Turkey, Stuffing and Stuff

"I love a rainy day . . . chases me away . . . " (I think that’s an Amy Grant song). Being oblivious to change in weather, I am never prepared for rain. Today I went out to get soup for lunch and dodged rain the whole way. It wasn’t too cold out - so, actually, the rain was quite refreshing.
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Last night this girl sat across the aisle from us on the plane. She had big brown eyes, long eyelashes, and dimples. She flirted with Kevin shamelessly - the whole way to our layover in Minneapolis. At first I was irritated and jealous. "Can’t she see he’s a married man?!" Then I decided to give her a break. After all, she’s only six months old. I don’t think he’d go for the drooling, teething, diaper-dirtying type anyway.

The best part about that leg of the journey was the fact that the plane was full and we "had" to sit in first class. It was the first time either of us had sat in first class. After the experience I told Kevin, "I used to think that, even if I could afford it, I would never pay the extra money to ride first class. I mean, think of all the starving children that you could feed instead. But, now, I think I’ve changed my mind. Forget the hungry kids in Africa!" Kevin looked at me in shock. But he didn’t realize that I said that just to get a reaction.

The three-hour layover in Minneapolis was uneventful except for the fact that we watched almost an entire football game and I got a peppermint mocha. Yum.

During the layover, we sat next to a family of four - mom, dad and two young boys (probably 11 and 7). The mom was reading a book called "Protect the Emotional Health of Your Son." (I know, I’m such a snoop.) Incidentally, I happened to sit next to the two boys in the plane. I said "hi" to them but they gave me blank stares (as if saying "who the heck are you, lady?"). The 11-year-old son was reading a book. Since I was bored, I decided to read over his shoulder. It was about a man and woman riding in a car together. The woman said she suspected a friend of taking narcotics. The man replied that he takes narcotics too and it’s a wonderful experience and is something that wouldn’t ever harm anyone. I wondered to myself if the mom concerned with her boy’s emotional health knew what he was reading.
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Well, what can I say? We had a marvelous time with the Koons Clan. It was great to be with everybody again - it had been four months since we saw them last.

Our Thanksgiving weekend was full of trivial pursuit games (one of them lasting into the wee hours of the morning); excellent food (of course); visiting with family and friends (we were able to hold Seth and Kristi’s adorable and cuddly twin babies); shopping (yes, we were crazy enough to venture out into the mall on Friday); Finding Nemo (no, I didn’t cry at the end); football and basketball for Kevin (yes, he was sore afterwards); snow flurries (yes, it snowed one day!!!!!); and deer hunting stories by Uncle Mike (no, he’s never worried about being shot by another hunter, he said, after I asked him).

Actually, the deer story was kinda funny. Apparently Cousin Brandon shot his first deer on grandpa’s hunting land last Friday. He was exuberant. The challenge after shooting it was getting it across an icy cold, rapidly rising, swiftly flowing river. Uncle Mike tied one end of a rope on the deer corpse’s waist and tied the other end onto himself. He attempted to pull the deer across the water but it got caught in a current and started pulling him down. He had two options: 1) let the deer drown or 2) let the deer and Mike drown. He picked the first option and lived to tell about it. He’s a funny storyteller.

We just had a very good time. In the ideal world everyone you love and care about would all live in the same neighborhood.