Wednesday, December 3, 2008
30 years of marriage and Thanksgiving
Mark and I had our trip to North Carolina and it was beautiful. We usually have to suffer for our trips and, with his daddy having cancer, we had a couple of months trying to decide whether to go or not. We decided that staying for that reason was akin to saying we had given up on his battle so we went. What a wonderful trip!
The weather was beautiful, highs in the 50's everyday, sometimes in the low 60's. We walked and walked and walked on the beach and laughed and laughed and laughed with our other family. I picked up so many shells that we had to ship them home. They made our suitcases overweight and trust me, we pack lightly! (We did Italy for 12 days with carryons alone!) Mark got to fish and smoke cigars so it was a good trip for him.
Susie and Daryl are just the best other husband and wife that a couple could have. They are so much fun. We have been friends for 16 years now and it just gets better every time we are together. They have such different lives than we do but we still connect in all the important ways.
Their girl, Katy B, is a junior at East Carolina University and marches in the band. She has a serious boyfriend with the nickname, "Cha". We got to meet him for the first time and he just fits. It is like he has always been part of the family. He is hilarious with not a shy bone in his body, smart as a whip and best of all, he is crazy about our girl. The tradition at ECU is for the band to march up the hill to the stadium for games. Cha (Derek) just busts out in dance while they are marching. You just can't imagine how funny it is until you see it and trust me, Susie has tried to explain it to me many times.
Katy is in nursing school. She is a person that I would like even if I didn't already love her. She is my third girl. We took a walk together on the beach and just caught up with each other. She thinks I am funny. One of my funniest memories of this girl was when Susie and I were having a girls drinks after work. Katy was probably 4, maybe 5. She was with us and needed to go to the bathroom. We went together. In the bathroom, I told her that it was one of the funniest things ever if she walked out of the bathroom with toilet paper hanging off her shoe. She totally blew me off but just 30 minutes later, went to the bathroom by herself and sure enough, here she came, trailing through the restaurant with a huge piece of TP following behind her. The look on her face was just priceless. She took a chance that my sense of humor was really funny and man, oh man! Did it work!!
Zakary, aka SnackPak, aka Z Man, is their 16 year old son. Do you know how amazing it is to spend a week with a kid that age? He could have avoided us all week or been a huge PITA but no.... Zak is such a good kid. He is another smart one and a sense of humor that just makes me bust out with laughter.
We played Guitar Hero. Did I mention that the last video game I played was Duck Hunt? Squeezie, D and I had never played before but we had so much fun! I sucked at it but Zak told me that he liked playing with me on multiplayer because, every time I screwed up (which was a lot!), I laughed at myself. Their family is very competitive. I didn't realize how much I was no longer that way until this trip.
Our anniversary was very low key. We exchanged cards and enjoyed the scenery, the company and each other. Quite the difference from our wedding day.
Thanksgiving was a true test for me. Since our first married Thanksgiving, I have felt compelled to turn out this incredible Martha Stewart style meal. Everyone comes to my house for Thanksgiving and everyone gets to pick their favorite dish. That means a lot of cooking and preparation on my part. This year, not so much. We had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy from a jar, rolls, dressing and I made spinach souffle and cheesy potato casserole. Spinach souffle is my favorite holiday meal and I don't like mashed taters. If you have never been to Thanksgiving at my house before, you just don't know how different that menu was for me. Yet I was fine with it. I was happy. Susie's dressing was better than the one I make and it didn't even bother me! I was just so happy to be at the beach.
I did miss my family to a huge degree though. In one way, I felt like I was relieving my girls of a responsibility of showing up at my house for a holiday. In another, I just missed spending time with them on a holiday. I wish that they could have been with us, enjoying the sand and the dolphins and the sunsets and the relaxation.
The weather was beautiful, highs in the 50's everyday, sometimes in the low 60's. We walked and walked and walked on the beach and laughed and laughed and laughed with our other family. I picked up so many shells that we had to ship them home. They made our suitcases overweight and trust me, we pack lightly! (We did Italy for 12 days with carryons alone!) Mark got to fish and smoke cigars so it was a good trip for him.
Susie and Daryl are just the best other husband and wife that a couple could have. They are so much fun. We have been friends for 16 years now and it just gets better every time we are together. They have such different lives than we do but we still connect in all the important ways.
Their girl, Katy B, is a junior at East Carolina University and marches in the band. She has a serious boyfriend with the nickname, "Cha". We got to meet him for the first time and he just fits. It is like he has always been part of the family. He is hilarious with not a shy bone in his body, smart as a whip and best of all, he is crazy about our girl. The tradition at ECU is for the band to march up the hill to the stadium for games. Cha (Derek) just busts out in dance while they are marching. You just can't imagine how funny it is until you see it and trust me, Susie has tried to explain it to me many times.
Katy is in nursing school. She is a person that I would like even if I didn't already love her. She is my third girl. We took a walk together on the beach and just caught up with each other. She thinks I am funny. One of my funniest memories of this girl was when Susie and I were having a girls drinks after work. Katy was probably 4, maybe 5. She was with us and needed to go to the bathroom. We went together. In the bathroom, I told her that it was one of the funniest things ever if she walked out of the bathroom with toilet paper hanging off her shoe. She totally blew me off but just 30 minutes later, went to the bathroom by herself and sure enough, here she came, trailing through the restaurant with a huge piece of TP following behind her. The look on her face was just priceless. She took a chance that my sense of humor was really funny and man, oh man! Did it work!!
Zakary, aka SnackPak, aka Z Man, is their 16 year old son. Do you know how amazing it is to spend a week with a kid that age? He could have avoided us all week or been a huge PITA but no.... Zak is such a good kid. He is another smart one and a sense of humor that just makes me bust out with laughter.
We played Guitar Hero. Did I mention that the last video game I played was Duck Hunt? Squeezie, D and I had never played before but we had so much fun! I sucked at it but Zak told me that he liked playing with me on multiplayer because, every time I screwed up (which was a lot!), I laughed at myself. Their family is very competitive. I didn't realize how much I was no longer that way until this trip.
Our anniversary was very low key. We exchanged cards and enjoyed the scenery, the company and each other. Quite the difference from our wedding day.
Thanksgiving was a true test for me. Since our first married Thanksgiving, I have felt compelled to turn out this incredible Martha Stewart style meal. Everyone comes to my house for Thanksgiving and everyone gets to pick their favorite dish. That means a lot of cooking and preparation on my part. This year, not so much. We had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy from a jar, rolls, dressing and I made spinach souffle and cheesy potato casserole. Spinach souffle is my favorite holiday meal and I don't like mashed taters. If you have never been to Thanksgiving at my house before, you just don't know how different that menu was for me. Yet I was fine with it. I was happy. Susie's dressing was better than the one I make and it didn't even bother me! I was just so happy to be at the beach.
I did miss my family to a huge degree though. In one way, I felt like I was relieving my girls of a responsibility of showing up at my house for a holiday. In another, I just missed spending time with them on a holiday. I wish that they could have been with us, enjoying the sand and the dolphins and the sunsets and the relaxation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
