I Love You More

It's sometimes difficult to think about thankfuls when our country is in such tremendous turmoil, and while I am aware that the exercise of FINDING the thankfuls in such a dark place is kind of the entire point of the Ten Things of Thankful, it can be easier said than done. 

Then a dark place hit closer to home.

Earlier this week, my sweet friend Annie was shot and killed in a freak accident. Annie and my daughter were friends since high school, where they participated in show choir together. They called themselves twin sisters, and they looked enough alike (especially in matching show choir costumes and hairstyles) that at performances, I would happily be watching my daughter perform, look closer, and then realize I had been watching Annie instead.

Annie and Emma Kate

I started teaching at the university child development center where I work now a few years later. We employ students from the college to work as teacher assistants, many of them education majors. Shortly after I started working there, I was standing in the director's office when a blonde head bounced past the door, stopped, and ran back, jumping wildly up and down and shouting my name. It was Annie! She had come in for an interview, and of course, she was hired and placed in my classroom. And boy, did we have fun! Annie had a personality that wouldn't stop. She had boundless energy, a smile that lit up the room, a wicked sense of humor, and a natural gift to work with children. Annie was now not just my daughter's friend, she was my friend, too.

And we did it all during Covid!

All too soon, Annie left my classroom to do her student teaching, and after she graduated, she got a job teaching first grade in a nearby town. She totally rocked it, so much that two years later, she moved to a STEAM school in that district to be the art teacher. I loved hearing her stories about the projects she was doing with the children when she and I would get together for dinner. She was a talented artist and so very creative. The children loved her, the staff loved her, the world loved her.

And in an instant, she was gone.

This has been a hard week. Trying to accept that someone so vibrant and animated, so cherished by everyone who knew her, had her life cut so short has been almost unbearable. It's not just emotional pain, but physical pain as well. I ache for her family (who sometimes watched MY daughter at show choir performances instead of Annie) and especially for the children she taught, children who cannot comprehend something that simply denies comprehension.

My thankful list this week is just this: I'm thankful to have had the privilege to have known and loved Annie. Rest peacefully, sweet friend, until we meet again. 

I love you more, Annie. 

My sweet Annie

Two In A Row

Thanksgiving week has officially concluded, and while I'll be exhausted for some time from it all, I stand by that it ended all too soon. 

Here are my thankfuls for the week that was....

1. This made the list last week but is worth a re-post: I took off Monday and Tuesday, so I had a zero-day work week. Woot! Woot!

2. I'm thankful for old family recipes that remain traditions. Our family couldn't celebrate Thanksgiving without my great aunt Ecie's sugar cookies. Or my mom's pumpkin pie (along with her secret pie crust recipe). 

3. It feels as though I was at the grocery store a dozen times last week, but I didn't mind, because I enjoy grocery shopping - I like comparing prices and reading labels and people watching. It is also not lost on me that grocery shopping is a privilege many don't have.

4. While shopping at Aldi, I kept meeting a family on each aisle as we traversed the store, and I'm smiling now just remembering the absolutely adorable children riding in the grocery cart while mom pushed and dad followed. There was a boy who was 4 at the most and his probably 2 year old sister, and they were precious! The boy had red, tousled curls and wore red glasses and his sister's red hair was pulled up like a turnip top, and they chattered and giggled and asked questions and were absolutely angel babies. I could have eaten them up with a spoon, they were so sweet! 

5. My daughter came down to the lake house for the holiday on Wednesday, and she then made the hour drive on Thursday morning to pick up my son and his wife from the airport. 

6. It was a delight to spend time with my kids! They are smart and funny, and I don't get to see them nearly enough, especially the two that live in DC. My heart is bursting with pride over what they have already accomplished in life.

7. We and 20,000 other people went to Silver Dollar City Friday night to enjoy the Christmas lights. It was cold but not freezing, my husband and I got to see bluegrass artist Rhonda Vincent perform while the other three went in search of food, and I got over 11,000 steps in for the day.

