November Gratitude!

It's that time again! I love November for so many reasons, not the least of which my gratitude entries. I know - it's easy to roll the eyes at the gratitudes, I even find myself doing it for the numerous Facebook gratitude entries. Totally hypocritical, I know!

Last year for my last post, I did a 50 things I'm grateful for post. I listed stuff like my cat and books and sunsets (okay, maybe not sunsets, but still, there were some superficial things on the list.) A few days after I wrote the post, I realized a giant error I made. I didn't list my sweet mother-in-law in the post. How ungrateful am I? Because I love her very much and am so glad she is in my life, and my children's lives.

I met Vonnay on the same day as my husband. I had just been hired at Copies Unlimited, thanks to my mother seeing my older sister's friend in the grocery store and begging her to give me a job. She did so (we used to joke at the old C.U. that if you filled out an application, you wouldn't be hired. Pretty true statement. Everyone was a sister/aunt/cousin/mother/friend to someone else who worked there.) It was an early spring day and the sun was coming through the back windows, illuminating the blackened-from-copy-toner 1960's carpet in a delightful way. We were having pizza for someone's birthday and Vonnay introduced herself to me. She was super friendly and I liked her immediately.

I flirted with her son incessantly. And yet we didn't date or ever act on our flirtations for a very, very long time. However, one year at Christmas we had a Christmas party at the boss's house. Vonnay knew I was a little hippie chick and she had told me she had some old clothes from the 60's she would find for me. Shane was given the task the night of the Christmas party of bringing me a levi jacket that Vonnay had worn back in the day. She had gone to the effort of wrapping it up like a Christmas present. Also: Shane had brought a date with him to the party. That girl didn't get a present from his mom. I felt very smugly satisfied at the thought that even though she got to sit next to him at the party and have him flash his dimples her way, I was the one his mom liked. Stupid girl.

Vonnay has always been in my corner. She does so many things for me and my family. She is always, always happy to see us and never greets us at her door (or anywhere else!) without a hug and kiss. She loves her grandkids. She helps me each year at Ragnar by watching my kids for 2 days. When my kids play soccer she comes to every game and even remembers a water bottle for them to drink (I don't even do that!) She never fails to make me feel loved. We have a friendship that is based on a lot more than family ties and I am eternally grateful for it.

So I want to say "Thanks, Ma." And that I am very sorry I didn't tell her this a year ago when I rhapsodized about sunsets and other trivialities. I love her very much.

Are you excited for November?