Thanksgiving, Surprises & Engagements!

Since the minute I woke up this morning I thought, 

"Today is going to be a great day to blog. I can tell the world just how thankful I am."

I wanted this post to be something spectacular. 

I wanted everyone who was special to me to know just exactly how special they were.

I also wanted the world to know that this was going to be my families first holiday without a very important loved one by our side. 

You see, people take a time out on Thanksgiving to stop what they're doing, enjoy their family, enjoy their friends and enjoy good food and great laughs together. 

Some families only do this around the holidays. 

For my family, I am thankful that we do this quite often throughout the year. 

I have been incredibly blessed with an extremely tight knit family. 

I have learned over the last 48 hours just how close we really are. 

Some personal things happened the day before Thanksgiving that don't need to be aired. 

But I will say that it involved a loved one needing their family. 

And within minutes, several members of our family stepped up to the plate, without hesitation, and did whatever needed to be done. 

And I know how incredibly lucky we are to have that. 

Some people just don't get that. 

And I am one of the few that can say, "Yeah, I GET THAT."

And then today,  to wake up and know your brother is sitting on plane, traveling on Thanksgiving to go to his duty station and for the first time spend Thanksgiving alone is painful as a sister. 

Painful.

You send your well wishes and sure maybe you get to FaceTime, 

But it's not the same as having his face across from you at the dinner table.

Snap chatting saying he was on his way to Kentucky.

Mostly, today is a reminder to me to stay grounded. 

To stay focused on what I hold so close to my heart. 

My family.

Never have I been reminded of that more than today. 

Let me explain how today played out. 

Not once did I think I would get the surprise of seeing my brother standing out on the front porch in uniform. On Thanksgiving. Never. It NEVER once crossed my mind. 

He made it very clear to me over the last 6-7 weeks that he couldn't come home.

I was sitting at the dinner table and had just finished my dinner when I heard a knock at the front door. 

I assumed it was either Jakes girlfriend Amanda (as she planned to come later on after dinner with her family) or just a last minute straggler. 

I heard my Dad yell "COME IN."

And I looked over to see my Dad with his camera out and recording. 

I said, "Why are you taping the door?"

And he said, "I am just getting everyone at the dinner table."

And I see over at the door my husband just standing there, staring, and then I see my sister scream and jump. 

And I knew it was Jake. I bolted through the dining room, living room and practically tore through the front door to get to him. 

I sobbed. And made weird ass noises. 

But I was elated. 

And elated isn't even a good word for it. 

Ask anyone there tonight. I couldn't stop dancing. 

And sweating... 

I sweat when I am nervous/excited. 

 Well, I will let you see how it played out. 

A huge Thank You to my other little bro, Justin for standing out in the cold to record us swarming our brother!!! 

I couldn't stop hugging him. 

So, if you want to know what I am thankful for this year. 

It's having my brother home for the holiday. 

It's having such an amazingly wonderful, supportive, close and unconditionally loving family. 

I am truly, incredibly blessed.
I know no matter where my life takes me, how hard it may get, how incredibly joyous it gets, I will always have the love and support from my family.
That's all I could ever need. Could ever want. 

Moments after seeing him at the front door

And then, if THAT wasn't enough, his girlfriend still hadn't showed up just yet. 

And she also had no idea that he was coming home. 

So, we literally had like 3 minutes with him before he had to go upstairs and hide. 

When she texted saying she was just about to the house, we all attempted to act completely normal. 

But at this point, everyone wanted to record her reaction. 

So I literally sat at the table with my camera in my hands... attempting to pretend I was playing on it. 

But I got her reaction on tape. 

And a few extra special moments as well...

Take a look!

(The video is like 5 minutes long. So feel free to fast forward to 2:58. The first few minutes is us just stalling time). 

Not only did I get my brother home for Thanksgiving, I gained a sister-in-law! 

Needless to say, yesterday was a very emotional and exciting day! 

Hope everyone had just as good as a Thanksgiving as I.

Happy Holidays! 

Jake with his Mom & Sisters

Jake & Mom

Jake with his new fiancé! 

Jake hugging his Grandpa

The beautiful ring! 

The Punitive Parent in Me.

I want to know when parents stopped parenting their children?

I work in a setting in which I see hundreds of people a day. 

Today I saw 2 scenarios that completely urked me. 

First thing this morning, I had a mother walk in with her 2 year old. 

The entire time he was all over the clinic, picking up all of our fall decorations, pulling on the blinds and several times attempting to come behind the counter to come work for me. 

This mother just looked frazzled. 

Like she had no idea how to control her two year old. 