8. The holiday weekend went by entirely too fast. My daughter headed back to Kansas City around noon, and shortly thereafter, my husband and I drove my son and daughter in law to Springfield to catch their plane home to DC. This would have all gone smoothly, except they had to connect in Chicago. Chicago. As in the place all the national news was reporting from because they received 9 inches of snow and most, if not all, flights going in or out were canceled. Guess what? Yep, theirs, too. The thankful here? I got to take them back with me for one more night!

9. We woke up to a tiny skiff of snow and REALLY cold temperatures. The temperatures were expected but not enjoyed. The snow was not expected and not enjoyed. I was the airport shuttle driver this time, and we went to lunch and then to the airport. Now, when the flight fiasco happened the day before, my son and daughter in law changed their connection to Houston instead of Chicago to circumvent the snow, but you know what they say about the best laid plans. . . . Not snow this time, but their plane literally had a screw loose and was thus delayed for over an hour while someone got a screwdriver or something. I'm thankful that the plane was easily fixable and that they made it home safely.

10. Aaaand I'm thankful WE made it home safely from our holiday weekend! After the plane finally took off and I felt confident that my kids were actually going to make it home, I headed back to the lake house once again, loaded the car with cats and leftovers, and began the two hour drive home. You know, that two hour drive that turned into nearly three hours because as soon as we neared Springfield, it began snowing again. By this time, it was dark. The wind was blowing the snow directly into the windshield, and while it was minimally sticking to the road (mostly just to the shoulder and the center line, no biggie...). I had a death grip on the steering wheel, but most of the other drivers on the freeway seemed unperturbed by the snow and lack of visible lines. Better safe than sorry!

Maybe, MAYBE, I've got my groove back. Why did it take so long?!

It's Me, Hi

Blink. Four months have passed since my last post. Oops.

I can't recreate four months of thankfuls, but know they were plentiful and included a trip to the beach and to Nashville with my husband, spending time with lifelong friends in Kansas City, seeing Sara Evans in concert, turning *cough cough* 65, getting tickets to see Nate Bargatze some time after the first of the year, the start of a new school year. 

Now this week's Ten Things of Thankful - aaaaaand go!

1. I cut bangs this summer and that is not a thankful (IYKYK). My husband walked by the bathroom right after the deed was done. He came back, stood in the doorway, and said, "Ohhhh, I've watched enough TikTok's to know that cutting your bangs is a cry for help and you're really stressed!"

He wasn't wrong, but did I stop at the bangs? I did not. I cut six inches off the back as well and kept hacking at it (trying to even it up, ya know), until I did a pretty fair job of butchering it. Three months later and it's not horrible anymore! Big thankful!

2. My husband and I went to Silver Dollar City last weekend. The weather was unseasonably warm, the park not too crowded, and the lights spectacular.

3. I ran into a thrift store when I had time to kill between work and a meeting and found not one, but TWO pairs of leather cowboy boots, one black and one brown. The brown pair is pretty, um, broken in, but that also equals comfortable. Best part? One pair was $17.00, the other was $10.00.

4. After much research, I finally found a thrift store in Branson that would not only take used mattresses, but that would pick them up as well! We had a queen mattress and box spring, as well as two twin sets, all with bed frames. It was fantastic to finally get them out of the basement.

5. I'm thankful my husband and I were able to get the mattresses, box springs, head boards, foot boards, bed rails, and slats out of the basement, through the back yard, up a hill (dodging a propane tank and a multitude of tree roots each trip), around the house, across the driveway, and into the garage without hurting ourselves or killing each other. Please note this is the same place I lost an entire table into the lake in July....

6. I got all my summer clothes put away and the winter ones out just in time for temps to return to the 80s....

7. We drove to Kansas City this weekend to hang out with our daughter for a couple of days (never mind that she's coming down for Thanksgiving in three days). Now that it's dark at 5:00, our two hour trip on Friday evening was spent watching for deer (saw none) and trying to see the seemingly non-existent lines on the highway after it began raining just as we got close to Kansas City. The highway department seriously needs to repaint the lines on I-49 from Harrisonville to Kansas City, but we made it safely in spite of making it on a wish and a prayer.

