My GOODNESS it's been a long time. Halloween came and went, and what a fun evening that was. I went as Amber Sweet from "Repo! The Genetic Opera."
And then there was Thanksgiving. Now, I've always been a huge fan of the holdidays. Family and old friends gathering, the decorations and the warmth and the food (oh, the food.) I've had many good and memorable Thanksgivings in my 23 years.
This one topped them all.
First of all, I have someone to take to my family's Thanksgiving festivities for the first time ever. My family adores him, which makes me happier than you could possibly imagine. Or maybe you can, I don't know. In any case, it's great to be in love around the holidays. Secondly, I was able to go to a lot of events. My dad's side has the lefsa party, my step-mom's has the night before Thanksgiving feast, the Barnetts have football and Thanksgiving lunch, and the Hansons have a dinner. I unfortunately had to miss Jesse's family party for work, but all in all I felt pretty good about being able to attend all those parties. I also got to hang with my cousin Liva. The Siufanuas (my Samoan cousins) used to come around for Thanksgiving every year, but then the families got too big and so we started having to have separate parties. But Liva and her mom came this year, so it was like old times!
A lot of good things have happened this year. My mom was married in March, Andrea was married in April and is now expecting her first child, a boy. And Heidi got engaged.
Some of you know about Heidi's estrangement from my dad. They don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, and there has been a lot of baggage in the past. I didn't ever really expect Heidi to come around and want my dad to be a part of her life. I still hoped for it and prayed for it, but I had accepted that it might never happen. When Heidi was engaged, after my initial happiness for her, my next emotion was an overwhelming sadness that my dad wouldn't be involved in her wedding.
To my surprise, in the weeks that followed, I observed Heidi calling my dad to tell him of her engagement, sending wedding announcements to my dad and his entire family, and, miracle of miracles, she showed up at the Hanson Thanksgiving dinner.
I couldn't believe it. There she was, standing in the kitchen with her fiance Andrew, chatting with everybody like nothing had happened. I must admit I got a little more than teary and had to excuse myself to go cry in the study like a civilized human being. She and Andrew stayed for a while, making jokes and singing some Beatles songs on the karaoke machine. I was so happy.
Best Thanksgiving EVER!
