Jo had texted me a couple days ago, asking if I had anything going on this morning. Once I responded that I didn't have a lot going on, she asked if she could come over and hang out for a few hours. I told her that would be great, and she said she'd be here between 9:00 and 10:00.
This morning, I had a knock on my door at 8:30. "She's early", I thought. Imagine my surprise when I opened the door to see my cousin Amy and aunt Cindy. They drove from Cedar City to spend the day with me. That's right, they drove 8 hours - last night - to spend just over 8 hours with me today, before they drove back home tonight.
We sat and talked for hours before we took a Cracker Barrel nutrition break. (We all know how I feel about bacon. And Cracker Barrel has the best french toast. Sourdough bread and real maple syrup. Need I say more?) After breakfast/lunch (that's called "brunch", yes?) we came back to my house and Amy and I did a blind taste test of:
versus
I'm pleased to report that it was a unanimous vote and Thin Mints won, hands down. (Which is nice to know, considering I spend easily twice as much on a package of Girl Scout cookies as I do the Keebler goods. They're worth every penny of the $4 a box, folks.)
Amy brought me a present:
This is a box of Certs from our grammy's desk. I laughed, and then I cried that she would bring me such a prize!
Syd and Amy went on a quick run to Costco this afternoon while I took a walk and then had a little lie-down for a while. (I tire easily. It's because I am old - and my body is a little bit broken.) They came back with this little goodie for me.
I cried, because that's what I do when I'm blown away by how nice people are to me. Amy's reason for the purchase was that she has a lot of movies she's going to need to loan me (I do love that we have family predilection for hours - if not days - of movie watching, esp when we're sick and can't go anywhere or do anything else), and a lot of the movies she's gonna send are blu-ray, so I needed a machine that I could watch them on.
Bless her.
The most amazing thing to me is that, just this week, I was talking to my mom about how I'd been thinking I needed to put the word out that I was needing a broken Wii or Xbox. Broken, because I don't want/need to play games. I just needed the functionality of streaming. (You know, for the Netflix.) ... Enter this blu-ray player that will meet that need. This was literally an answer to a prayer. As small a thing as it may seem, I'd been thinking about and wondering how I was going to make streaming internet to my TV a reality, and now I can. (As I type, Lie to Me is playing in the background. ... I heart Cal Lightman.) In a world where things don't always go the way that I want them to, I never cease to be amazed (and grateful) for the times that things do go my way. Is Rockford Files streaming really necessary to my happiness? No, but it sure helps my busy brain to have something that gets me out of my own head.
After Amy got my new electronic equipment hooked up and functional (thank goodness she was here, no way could I have put that together on my own!), we headed to the park and met Spencer and Kirk and their families for a little play time. At 6:30, the Utah girls headed out of town and I headed home for an early evening. (Don't judge. It was a full day. I had way more going on that I usually do on a Saturday.)
I'm so grateful to have been able to spend the entire day with my aunt and my cousin. We talked and we laughed. I learned new things about my family, and I remembered some of my favorite stories about them, too.
I'm so grateful for the relationships in my life. I'm so grateful for family who'd drive all night to spend the day with me, and then turn around and drive all night to go back home. I love them!