8. I found my dad's favorite Christmas candy at World Market. 

9. I got to attend church in person today instead of online. The only unthankful part of that was my buddy Ken was sick and didn't attend, but I got to join the online chat from my pew at church, and when I went down for communion, I waved to him via the cameras (three times, since there were three cameras).

10. Tomorrow starts Thanksgiving week, and ordinarily it would be a two-day work week for me, but I took those two days off and I have a ZERO day work week. Yippeeeeee!!!

I did it! Just like riding a bicycle (only to be honest, I'm pretty sure if I tried to ride a bicycle again it would probably not end well), and I'm back in the hop! Remember your thankfuls always and in all ways.

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Not Going Quietly

It was going to be a glorious week. Three day work week, followed by a four day holiday weekend PLUS the following Monday off because of my summer work schedule.

Then Thursday happened, and the fascist regime we are now living under voted in their bill that is yet another nail in the coffin of our democracy. I couldn't stop the tears, so frightened am I of what is to become of our country. How could anyone celebrate the birth of our nation when the future holds, among so many horrors, the removal of programs meant to help those who are most vulnerable? And it was done with such glee. I've always believed most people are good, but instead, I have learned there is much evil among us, and that evil is no longer lurking beneath a facade of public service and is instead proudly displayed.

God is watching. He knows. And He told me to do something. Anything.

I got up Friday morning and joined a No Kings protest. I met like-minded people from several local groups of concerned citizens. And I stood proud and strong. We took a beating on Thursday, but we. are. not. beaten.

I found some thankfuls:

Breakfast on the porch every morning.

I recently found a dining room table at a thrift store for $5. It had seen better days, but $5?

I sanded the finish off the table and only damaged a couple of fingernails.

Picked out a sunny yellow paint for it.

Moved it onto the screened-in porch (my favorite place to be other than in my bed) with the help of my husband and daughter, and no one fell in the lake getting it around the house and into the porch, although the possibility was very real.

Mama deer and her baby strolled by the porch one morning. My ordinarily scaredy cat Finn thought he was going to catch them (not sure what he thought he'd do with them, but then he doesn't have a lot of thought processes going on inside his sweet little pea brain).

I watched the sun come up over the hills with Nora Pearl.

And I watched the fog come in as evening fell.

And I celebrated Independence Day by exercising my first amendment rights to free speech and to peacefully assemble.

Good trouble lives on.

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Mini Vacay and Mini Monsoon

 I didn't get a TToT written last week, but I had a GOOD REASON - I was busy having fun! And I wasn't sure I was going to get one written for THIS week, but I had another good reason - we thought we were going to blow away! We were at my dad's for the weekend, as per our usual, and a storm blew in that surprised everyone, including meteorologists. It was some weird bow echo that brought 70-80 mph wind with it. We lost some small branches from our trees but nothing major. The most interesting phenomena from this storm was that our normally placid lake looked like the ocean. The following video gives you the idea but doesn't do the wave action justice:

The power went out as well, of course. Once the storm passed, we headed out for our two hour drive home. There were creepy cloud formations everywhere, but no tornadoes, so there's a thankful or two right there!

As for the rest of my list:

The week before last, my husband and I took a mini vacay and drove to Arkansas, stopping first at Fayetteville. We loved visiting there when our daughter was in college and have only been back once since she graduated four years ago. Thankfuls there included:

Visiting Rick's Bakery and treating myself to a tie dye cookie (my favorite item from there, although you can't go wrong with ANYTHING they make).

Finding some terrific deals thrift shopping at Potter's House.

Poked around at Fayetteville's Funky Flea Market.

Finally got the stupid parking app to work when we went to Dickson Street.

Ate gourmet grilled cheese for lunch at Hammontree's.

My sammich: ricotta, parmesan, mushrooms on
grilled parmesan-encrusted sourdough with 
marinara dipping sauce and homemade
potato chips

We then drove about halfway across the state to Greers Ferry Lake. No real reason to go there, other than I heard it was pretty, and it was! Some of my thankfuls:

My husband didn't get carsick on the winding mountain roads.

