Lisa Lu: Thanksgiving

Wow! So a week ago, the plans for Thanksgiving were to head to Boulder and spend time with Karl's girlfriend's family. Karl is my bestfriend from childhood. He has an adorable girlfriend, and we became instant friends. Mom calls Monday night and asked my plans. I told her, and she thought it would be more fun to fly me home. So Monday night we spent about 2 hours on the phone booking a flight.

I worked Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to catch a flight out (1am to be precise) Wednesday night. The plan? To fly through the night, have a layover for an hour in Charlotte, NC and be home in time for the DeWeese Thanksgiving. Mom was going to pick me up at 9a as she passed the airport and was en-route to Sidney, OH.

The plane from Denver arrived early in North Carolina. Things looked great. Until....the fog started rolling in. Visibility was less than a 1/4 of a mile. Surrounding gates started canceling flights....to Cleveland, Cincinnati...(notice a trend here?) But not our flight, Dayton was still a go. However, we were also suppose to leave at 7:00a and I was still sitting in the airport at 12:00p. So being the social person I am, I struck up conversation with the nice lady (grandma....a 41 y/o grandma) next to me. She was picking up her grandson to bring him back to Indianapolis. I am not much of one to sit around. Those of you who knew me three years ago will recollect the brilliant idea my friends and I had. I mean who doesn't think driving home 20 hours in a blizzard isn't a bad idea? I suppose the beer I had consumed may have contributed to my intelligence. So back to last week- We started googling transportation and realized we could rent a car and be home within 6-8 hours. Mind you, I have a plane to catch from Dayton to Denver in roughly 50 hours at this point.

After a having our gate stacked three flights deep with people and passing a total of 6 hours in the airport, somewhere, somehow the flight fairies (or more likely the airline computer system) had mercy on us. A plane came back form Knoxville to get us and fly us home. Sooooo..... arriving in Dayton (and seating in A1) I heard the man who opened our plane door ask the flight attendant, "Where in the world have we been?" Her reply, "We lost them somehow in the computer system." *Note I have made this version PG just in case any of the JH kids read-It was not this subdue*

Mom arrived with Ben and Clara, two of my fantastic cousins to pick me up. We played a little Catch Phrase, tried some yummy home brew of Wheat wine and Apple Jax....and I finally made it back to mom's about 12:00a. So Thanksgiving dinner on about 2 hours of sleep -not bad.

The next morning mom and I headed to Cincinnati, intentionally getting lost. Took Reading road the whole way through to 471 into Kentucky. Mom's weaving guild was at a craft show that we explored...truth be known we were waiting for my sister to take a break from her studying so she would meet us for dinner, and there was no way I was going to be killing time in a mall on Black Friday.

Beth called, she decided we should hit the mall. She needs a suite to defend a case on Thursday. Aaahhh! The Bane of my existence (did I mention I have worked in retail- Eddie Bauer to be precise. At least for 2 Black Fridays). So off to Florence Mall (Y'all- The buckeyes will appreciate that.... Coloradans' can ask me about it... long story). So after a little Florence Mall (Y'all (sorry, I couldn't help myself)). We hit up Barnes and Noble, to tie it off with dinner and Wine from Bouquet. Dinner was fantastic. Mike, my brother in law really enjoyed the wait staff - sorry, you had to be the entertainment Mike. The night was tied off with Gelato from down the street (I had to stick to a latte... chattering teeth and ice cream... not my idea of a good time).

So Saturday morning was breakfast with my father, and Dayton Mall with mom on the way out of town (Malls=bad idea between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I realize this is a duh statement, but I feel the need to put it out there, so possibly next time I remember!)

Back to the plane! Oh how I love direct flight! and Oh how I love Frontier. I don't know that they are necessarily any better, but I know their drill. Plane lands at 5p, and before I get on the shuttle to get to my car I have dinner plans with one of my favorite people in Fort Collins. Talking, decompressing and being brilliant together until 11p.

You know life just can't get much better than this.

Oh wait. Yes it can. This morning- Miss Molly and I had breakfast at a new place (for me-old to Fort Collins) Silver Grill. We had amazing girl and God talk. On the way to the diner, we swung by my new place and THEY WERE WORKING ON THE BATHROOM (yes, I was just yelling) This is so exciting for me! The tub was GONE!

So - more on the house as that will be the next big thing...Oh, well, I do guess there is that little matter of Christmas too. :)

My beautiful mother- getting breakfast together at our favorite restaurant in Fairfield Twp. Bob Evans.

My aunt Marg. Love her...Did I mention she is an amazing PT? So amazing, but hoping my diagnosis is incorrect.

Miss Dorothy Snavely. My other fantastic PT aunt! It was her two kids that came to pick me up from the airport! Love family!

Emma and Erika (2 great grandkids) taking a pony ride on uncle Don.

My Grandma. One of the strongest women I know. Last month she has her aortic valve replace, a triple by-pass and a pacemaker placed.

My cousin Ryan and Ben. Ben (R) is going to be a cardiac surgeon...and he just got text.

Fibers from the craft show.

A spinning wheel. Have I mentioned I am terrified for the next time mom comes out to visit? She insists she is brining a wheel and leaving it for me.

My sister's dog, Oliver.

The best picture of me and my sister!

And the best one of Mom and Beth. I really love this one. I love happiness. Can't you just feel the laughter from this picture?

So my sister, I don't know if I have mentioned, she is in law school. To Colorado standards she is middle of the road. To Ohio standards she is a flaming liberal. Her husband Mike and my Mom are FOX news junkies....Glenn Beck...Do you wonder what my sister's opinion is? Well just take a look at her face. The book she is holding is the only required reading for her entire law school career. Kidding. Totally kidding.