclamations of how happy I was to see them. I had a wonderful heart to heart with my step daughter and let her know when I left I tried to take them for reasons beyond my control I wasn't able. I have dreamed every single day since the day I entered the safe house that one day I would be able to explain to them what happened, how much I loved them and how desperate I was to take them with me. Finally so many years later I was looking at adults and still feeling the motherly love I felt for them when they were children. Maybe someday I will tell the story of how I came to parent these children and how I was forced to stop parenting them. Not today though. Today I want to share with you the kids I love and the babies I could have been a grandma to and feel like an honorary aunt to (I am way to young to be a grammy!). Here we are. There is one girl missing. She wasn't able to make the trip down. I hope to see her next time.

The rest of the weekend was spent visiting with a revolving door of friends and family, drinking a few glasses of wine, eating a ton, shopping, throwing a last minute surprise 7th Birthday party for Hannah that made her cry of happiness and throw herself into my arms exclaiming I am the best mom ever and having one of the best trips home I have had in quite some time. This week is going to be long and stressful. My Dad closes on his house the same day as Hannah turns 7. I have done all the leg work so I have to be at the closing. I also have to make a trip to the Mall of America, the most stressful place on earth, because Shawn started the MOA tradition with Hannah on her second birthday. Our 17 year old also moved back home which is a huge blessing but also a bit stressful, we have to get him registered at school, insured to drive and help him find a job. Thank God I have this weekend to pull strength from.

So, that is the story of my best Thanksgiving ever. Wonderful family. Wonderful friends. Wonderful food. What could be better??