The bed in our hotel room was extremely comfy.

The lake IS pretty, but with all the flooding in Arkansas this spring and summer, the water was a little high at the beach area. But that was okay, because we just wanted to walk around and look at it and not get in.

Golden Hour at lakeside

We had a leisurely drive from there up to Branson, stopping at another flea market in Clinton, Arkansas, and eating pizza in Harrison, Arkansas, at a local place that also had the best dessert pizza I've ever eaten, and then still had the weekend to get in a little rest. Vacations don't have to be long and don't have to be expensive!

You've got until Monday evening to join the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop. Don't be shy! Join us!

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The Week That Ended With Pride AND a Protest!

It's Ten Things of Thankful tiiiiiime! Let's do it!

The news has been anything but fun lately, but that was before Ed the Zebra escaped from a pasture southeast of Nashville and took off on a week-long adventure. There were Ed sightings all around the area until he was safely captured with the help of a helicopter and a net. Thanks, Ed, for giving us something fun to distract us from life for a few days!

Well, no one can say we're in a drought anymore.

I had to replace my bright green phone case this week, as the top right corner was so badly damaged by the phone repeatedly being dropped (who did that, anyway?!) that the case wouldn't even stay on. I wanted another one just like the one I had, but the manufacturer no longer offered it in bright green. This presented a problem, since I lose my phone several times a day and am alerted to its location with a combination of the find my phone feature on my Apple watch and the phone's color. It's going to be hard to get used to, but I now have a ridiculously bright PINK phone! Thank you for your service, green phone case!

Our school is part of a program meant to improve interactions between teachers and students, and each teacher will be assessed through an observation. Our assessments are scheduled for this month, and I volunteered to be first just so I could get it over with. The observer was in my classroom on Wednesday, and I am thankful that this step is completed.

The bad news: it was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, awful morning in my classroom, and I went in the bathroom and cried when it was over. The thankful here is for my co-workers, because I took one for the team and set the bar LOW for them!

I'm thankful for those same co-workers who tried to pump me up about my observation and tell me it couldn't have been that bad. Even though they were dead wrong, it was so kind of them to try to make me feel better! I have terrific co-workers!

My dad and I found out this week that putting bananas in the refrigerator stops them from further ripening, and he was able to make two weeks worth of bananas edible for the entire two weeks. I'd heard that was a thing, but since I don't eat bananas, I never tried it (to me, old bananas are just tomorrow's banana bread). Sometimes, internet tips are actually true!

Saturday, I participated in the No Kings protest in Springfield. There were 3,000 peaceful protesters, and the solidarity brought out all the feels in me. I am so thankful I was able to be a part of this nationwide protest. We are stronger together.

Immediately following the No Kings protest was the Springfield Pride parade. Instead of being a spectator, I was actually IN the parade, marching with the American Red Cross. Unlike last week, no rain on THIS parade; just a lot of sunshine and humidity! It was tremendous fun, except later that evening when I discovered I did a terrible job of applying sunscreen to my face, missing an inch strip along my hairline. I'm thankful that's all I missed, and that I ended up with a very mild sunburn there!

We followed this stunning Queen on the parade route

This evening, I had dinner with my friend Allison. Life gets in the way a lot, keeping us from getting together very often, but we plan to try harder to make time for each other where we can laugh and talk and eat nachos.

Onward and upward to a new week. What kind of thankfuls await me?

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The Week That Ended With Pride!

Blink! Week over. Time for another installment of Ten Things of Thankful! Woohooooo!!!

I ended my TToT last week with a thankful for four day work weeks in the summer, with Mondays being my day off for June and July and THAT has the added bonus of eliminating the Sunday Scaries for me, so that's where I start this week. It's Sunday. No Scaries!

I spent my day off this past week cleaning my room. As the Keeper of Photos and Other Family Treasures, I have boxes and tubs filled with photos and mementos, all in varying stages of disarray. I'm not going to say I TOTALLY organized everything (because I totally didn't), but I DID sort through several large boxes of items and organize them by person. That's progress!

