We had a lovely Thanksgiving respite in Durham, filled with laughter, relaxing and lots of food and friends. Being with dear friends always charges me with energy and reminds me who I am.
Some highlights from our trip...a pre-Thanksgiving Tessem feast of delicious grilled pizza...a visit to Shady Lane featuring dinner with the Straubels and dessert with the Spences...a return to Easley to see beloved teachers and friends, playdates for Eric with his buddies Brayden, Liam and Ben...Eric and the boys' visit to one of Eric's favorite Duke professors who is recovering from cancer...1 A.M. almost every night- Brian and Eric begging Lindsay and me to stop talking and let them get some sleep...an incredible Thanksgiving dinner with the Alders and Larsons that ended with Eric stepping in what he termed a "poop crumb" on the living room carpet*...and finally, a Mexican feast at the Rays', just in case we hadn't gotten enough to eat the rest of the week.
Thank you everyone- we miss you more than ever.
We had such a wonderful time, in fact, that I dreaded our return to Atlanta. As we pulled into our neighborhood I thought of our old house on Shady Lane, looking just the same, even hung with the Christmas wreaths we had left up in the attic. But then, when I opened the front door of our little old rental, an unexpected feeling settled into my heart. I breathed in and thought,
It's good to be home.
I thought of Eric in the kitchen on Saturday mornings, making eggs to order for all the neighborhood children. And of Jen's piano music floating through my bedroom window on Sunday nights. And downtown Decatur, all lit up for Christmas. I guess my plan of not getting too attached here isn't working after all, and I have to say, I'm kind of glad.
We slowly settled back in over the weekend and managed to unpack and decorate for Christmas while battling nasty post-vacation colds. All that bed-time-flaunting and overeating catches up with you in the end, doesn't it?
Now onto the flying pigs: little Eric cut his hair. We made a deal- if he would cut it short, we would not say the word "haircut" for an entire year. The best reaction was from Marley, who stared at him for several minutes, trying to comprehend the fact that he actually has ears.
After school today I nonchalantly asked him if the other kids had said anything about his new look. He told me lots of boys said they liked it, but that he "didn't hear any comments from the girls." Then he added that he didn't want to hear any comments from the girls.
I can tell it's going to be a good December.
*As far as we could tell it was an escapee from a squirming toddler diaper change gone wrong.
4 comments:
Oh man! The pigs flying sent me back to 11th grade English class with Mr. Knox, did you have his class? I think little Eric's haircut looks fantastic! I'm still laughing about the way you wrote it up.
As always, it's fabulous hearing from you. Glad you had such a marvelous Thanksgiving, AND that you're happy to be home!
I love the haircut! It's kind of like Josh--having to have short hair for EFY, and then letting it grow for the following year!
Come back and we will feed you more!
So fun to see you all! The only down side was the time was so short! We need to make a trip your way soon, we'll try and make sure we give you notice and everything ;) I'm glad you are learning to love where you are, even though that in and of itself is hard, just think of yourself as an aspen tree, with new sprouts all over the place, but still one family of tree. :)
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