wednesday morning we packed up the suburban and headed down the 5 for thanksgiving at my grandmother’s house with my entire extended family in san diego.
i too, wish that I had a video of the past three days because no combination of words and/or pictures could describe the occasion.
i can’t really compete with my journalist of a roommate’s writing skills so i’ll just stick to what I do best: lists…here’s my top 8, bottom 4 for the past three days
top 8:
1. spending 11+ hours in the car and sitting in stand still traffic for at least 3 of those hours. top 8? oh yes. there are a few things i love about family road trips.
a) you can always count on my dad to be a moderately reckless driver
b) my mom will always get upset with dad about said driving.
c) dad will start to feel bad about scaring mom, so when she wants to stop at starbucks at least once every two hours, he will comply to her wishes.
d) i get to watch them bicker while i chuckle and enjoy endless supplies of chai tea. on top of that, my backseat company included cassidy, phillip, and my cousin adam. adam is studying chinese at berkeley (how appropriate), so we all learned basic chinese conversational skills.
2. seeing andrew for the first time since august! also, hearing my grandmother call andrew the caveman from the geico commercials.
3. grandma and aunt merely’s pins that say “obama’s girl” in curlz mt font. there are many pins in different colors for different outfits.
4. grandma’s list of things we are not allowed to discuss while in her house. some of the topics include politics, economics, religion, health issues (mental and/or physical), parenting advice and/or delimas, etc. essentially, our topics of discussion were limited to weather and pets.
5. making pumpkin cobbler (so much better than pumpkin pie. come over sometime and i’ll make it for you)
6. everyone interpretting the list (see #4) as a guideline for topics to discuss over dinner. (also see #1 on bottom 4)
7. taking lots of walks.
8. eating at ihop (tutti fruity pancake breakfast or mountain mamma chocolate fountain breakfast special?) friday morning with uncle mike and aunt caryl (unrelated family/friends from dallas) who were also in the area for the holidays. they are the kind of people who just light up a room. we are blessed to know them.
bottom 4.
1. everyone intrepretting the list (see #4 & 6) as a guideline for topics to discuss over dinner. and in this context “loudly voice your opinion while everyone else around you does the same” might be slightly more appropriate than the word “discuss.”
2. grandma getting very upset that no one respected her wishes, and retreating to her bedroom for the rest of the night/all of friday.
3. family unheaval over grandma’s low spirits.
4. almost getting in a car wreck, running off the road into a mud pile, and getting stuck until a good samaritan in a white pickup came to pull us out of the mud. (top 8/9 list: watching my dad look through the mud for the next 30 minutes for his missing shoe that somehow fell out of the car during the experience. hm…)
I am very thankful for holiday breaks, aunt merely’s flaming red hair, and that we are finally only a car ride away from my mom’s entire extended family. I am also very thankful that every morning i get to wake up in a frigid bedroom inside 524 wrights mill road , walk outside past our slightly unbalanced wooden swing, and spend every day with my auburn family.
“More chai, anyone?”
Yes, please!
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