Every time she spoke to the kid, "No no no! Come sit with Mommy! Want to play with your computer!"

She said it in this cheerful little voice. It's no wonder the kid didn't realize the terror he was causing was not appropriate. 

What happened to using a firm tone with your kid?

How is a child supposed to differentiate between "Ut oh, I shouldn't do that" and "This really is ok!" if all we do is speak the same tone?

And I want to know where this paralyzing fear of spanking your child in public came from?

I get it. I mean, no one finds joy in punishing their child in public. 

But to me, it's much more embarrassing to have a child running around wreaking havoc on society than a quick swift swat to the ass. 

As long as you aren't beating the kid with a hanger (which I once saw working retail in my college days), I could care less how you choose to punish you child. 

It's no one's business. 

 I don't know when Americans decided to make spanking a horrible act. 

Every now and then, a kid needs a kick in the pants to know that MOM and DAD are in charge.

Not them. 

I know I got spanked. And I know I survived. 

Scenario #2 was significantly worse to me. 

Around dinner time, I had 3 young males (I would say between the ages of 11 & 13) come in and begin to try to sell candy to people we had in our waiting area. 

Solicitation of any kind is prohibited in our place of business. 

And although I understand these kids were probably selling candy for school, we can't have people off the street bothering paying customers in our facility. 

I kindly informed the 3 boys that they were not able to sell the candy and to please leave. 

I went to the back of the facility to drop something off & when I came back to the front, one gentleman who was waiting informed me, rather than leaving, the 3 young boys were ran sacking my Kreurig coffee station. 

I quickly headed over & told them they couldn't use the machine without a parent supervising them (the possibility of burning oneself could potentially be a liability). 

I asked them to please finish brewing the cup of tea and leave. 

I went back to my desk only to see the kids place another k-cup in the machine and start at it again. 

REALLY!? Did you REALLY just completely ignore an adult who instructed you to stop!

I could see them peering over their shoulders, "keeping a look out" to see if I could see them. 

I could. 

And now I was pissed. 

I walked back over there and with a much different, much more serious, stern tone said "I think I just explained to you not to use this machine. You need to leave. Now."

Two of the boys grabbed their candy & immediately headed for the door. 

One boy refused to leave the brewing tea. 

I asked him again to leave. 

I think the 3rd time being told to go must have gotten through to him. 

He left.

Now, I want to know, #1 WHERE THE HELL WERE THEIR PARENTS!?

Who would send their young boys out to a busy plaza to sell candy to strangers?

And do these parents know a damn thing about parenting?

Seriously, if someone had told me at that age to knock it off, stop it, or leave, I would have NEVER tested them. 

I would have never defied them. 

Especially a stranger. 

Since when have children decided that they run the show?

Since when have parents decided that that was ok?

I just do not understand for the life of me how this has happened!

I am much more punitive than most. I am very much aware of this. 

All throughout college, I was the "asshole" who advocated the death penalty while many believed in restitution, rehabilitation and giving second, third and forth chances. 

Everyone knows how I feel about punishment. 

But I think that is what will separate me from just a ok parent to a great parent. 

I am not afraid to say no. 

I am not afraid to say you cant treat someone like that. 

I am ok with going against the grain. 

And I wish more people were too. 

I am a Gift to Blogging... or so I thought.

When I started this blog, I felt I would be the next sensation to hit the blogging world. 

I thought, shit, I have so many awesome ideas running through my head at all times. 

Who wouldn't want to hear all the things I come up with?! 

I don't know what the fuck I was thinking. 

Maintaining a blog is one of the most challenging experiences I have had. 

Everyday I mull it over. Everyday I think, "Oh, I could blog about that later." 

But then a few hours later, the concept doesn't even seem that exciting anymore. 

And who the hell wants to read a boring blog?

Most of the things I WANT to write about are personal. 

Too personal for the internet. 

Or very political. And while I have NO problem writing political posts, 

I like to make 100% sure I have researched and feel very comfortable on the topic before posting my opinions all out for everyone to tear apart.

Or they're about missing my brother. 

I find myself googling 

-"Ways to make your blog successful." - which only leads to marketing ideas and ways to get advertisements on your blog to make you money

-"How to get over writers block" - which all leads to weird ass ideas like "give us your favorite childhood movie star." 

-"How to punch writers block in the face." - which only gave me tips on how to write novels/books. Not so much help with the blogging world. 

And I am stalled out again. 

So I am writing a post about my writers block and how I feel my gift to the blogging world is slowly puttering out. How sad. 

Now this post too has hit a brick wall.
WAH!