Let Us Give Thanks and Responses

Our family is looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving this week. My brother drove in tonight from Utah with his life partner Kirt and will be spending the week in Duncan with my parents. We will be there off and on during the week, but with the kids and school and me having to work until Wednesday, we will not be able to be there the whole time. So on their way through, Jerry and Kirt stopped off to visit us and Shannon asked the obvious question, "What are you going to do in Duncan for the whole week?" It got the obvious answer, "We have no idea." Duncan, where excitement happens!

However, my kids love Duncan and we are actually very excited for this week. My kids were extremely excited to see their uncle again after reconnecting over the Labor day weekend, and it was the first time Kirt had ever gotten to meet Logan and Kate. We are guaranteed to have many hard fought battles over cards or other games that we will introduce them to. My only concern is that my son Braden will at some point take us to that area where we dare not tread...POLITICS! I don't really have a huge fear as Jerry knows my views on abortion. I have been very up front that that is probably my one driving issue above all others. I have never asked his specific views on it, but I am fairly certain he supported Obama in the presidential election. Earlier this year when Braden asked if we wanted Obama to win, we explained that we didn't because he was pro abortion. Those of you with six-year olds know exactly where this conversation is headed. He asked what abortion is. We explained as delicately as we could and after a 10 minute explanation, it all boiled down to this. "So son, do you understand why we don't want Obama to win?" "Yeah, he kills babies." Nice Son!

For whatever reason, he and Logan have really stuck with this McCain and Obama thing. We will periodically hear them in the bath with Braden saying, "Ok, I am John McCain and you are Barack Obama." I don't know what they do, I don't think I want to know. Anyway, if Obama comes up at all, Braden immediately spews out, "He kills babies." I am just waiting for that to occur some time this week. I am sure Jerry and Kirt will handle it extremely well, but I am also sure they will be thinking: "What are they teaching those kids?" And yet, even if this happens, I guarantee it will not be as awkward as last Thanksgiving, where our guest list included; my parents, Shannon's mom and brother, Shannon's mom's boyfriend, Shannon's mom's boyfriend's son and Shannon's mom's boyfriend's son's on and off again girlfriend (whom we had never met) who lives in another town and didn't have anyone to spend Thanksgiving with. If all that together doesn't spell awkward, I don't know what does.

Bottom line, we are looking forward to a fantastic Thanksgiving and pray that it will be the first of several to come with all of us together. We wish everyone who might be reading this a very Happy Thanksgiving.

In an unrelated topic, I wanted to respond to a couple of comments that were left on our blog by family or friends. So I will do so below:

1. To my cousin Mike and his comment on my embarrasing moments post: "I had totally forgotten about those Garfield books. Those were hilarious. I had thought my first real bout of uncontrollable laughter had occured on the outdoor basketball court at EAC when my friend Spencer Bigler did his impression of an epileptic basketball player. (Highly politically incorrect, but unbelievably funny. To my friends who have epilepsy or know someone who does, no offense is meant by this.) But Mike reminded me that no, my inability to control myself at times while laughing dates back much further. Thanks Mike.

2. To Chris Kartchner and his comment on my Mini Posts post: If there is anyone who could beat me at Trivial Pursuit it would either be you or my mother, but I will never admit to being owned especially if we haven't played the game. The one exception is I will admit to being owned at bowling by Timilee Brown. I don't care how slight in stature she is, I once watched her bowl four strikes in a row. I carry her bowling shoes. Let's move on.

3. To Anna Marks on her comment on my Mini Posts post: I am so glad to have found a fellow Toddler Fetch player. We should write a book advancing the positive growth patterns of toddlers who play fetch with their parents and make millions. We may have to admit we were wrong in 30 years, but I didn't see Dr. Spock giving any money back while making his admission. We'd be set.

4. To everyone commenting on my Mom and her current medical condition: Thank You from the bottom of our hearts. We don't know where the road will lead, but it is nice to know of those who are rooting for us during our journey. We greatly appreciate it.

5. Lastly, I have never solicited comments, but I found the comments on what people have on their iPods, and what they listen to because of their parents, fascinating. So I guess I am now soliciting comments. I would love to know what things have been passed on to you from your parents or you are passing on to your kids whether it be music, movies or whatever. I am just really curious. And thanks to those who started this fascination with your comments on the matter.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!