A great game of Pictionary after eating a boatload of Leftovers…

…for friends and family. There’s just nothing better in life.

A big day tomorrow, that is. But I couldn’t resist this picture for the double entendre value.

Everybody got to listen to Alex’s heartbeat tonight!

We’re here in New Hampshire – it’s cold and the air is biting…I love Thanksgivings like that. We drove up the long driveway to the House at the Top of the Hill, a drive I’ve made for 40 years – and we ate sandwiches and lentil soup that Aunt Sara had ready and that said to us: “Welcome.”

Families are great. Family traditions are great, too – like the familiar silver pheasants on my Aunt’s Thanksgiving table.

We’re here (we being my mom and my dad and I) at Armour & Tanya’s in Delaware.  It’s a great house, warm and inviting. 

Tanya is expecting *my niece!* Alexandra in late March.  I don’t think “excited” covers it for me. 

I went running today – a long, slow run – with my little iPod Shuffle on, and as normally happens with a long, slow run – there is plenty of time for thinking.  Delaware is hilly.   As luck would have it, the 30 minutes out was mostly uphill (that is lucky…because the 30 minutes back was an easy series of downhills!) 

I wasn’t thinking much beyond “one-foot-in-front-of-the-other” on the way out…but on the way back, my thoughts wandered.  I thought about how happy my brother is, and what a wonderful welcoming place he and Tanya have made here – and how I can’t wait to meet their little girl.  That made me think about what kind of father my brother will be, and how I am looking forward to that evolution…Life can be so Beautiful, you know?

It made me think about my own dad and my earliest memory of him – which oddly enough involves running:

I was little – maybe 2 or 3 years old, and we were stationed in Germany.  My mom and I were up at the top of a cobblestone hill, and my dad was at the bottom.  I wanted to *get* to him…like, fast.  So I started running. 

My legs were carrying me fine, but nearing the bottom, I panicked.  My dad’s face, looking at me, was also panicked.  What I could not have known at the time was how worried he was; my mom told me later that if I’d fallen, my face would have been crushed beyond repair.  My legs were just moving too fast – gravity, inertia – it would have all overtaken me if he hadn’t been there, poised like an NHL goalie, ready to catch his little girl. 

But he did.  And my first memory of my dad was that he saved me.  

That’s a great legacy for Alex.

I’m driving from Florida to New Hampshire for Thanksgiving.

I’m just going to let that sink in.

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On the way up, my mom and I stopped to see my aunt and uncle at their Riverhouse.

My uncle built a new addition, right on the riverbank, dedicated to my grandmother – my mom & my aunt’s mother – who liked to sit right where the pavilion sits now, with her glass of water (paper napkin wrapped around it) and her cane pole.

We had a fire the night we arrived, with hot cider…

…and a fire the next morning, when we had breakfast.

The morning was cold and foggy.

Perfect.

But we were missing John, especially considering the duck hunting to be done.

John had this beautiful Ringneck mounted last year…and he finally came in. I took a closeup for John – but this picture makes me a little sad.

He is more like a decorative article when I take him in along with the rest of the “Hunting Room” as we call it…check out that rug, huh? Thank-you, TDY-trip to Bahrain!

And, my favorite decoration of all – who is also very naughty.

We were in the city where he serves – a beautiful-but-dangerous place – and I wanted a picture of us together – I wanted the memory of us together there.

He reached over a moment too late – with his big hand on mine – our wedding rings clinking together – and the timer on my Canon caught us as he leaned in to say: “I’m so glad you’re here” and I turned to say “Wait…”

I value this picture because it makes me remember what I should have said, and should have thought:

“I am, too.”

It’s been a Long Absence again. I have a myriad of excuses – mostly time-related, but also due to equipment. John and I are about to be out of debt after nearly 7 years of carrying around a LOT of it. It’s such a burden, and I applaud those who are good with their money, because I’m ashamed we are not.

Our verse for our marriage is “To whom much is given, much is expected.” – and we believe it, People. So, we continue to give away, but truly, what is the purpose of building wealth? It’s to give, to make a difference, to help.  We can, and should do more – we should not be throwing it away on credit card debt.

So, anyway – we will finally be able to get new computers…MacPros (YIPPEE!) next month. I told John that I’d try and post every day because he wants me to: “I don’t even know what the house looks like anymore, Hol.  Trust me.  There’s beauty to me in what you consider the mundane details.”

Wow. Wife of the Year – RIGHT HERE. 

Anyway, we spent two idyllic days in a faraway place where he will be for the next half-a-year, and ended every evening of that very brief respite (three of them) with steaming mugs and chilly air, and a beautiful, beautiful view.  We talked about the future – and our plans for it.

My favorite kind of conversation.

With my favorite person.