It's all about Donna

I had the wonderful blessing of being invited to participate in the Thanksgiving day family festivities at my friend’s ranch this year. I’ve known Kate’s family for years now. What made this particular day so special was realizing just how long I’ve known them all, and getting to witness how the niecelets, as they are affectionately known, have grown up into young women. The youngest, Katie, is now 18 years old. I first met her when she was about 6. There’s also Callie and Abbie. I think Callie is now about 21 and Abbie is somewhere in the middle. The other kids have grown up as well, but I know the niecelets the best.

What stands out most about this day, was the hay ride. Foolish me tried to carry a glass of wine on the trip. Wrong. Note to self: take a sippy cup next time. I had more wine on my than in my mouth. I digress. What came out of this trip was the realization that it isn’t always all about me even though I would like it to be. Kate has new calves on the ground. The topic of naming the newborns came up. I asked if she was going to name one Donna. I was quickly informed it wasn’t all about me. What do you mean it’s not all about me? We all laughed hard.

I realized on this day, just how thankful I am to have such wonderful friends as Kate and Jhereon, and for them to think enough of me to include me in their family day. I was honored. In reflection, I am very thankful to a former colleague who introduced me to Kate over 10 years ago.

This was a day that was truly about friends, family, and Thanksgiving.

My parents are pretty cool people. At this point in the game of life, we’re really good friends. Never saw that coming. I spent the day with them learning about living trusts. I’m their successor trustee. It can be a big job, and I get to do it. I learned lots about the process and I’m pretty convinced this is the way to go. Of course we all have to make our own decisions on that one. Read the rest of this entry »

If you don’t like musicals or Abba, then don’t bother reading this post.

Mama Mia! Here I go again!

What a totally entertaining movie.

With bacon.

It is most definitely all about me!

The first highlight of my day was meeting up with my girlfriend Nancy. I met Nancy working at the BNSF Railway. She’s a technical writer with an extremely dry sense of humor. I miss working with Nancy. We became like sisters. I’ve never had an older sister. I think it could Nancy… after all she is older. To me, Nancy is one of the cool senior citizens. I know when she reads this she’ll probably shoot me. Isn’t that what sisters do? I always knew Nancy older than me, but she is so totally lucky because I think she is aging much more gracefully than I and as such, she looks at least 5 years younger than she really is. But, enough about Nancy. Today is all about me! Read the rest of this entry »