I'm working on throwing away things that absolutely no one cares about but me (and I don't even care about a great deal of it, if I'm honest), so, after looking at each one of them first, I threw away all my elementary school report cards. Well, I kept the kindergarten one just so someday, a future grandkid can see an actual antiquated paper report card. Baby steps.

While I was busy being Nelly Neat, I took down the white lace curtains in my bedroom that I bought at the same time we bought our house in California, so 31 years ago. I don't know what kind of miracle fiber they are made from, but they don't show their age and they wash and dry beautifully.

In a When You Give A Mouse A Cookie kind of way, taking the curtains down to wash highlighted how dirty the windows were. I don't have any way to clean the outsides, but I washed the kitty nose prints and dust from the insides of each window. I also opened each one and got all the dirty and crud cleaned out from the window sill, which leads me to my next thankful:

When I opened the window next to my side of the bed, a GINORMOUS and VERY FAST brown recluse spider zipped INSIDE the room. Now, I am not a screamer, but I let out a blood curdling one through my open window as I swung at the spider with a paper towel before he disappeared among the books and clutter on my bedside table. BEDSIDE table. BEDSIDE. In the meantime, I hear my husband thudding across the kitchen and up the stairs, calling out to me. I'm still hopping around and shouting that a giant spider ran in and I can't find him and something about an immediate need to put the house up for sale. My husband reached the bedroom as I gingerly moved books and reading glasses until I uncovered a maimed but very much alive FAT VENOMOUS brown recluse spider. I screamed and squished it. My husband screamed like a little girl and put himself in reverse, and apparently no one on my street was concerned that I was being murdered, because the cops didn't show up. Guess that's a thankful!

Tuesday evening, I had dinner with a very sweet 6 year old former student and his mom at their house. He was beside himself with excitement that I was there! He gave me a tour of the house, particularly, his room, plus the backyard, where I got to see his garden. He showed me all his Pokemon cards and gifted me with several of them, and we ate a delicious dinner that included vegetables from the garden. It was delightful!

And four day work week? How 'bout THREE day work week! I also took Friday off to go to Kansas City for Pride! My husband and I hit thrift stores while our daughter was at work, and we ate a lot and talked a lot and laughed a lot.

We have had more than our fair share of severe weather this spring, including tornadoes, high winds, heavy rains, and flash flooding. The forecast for Saturday morning changed a dozen times over the week, waffling from no rain at parade time to heavy rain and lightning to something in between, but that actual morning, we had to assume it was definitely going to rain. I made a quick trip to Walmart (note: big city Walmarts DO NOT compare to SW Missouri/NW Arkansas Walmarts, and if you don't know this, then you need to come visit and I'll prove it to you) and bought rain ponchos and umbrellas. My daughter decided to sleep in rather than go to the parade (in fairness, she works 60+ hour weeks as an attorney), so my husband and I loaded up a bag with our rain gear and headed to the parade. Lo and behold, the first entries had just gone past when raindrops began to fall, and for the two hours of the parade, it alternated between barely a sprinkle to torrential downpour. In spite of the ponchos and umbrellas, we were pretty wet, but there was no lightning (super thankful) and it was warm, so we weren't standing around shivering. In fact, it was probably the most fun Pride parade I've attended! Everyone was dancing in the rain and laughing and it was a true delight! Bonus thankful: my friend David joined us to watch the parade. He and I met two years ago when we just happened to be standing next to each other at the parade and hit it off. It was a joy to visit with him!

Before the deluge

In spite of his precautions, he
still got soaked

More severe weather forecast this afternoon, so we left Kansas City right after lunch and headed towards home. When we were about an hour from home, we noticed dark, angry clouds building to the west, and sure enough, yet another storm was heading our way. We made it home shortly before it hit, and that was a HUGE thankful, as this storm included blinding rain, lightning, hail, and 70 mph winds (which are enough to make the tornado sirens blow, even though it wasn't a tornado). We seem to be good for a few more hours, before another band of showers thunderstorms move in during the night. We're used to it. Shoes by the bed.

