This has been another long day of running around, but it has been good. The culmination was picking my daughter up from the airport on this foggy, rainy night and bringing her home to spend part of her holiday with me and her aunties and cousins. I am also once again starting my blog past my bedtime, so I will try to write fast and/or be brief.
Tonight I am grateful once again for family. I’ve spent time today with each of my three sisters, two nieces and a nephew, two brothers-in-law, and had a completely lovely and unexpected conversation with my Aunt Carol, my mother’s sister. Just recalling the conversation puts a big smile on my face. It was such a wonderful surprise and reminds me that I do indeed still have two aunts whom I love and want to stay connected to. I am determined to take some time over the next few months to connect with both of my aunts. They are the remaining family I have from my parents’ generation, with the exception of my Dad’s half brother whom I’ve either never met or barely remember. As the one who considers herself the primary family genealogist and chronicler I want to be sure that I spend some time with them on the phone and in person. Now that I live a little closer to them than when I was in California, I hope to get some face time with them sometime early in the new year.
I am grateful for the traveling mercies for my daughter who flew in from Seattle tonight. It was so nice trotting toward her at the airport holding up a “Welcome Home” home sign that my niece and nephew had colored and decorated for her. We flung our arms around each other and hugged for a long time, just like they do in the movies. I spent much of yesterday and part of today preparing for her arrival and am so happy to finally have her here. Tomorrow morning I will leave her here while I go to work–she’ll still be on West Coast time for a few days, so I imagine that she won’t want to get up tomorrow at what would essentially be 4 a.m. her time to hang out with me before I go to work. While she’s likely to come with me a few times this week, tomorrow won’t be one of those days. We’ll take some time over dinner tomorrow to map out how we want to spend this coming week. I am looking forward to hanging out with her over these next three weeks.
I am grateful for having had a weekend filled with family. Among the greatest blessings in my life for which I will always give thanks it is for my family and the close connections I share with them. It is what has always sustained me throughout the course of my life and will do so forever. I look forward to more good times ahead with them, particularly over this holiday season. It simply doesn’t get better than this. I am blessed and I am grateful for it. May it continue to be so!
