Thoughts on Thanksgiving

I'm happy that my family moved out of my childhood home. Not happy that they all live in North Carolina, but happy that with all the changes in our lives, we are doing it in a new place. That said, the memory of my mom hangs over everything. Obviously she would have loved the kid and the nephew. But I know she would have embraced my youngest sister's step-kids and never referred to them as step-grandchildren. She loved kids.

But knowing all of that in the same house I grew up in? I couldn't handle that. Returning once a year to the town where she died is hard enough. Three years wasn't enough time for me to make memories where I can drive around and only smile.

The kids make things better. Seeing the kid play with her lil nephew was a highlight. They ran around the yard playing, kicking the ball, and even the kid playing "big sister" a few times. My youngest sister didn't come over for Thanksgiving, but her and her kids met the rest of us at Chuck E. Cheese on Friday. That was interesting...two kids, two teens and five adults spending way too much money on skee ball. My husband, henceforth to be known as Raider, and I took the teens to the mall for a quick Christmas/bday shopping spree.

It's amusing how buying those two kids a few small items made their day. I'm sure they are still trying to figure us out. Their dad married my sister and we only get to spend a few hours a year with them. Hopefully one of these days the kids will make a vacation out of visiting us.

The worst thing about traveling to NC for Thanksgiving? There are NO leftovers here!! Ugh, I could really had gone for a turkey, cranberry & mashed potato sandwich today with some green Jello for dessert. *sigh* Life throws ya curveballs and whether or not it hits you, it throws you off course.