How 'bout you? Got thankfuls? Write them. Post them. Link them. The TToT hop is open until Monday night!

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Back At It

Yeah, yeah, it's been awhile. 

Every time I take one of these long sabbaticals, I swear it won't happen again. I truly enjoy writing, so why I don't is way weirder to me than it possibly could be to you. 

The best place to restart my engine is always the Ten Things of Thankful. I suppose I could attempt to catch up on the last two and a half months, but let's not and just say there WERE thankfuls, many of them, and start anew. 

Here goes:

My pre-k class graduated on May 22. We had grown into the BEST class family, and I will miss them so much! I'm thankful for the dance parties, the hugs, the I love yous, the dog piles, the dandelion bouquets, the artwork, the oopsies and the chance they gave us to improve, the endless stories, kissing boo boos, and the opportunity to watch them learn and grow. Hey, that's 10. Done!

This is my why

Just kidding. Here are 9 more:

I'm thankful that my husband is willing to let me take an entire week off to visit my Person, Terri, in Nashville. Perhaps TOO willing. Hmmm,,,, 

I'm also thankful that he took on Dad duties for me, spending two weekends cooking and running errands for my dad while I was gone. I truly don't deserve him, but I'm for sure keeping him!

My dad gets a thankful for letting me drive his Tahoe to Nashville. My sweet ride is 2010 Toyota Sienna minivan with 230,000 miles on it, and while I did not doubt its loyalty to me to get me there and back, my husband was less trusting and felt better having me drive a newer vehicle. Not going to lie, I did enjoy the rear camera and the XM radio for the 8 hour trip.

I'm thankful I took my last trip over the Mississippi River on an extremely narrow, two-lane bridge. The bridge is terrifying to cross on at best, and when I approached it last Saturday, I saw a new sign that stated no tractor trailers could go over it. My first thought was Cool! I won't have to worry about meeting one when there's barely a hand's width between it and me (or that's the way it looks, anyway). Then halfway over the bridge, it occurred to me that the reason for no tractor trailers was because it wasn't SAFE to have that much weight on it, and it was there and then that I made the decision that I wouldn't be crossing it again. There's a perfectly boring but sturdy bridge a little upstream that will only add 15 minutes or so to the trip, and THAT is more than worth not plunging into the Mississippi River when the old bridge collapses.

The rest of the driving portion of the trip was uneventful, and that's a good thing.

I not only got to spend the week with my Person, but I got a lot of quality time with her daughter Mackenzie. She actually LIKES to hang out with us, and I sure enjoy it, too!

With Mackenzie

I first started going out to lunch with my friend Janice probably 35 years ago, and we have continued the tradition when I visit Nashville. We had a lovely lunch and got caught up on Life, and I'm thankful each and every time we are able to get together.

Lunch with Janice at The Farmstead

I'm also thankful that my buddy Steve makes time for a visit when I'm there. We've known each other for 40 years. Holy cow, I hadn't realized it was that long until I counted it up on my fingers just now! He is still an attorney at the law firm that I worked at when I first moved to Nashville. He shared photos of his completely adorable grandkids (yes, I'm a little jealous and ready to be a granny in the near future hopefully pretty please). 

I'm so very thankful to have had this whole week with Terri. We talked. We laughed. We ate. We ate some more. We spent time with Marianne and with Jeannie, went to Terri's grandson's baseball game (10 year olds and SO SERIOUS about the game!), shopped, watched jets take off from the rooftop bar at the airport Hilton, had dinner with our dear friend Larry, and did I mention we ate a lot? We ate a lot. It was a week of quality time together, and I cherished every moment.

With Terri at Ray Stevens' Caba Ray Theater

Dinner with our friend Larry. We learned things
about him we never knew until this night....

Garlic knots at Five Corners Pizza

Sunset at BNA

On top of the Hilton and I couldn't get any 
closer to that rail than maybe 6 feet....

My Person 

And lastly, I am thankful that the summer four-day week work schedule begins tomorrow, which means I have Monday off and don't have the Sunday Scaries tonight. Wheeeee!!!

