Family

I love the immediate sea of comfort that envelopes me every time my family is around.  The stresses and expectations of other aspects of life melt away and, with them, I can just be.

My parents flew in on Thanksgiving Day and, instead of making a full Thanksgiving dinner, we had teriyaki stir fry and carrot cake. 

Daniel and my dad hit up quite a few stores on Friday to snag some BluRay sales, while my mom and I spent most of our time sauntering around World Market, buying scarves and little trinkets for the teenager she’d picked off the Angel Tree at their church.

The boys went to the U of A vs ASU football game, while my mom and I stayed in, watching Hallmark Christmas movies and packing up my closet.

 We saw Cirque Du Soleil’s “Dralion”, which was absolutely fantastic!

We showed them around the house we’re trying to buy, spent time browsing in used book stores, appliance shopping, and ate shave ice (no, Tucson has not really cooled off!) and Indian food.

They flew back to Colorado today.  I miss the little things most.

Eating breakfast with them around our kitchen table.

 Looking over and seeing my dad with his nose in a book (or the newspaper).

Hearing my mom cry out, “Ack!  Taco!” as he tried to play with her cross-stitch thread.

Cooking with my mom, seamlessly juggling cooking and dish-washing between the two of us to keep our tiny little kitchen clean and functional.  We made chicken cordon bleu, eclairs, spinach dip, breakfast enchiladas, smoothies, and more.

The way they actually enjoyed helping us eat our way through our freezer, fridge, and pantry.  Every time we’d finish something, one of them would excitedly say, “Another thing down!  What are we working on next?”

My dad taking our Windex and a rag outside and washing the windows of our car. Everyday. Just to shows he cares.

Asking my mom for Chapstick and having her pull out the “Moon Rock Candy” Lipsmacker that I got way back in middle school. 

My mom teaching Taco to stay seated in a chair at the table (instead of being ON the table, which Daniel encourages).

Looking over at my dish rack and seeing that they had washed a Cool Whip container lid, even though I’d already thrown the container itself away.

Seeing how much Daniel loves my dad and vice-versa.  Their man-bonding gets me all teary eyed.

It’s a good thing we only have about a month before we’ll be visiting them in Colorado for Christmas.