There is no place like home

I realize it's not quite Thanksgiving yet, but we will be traveling and I'm not sure I'll have time to post something on Thanksgiving.

On Sunday, Bruno was making some buffalo wings and I commented that we should make them when we go home this week.  He laughed and said "we are home!"  But he knew what I meant.  Yes, we have been married and owned a home for 10 years and have two children.  We have what most would consider our own home and our own family.  But there is nothing like going home to the rest of your family. 

The house my parents live in now is not the one I grew up in.  They bought it after I graduated from college and I was fortunate enough to be able to live with them after I graduated for a year or so.  I love the house they now live in... it is full of windows and light and has a wonderful screened-in porch that we use during our summer trips home.  It is warm and open and is decorated beautifully and always smells like a delicious candle is burning somewhere.

We don't go home (to either of our parents homes) enough but it makes the time we do spend there even more special.  We have friends who say to us "now that you have two kids, why don't you make your relatives visit you for the holidays or just do your own thing."  And it reminds me that there are some people who don't have the wonderful, loving families that we have.  Family is a very important priority for us and if it means driving 7 hours in a car with two little ones or flying on a plane on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, with the rest of America, we do it.  Not because we have to but because it's hard for us to imagine not having a holiday with either one of our families.

And so on this Thanksgiving week, there are so many people that I am grateful for... I wouldn't even begin to make a comprehensive list.  So I will try to sum it up and say we are thankful for all of those who touch our lives in many different ways; we are thankful for our health and for our children's health; and we are thankful to be in the presence of family this holiday season during Thanksgiving in Michigan and Christmas in Massachusetts.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Corn Feast

It was bound to happen one of these days - the challenges of working parents.  (Don't worry, I appreciate the challenges of stay-at-home parents too - just being a parent has its challenges.) 

Grace had a corn feast at school this morning.  Essentially the kindergartners perform a play about the pilgrims and eat food with corn in it.  Grace practiced her line all week - "There was a big rock at the shore of the new world."  We were asked to bring in food made with corn.  I had plans to try a new recipe for sweet corn and bacon cupcakes. 

Then the Senate leadership decided to release their health reform bill last night at 7:30 p.m.  So, I came back to work, scrolled through 2,000 pages, sent out a notice to the members of our association.  That would have been fine... but... I couldn't make my sweet corn and bacon cupcakes.  So I made salsa with corn in it and that would have been fine... but...

I had a meeting scheduled this morning at work that I absolutely couldn't miss which meant that I could not go to the corn feast.  Bruno also had a meeting that he could not reschedule.

I'm sad and disappointed that I had to miss the corn feast.  I know there will be more events that I will be able to go to but I still feel bad.  I don't want Grace to have to be "that kid" whose parents are too busy to come to school events.  Oh well, it was bound to happen.  I asked my friend to take pictures and I'll share them once I see them.  And I will stop beating myself up now about this because things just happen that are out of our control.

And on to brighter topics - countdown to Michigan - yipee - just 5 days away!

What a day can bring

This weekend it was beautiful out.  After days of cold, wind and rain, the sun felt so warm and was so bright.  The autumn leaves were falling and some neighbors were being productive and raking them - we were just soaking in the warm weather!  A day can bring sun and warm and beautiful colored leaves and a day (even the same day) can also bring sad news...

I was checking my email Sunday and I had an email from one of my neighbors. One of her daughters is, I would guess in her mid to late 20s and lives in Massachusetts.  I met her a couple of months ago when my neighbor brought her daughter by to meet me.  She was sweet and asked Grace all kinds of questions and said how cute Abigail was.  She was so happy to be staying with her mom for a week vacation, and my neighbor couldn't have been happier to have her daughter home.

My neighbor's email started with her saying "I never dreamed I would be writing this..." Her daughter was diagnosed with leukemia this weekend.  I don't know the full story but all I know is she was admitted to the hospital on Friday and they started her first transfusion on Sunday.  My heart is breaking for my neighbor and her other children, she has a daughter and son who live in Arlington.  She will have to juggle being with her daughter in MA, while also trying to manage her own life in VA. 

Then today, I had another email from Grace's school telling the parents that a mother of a kindergartner was just diagnosed with breast cancer.  She has a 5-year old who plays with Grace every day after school.  I saw both the mom and her husband and their daughter on Sunday at a birthday party for another kindergartner.  She looked great and was smiling.  She must have known her diagnosis but was able to put on a happy face for her daughter.  They have not told their daughter yet.  And my heart breaks again for this woman and her family and her daughter.

