Everything I've been thinking about the last couple of days begins with the letter F as in.....
... family. Twice this morning I've been almost moved to tears by the feelings (another F word) of two children in my family. Regan shared with me the meaning to her of having her Grandma and Grandpa show their support of her by attending her various activities. She clarified that it was different than when Memaw and Pop attended. We talked about the differences and decided that Memaw and Pop used words all the time to show their love and support in addition to their occasional attendance, where Grandma and Grandpa have always been infrequent with their words of love and support and in their attendance. The feeling is there all the same- it's just the personalities are so different. She was just glowing when she was recalling the fall concert and looking for Pop and Memaw in the crowd and finding Grandma and Grandpa. I about couldn't hold it all together. Thanks Mom and Dad. The second time I was almost moved to tears this morning was when I had a conversation with Mallory's mom about her 13th birthday coming up in January. These girls... they start talking about their next birthdays just a couple months after the last one! She said that Mallory had really been wanting to come to Oklahoma and take all her cousins to Pops on Rt. 66, but had recently decided that she wanted...... a family reunion for her birthday. Not a slumber party or a spa day or any other awesome party theme of late, but a family reunion. That speaks volumes to me as the importance family means to her. It's awesome, just awesome and I'm so thankful.
... friends. One of my dearest friends invited Rodney and me to a Trans Siberian Orchestra concert for my birthday this year! Three wins here.... an evening out with my husband, excellent company and conversationalists with our friends, and getting to see the amazing Trans Siberian show. Yippee! So very thankful for Galen and Dixie.
... future sister-in-law. I spent yesterday in OKC with Kasey. We were wedding dress shopping with intentions to just look and see what's available. As matron-of-honor, I did my dress duty as I dressed her and undressed her maybe 40 times! The corset dresses were the worst! As the day went on, excitement started to build... I guess we were slow to warm up to the whole dress shopping thing.... but by at the end of the day, we found the one. The one! She started to go ahead and order it, but I advised her to sleep on it and make sure- she has plenty of time for a July wedding. What a day of fun and sharing... getting to spend much time together is rare for us. We spent lupper (lunch/supper) (at the Cheesecake Factory, btw) talking about the past 20 years of our friendship and our personal trials and our celebrations. I'm so thankful she's part of my family now.
... fish oil. Fish oil??? Yes, fish oil. I started taking it this week and my arthritis pain is minimal... all but absent. Hallelujah! Singing a thousand praises of thankfulness!
... Fellenstien. As in Coach Fellenstien. Regan forgot her basketball shoes at home yesterday, and Coach chewed her butt! He told her that he was expecting her to step up and lead this team and she's already missed one game this year because of a late homework assignment (I benched her) and now she is on the bench during practice (because of no shoes) and she wasn't going to start tomorrow's game because of it. I could almost see the color draining out of Regan's face when she was telling me this story. She said she almost cried. How did I console her? I said, "A-MEN!" with a chuckle. She looked and me and then she started to laugh, too. I think she needed to hear from someone else how important all the little things are when they really don't seem to be important at the moment in the life of an eighth grader... a late assignment here, forgotten jersey there.... it all matters. Thank you, Coach Fellenstien.
I think we all have a lot to be thankful for, and you've been stating it well.
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