It's not too late to join the Ten Things of Thankful. You've got until Monday night. Come on!

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Forever My Child

I didn't post a Ten Things of Thankful last weekend, because I didn't want to take a single moment away from a magnificent weekend. It was practically perfect, and I am more thankful than I can convey. Here is why:

My son and his wife moved to Washington, DC, last summer for my DIL's fellowship in pediatric infectious disease. We did get to see them briefly at the end of September when they flew back for a wedding, but that was simply AGES ago. My son is a hospitalist at a DC hospital, working the night shift, and his schedule is 7 days on, 7 days off. I asked him if there was a chance he could come home for a visit during one of his off weeks, and the answer was YES.

I'm extremely thankful for Lillian, my DIL, for booking the flights and for letting us have him for five whole days! We missed you and will see you next time!

He flew into the airport in Northwest Arkansas that largely services all the corporate travel for Walmart, and I'm thankful for GPS on my phone for getting us there! It is in the middle of NOWHERE, down winding, two-laned highways, through tiny towns, then right through a series of brand new subdivisions (with names like Oakwood and The Pines, apparently each named after the trees that were bulldozed to make room for the houses, as there wasn't a tree in sight within each raw, new neighborhood). 

It had just turned dark as we pulled up to the terminal (which is under construction). There were barricades (and construction equipment and no pavement) in front of the building, so cars parked in the left lane to wait for their weary travelers to come out of the building, wind their way around barricades, cross the street, and walk down a dark sidewalk, looking for their ride. I watched every shadow cross the street and either walk to a car or disappear into a parking garage, but there was no mistaking the shadow that was my son as he walked down the sidewalk. I felt like Melanie in Gone With the Wind when Ashley returned to Tara after being held in a northern prison camp and she saw him walking up the drive (IYKYK). My (29 year old) baby boy was HOME.

XNA airport pick up line.

I'm thankful to Nikki and Ceason for getting coverage for me in my classroom, so I could take three days off to be with my family. 

Our cats warmed right up to Kyle when we got home, and I don't think one of them hissed at him (this pissed off my daughter, because they always hiss at her, but in fairness, she brings HER cat when she comes home, and he walks in like he owns the place). Okay, Finn probably did, but since he hides most of the time, who would know?

Kyle, Lewis, and Nora

We spent a good part of Thursday with my husband's parents, where we played a not-so-fun game of Where's Grandad's Phone (answer: in Nana's purse, where it had been hiding for two days). My husband gets the thankful for finding it (he was motivated by not wanting to go phone shopping with his parents).

With Nana and Grandpa

Friday, we drove to Branson to spend the weekend with my dad. Up until Wednesday evening, we weren't sure the weekend trip was going to happen, as there had been many delays in getting new flooring put into my dad's house, but it was completed in the nick of time! Our daughter drove down on Saturday morning to spend the rest of the weekend with us, and we had an absolutely delightful family weekend. My kids shared a bedroom, like they always did at the lake house while growing up, and they didn't get into one fight! There were times when they were younger that I never thought I would see that day!

My kids and their Papa

Our boy

They crack themselves up

All too soon, it was Monday, and we had to return our boy to his grown-up life. We had five days of eating at all his favorite places and cooking his favorite meals, laughing, talking, hugging, crying, and planning future times together. Saying goodbye never gets easier. I love my children so much that it sometimes hurts, but they are both smart and accomplished and happy, and what more could a mama want?

Remember that little airport in Northwest Arkansas? When checking their website Monday afternoon, I discovered it was possible to park the car, accompany your loved one inside the airport, AND GO ALL THE WAY TO THE GATE WITH THEM. Have you heard of such a thing since 9/11?! You have to register when you get there, and you still have to go through TSA, but instead of dropping him off on the curb a few hours before his flight and driving home, we were able to stay with him until the moment he boarded, and we watched out the window until we saw his plane take off. 

My heart was both full and empty at the same time.

Parenting is hard.

And I wouldn't trade it for anything.

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