Ugh - I hate that these two women and their families have to cope with such scary and life-changing news.  In one instance they too may have been walking in the leaves, soaking up the warm fall sun, and then in one day, everything has changed, forever.  And all of this happening smack dab in the middle of the two most wonderful (in my opinion) holidays of the year. 

I have reached out to others who have gone through leukemia and asked what I could send that would be a comfort to my neighbor's daughter and to my neighbor.  And I know that Grace's school will provide all the resources it can with the support of other moms and families to help this mom and her family face the reality of breast cancer and I have offered to help with whatever she may need.  I know they are both being treated by world class medical doctors.  And I know they must be incredibly sad and scared.  And I know we can keep them in our prayers every day. 

As Thanksgiving approaches and I anxiously count the days until we are on the plane going to see my family, I will also keep in mind those who are facing such hurdles this Thanksgiving.  And I will be thankful for many things I may not have thought to be thankful for a few days ago.

Halloween Pictures

As promised - here are the Halloween pictures!

Pictures

I am still waiting to upload the Halloween pictures but in the mean time - here are some funny and cute ones of the girls.

Abigail REALLY likes Bruno's homemade spaghetti sauce!

She really wants to bib off which I know is not a good idea but...

Doing pretty well without the bib.  Now would someone please wipe this child's face!

That's better.  All cleaned up wearing the adorable coat that Auntie Maurilia bought her for her birthday.

She loves stuffed animals!

And here's beautiful Grace...

Posing for the camera.

Stay tuned for Halloween pictures!

Remembering Sarah on Election Day

(I promise to post a happy halloween post soon once I get the pictures loaded up...)

Tomorrow is Election Day in Virginia.  I have worked in government affairs/politics for my whole career so election day is a big day for us political junkies.  But since 2006, election days mean something else to me.  In 2006, on election day, I received a call at work from my brother telling me that my childhood friend, Sarah Lincolnhol, had died in a tragic car accident the night before.  I could not believe what I was hearing.  I couldn't stop crying and I couldn't stop thinking about her family and her little girls.

To put it in perspective, Sarah and I met when we lived in the same neighborhood - we were about 4 years old and she was one of my first friends.  We walked to kindergarten together and then we rode the bus together in grade school.  We had sleep-overs, we shared teachers and friends, we played basketball together.  We went to high school together, we played on the golf team together.  We made new friends but still maintained our friendship.  We went to different colleges and started to lose touch. 

But in 2006, I received pictures over email of her children from a mutual friend of ours.  I emailed her and we started to get caught up on each other's lives.  She was a stay-at-home mom with two beautiful girls... Maya and Abigail.  Maya was about the same age as Grace (about 2 at the time) and Abigail was about 8 months old.  We made plans to meet up over the Christmas holidays when we would both be back in Michigan.  I thought to myself how fun it would be to see her daughter, Maya, who looked just like her (and still does) and my daughter, Grace, who looks a lot like me, playing together - just as Sarah and I did.

That November night in 2006, Sarah drove to meet her husband for dinner after he got out of work. Her mom and dad were visiting and stayed with the two little girls.   As any parent knows, dinner out without your kids is a special treat and I'm sure Sarah and her husband had a nice dinner.  Then they drove home separately.  And then, in a tragic split second, a drunk driver crossed the median and crashed into Sarah's car.  A few months later, Mothers Against Drunk Driving placed a sign in Sarah's honor at the site of the crash.

Sarah had an incredibly loving and close-knit, Irish, Catholic family - she had 7 brothers and sisters and two wonderful parents.  Before having children, she was a social worker for developmentally disabled adults.  She had a contagious laugh and a huge smile.  She was kind and generous and fun! 

Accidents like this immediately make us question “why” this had to happen to a vivacious, young, daughter, wife, mother, sister, sister-in-law, aunt, granddaughter and friend to many. I know that the Lincolnhol's strong faith and support circle of family and friends helped them through the immediate loss and over the years.

And so tomorrow, I will go vote, but I will also keep Sarah and her family and friends in my thoughts and prayers as they reflect on her much too short life.  And I will reflect on all the blessings that I have in my life and I will hug Bruno and our little girls, Grace and Abigail, just a little tighter tomorrow.