Thankful

WOW! I just looked back at my posts at this time of year for the past two years. You know, that's what this blog thing is all about. Not just communicating and sharing, but to see and remember where you have come from. We are FINALLY looking forward to celebrating Christmas again. We will all be together as a family. What a gift!

So...when I last reported on "As My World Turned", we were expecting my #1 son and his new girlfriend to drive up to see us the weekend before Thanksgiving. That never happened as #1 wrecked the car on that Thursday evening. (For those keeping track, that was the second car in 3 months. He hadn't even made the first payment to us on it.) In all honesty, it is one of those accidents that do just kinda happen. He was waiting to make a left-hand turn from a center lane across 2 lanes of traffic. The car in the 1st lane stopped and motioned for him to turn in front of her and then another car went around in the second lane. Semi-understandable, but still his fault. The police were called, but didn't even ticket him. The insurance company has declared it a total loss due to the fact it was an older car so we are still working out those details. Can't wait to see what our insurance is going to cost next year!

Did get to meet the girlfriend when we went through to pick them up for Thanksgiving. We took them out to our favorite Mexican restaurant (yum!) on Wednesday night. She was cute; dressed up, good make-up, no tattoos, all good. I liked her very much. Cute personality. My son was his old, loving self and very happy. What more could a mom ask for? They both had to go work later that night at a club. My son as a bouncer and his girlfriend was asked to fill in and serve for extra money. Not a good place for him to be, but with no experience and a record, he is having such a hard time with jobs. We just have to keep praying. The next day, we were leaving early to drive to my sister's. We tried to call them to make sure they were ready, but no answer. We drove over and could not raise them for awhile. They finally came flying out looking still asleep. She was feeling sick but they both slept on the 2-1/2 hour drive. In fact, they slept most of the day....on the sofa, in the middle of everything. I was not happy about that. My sister has a smaller home and had a house full of overnight company. I hated to suggest that they just go lie down for awhile as I didn't want to mess up her beds. I suggested that we just take them on to the hotel, but Hub wanted our boy close at Thanksgiving. Anyway, I was embarrassed, but everyone was very nice about it. We drove back to our old home the next day. The girlfriend and I went to get a mani-pedi from my old friend. It was good bonding time. We did a little shopping for Christmas decorations and had another meal of good Mexican food. (Can't find a good place here.) We took them back to their house late that evening. That was when we discovered that no one had their keys and their room mates were gone and not to be found. We finally went on to check into our hotel and to call from their. I had requested a suite when I made the reservations. Turns out it was a suite with twin bed sofa in the living room and 2 queen beds in the bedrooms. Yes folks....they ended up staying with us that night. How cozy...my husband and I in one bed, #1 and the girlfriend in the next, and #2 in the living room. Weird, weird, weird. I think that I was the only one a bit uncomfortable about the whole thing. Guess we could of sprung for another room. Yuck! We headed out the next day at noon.

#2 had been on Facebook Friday night and when a former classmate found out that he was in town, SHE asked him to have brunch the next day. This little girl had been his crush when we lived here, so he was stoked. He came in and said "What time is brunch?" :) Anyway, he was excited and woke up at 6:30 to take a shower. The girl and her mom picked him up at the hotel at 8:30 and we told him that we would pick him up at her house at noon.

All that being said, it was a good Thanksgiving. That is if you don't count the fact that Hub and I both got sick on the way home. So much fun to pull over on the Interstate to .....well, you know. We blamed it on the girlfriend. #1 got sick, too.

In my last posting, I mentioned a new chapter. What I was referring to was that I just wonder if this girlfriend is the girl that we have been praying for since our son was born. It's strange to put my mind in that place, but they do seem to make a good team. We like her a lot. Don't want to share a hotel room again, but I like her a lot. More than that, I like "them". She seems to really understand #1 and tries to keep him in a good place. She definitely has a strong personality. She has him on a "short leash". Her words, not mine. Maybe that's good for him right now. He has very little experience in the "independent adult world". She has had her issues, too. Hub says that she's just enough of a bad girl for him. Sounds like she is the under-achiever in a family full of over-achievers. Dad's a ob/gyn; mom is a flight attendant with a PhD (?), one sister is a young, upcoming star in the world of attorneys, another a successful photographer. I even verified all that info through google. (Shame on me.) I also found out that her brother in college was on probation from a possession charge. Finally, someone we can relate to. :) Well, if this his soul mate, I'm happy for him. It's interesting to see them negotiate their lives.

I do have sad news though. I accepted a job this past week. It is with Hub's company, but under a different District Manager. Not for him. I have to go to some classes on the 22nd and 23rd of December (Who thought that up?) and then the job officially starts on January 3rd. It is just a seasonal thing and will probably end with April. Although, I don't like thinking about going back to work, I know that it will be good for me. I want a new computer for Christmas, so now I don't feel so guilty about such a large gift.

One last thing that I want to share. It's a bit of a Christmas miracle about our friend's son that tried to commit suicide a month ago. Things are changing every single day. A few days ago, he was frustrated trying to make his parents understand something. He had taken two years of sign language and he was trying to sign "I love you". They thought he was saying "Rock on". Sunday, he played tic-tac-toe with his mother & won. Made the line through and everything. Yesterday, he spoke for the first time when his sister walked into the room. He said "Hello _____". Very BIG stride. Today, they sat him on the edge of the bed and had his feet on the floor for a bit with weight on them. This is the same boy that they were told to tell goodbye a month ago. If the organ harvesting team had been on duty that night, they would have never kept his body going long enough to see this glimmer. I had felt so angry at the doctor for putting this sweet family through all of that pain thinking that they would never have their son. Forgot for awhile that the doctor was not in charge, but that God was. Anyway, they all have a long, long way to go. As a parent though, I am so happy for them.

Later.