For the long haul

I can honestly say that this past Thanksgiving was the LONGEST holiday weekend I have ever experienced. Good, bad, cramped, loved, friends, family, laughter, tears, exhaustion, annoying, and finally....heart warming. All wrapped up into a few days is a bit overwhelming.

I spent The majority of the holiday in Southbury, CT where my aunt and uncle live. Its become a Thanksgiving tradition to trek up there and spend a few days. On Thanksgiving morning my sister Shelby, cousin Sean and I hit the high school track bright and early to get in a good workout before the eating and drinking began.

Note to self: Don't fool yourself into thinking that because you're good at running on a treadmill, that you will automatically be good at running outside. My lungs felt like they were going to explode! Therefore, my run was broken up into increments of run a few laps, stretch and breath, run a few laps, stretch and breath, etc.

When I was getting ready to time Shelby's sprints I asked "How do I get my lungs to adjust? This is ridiculous."

Shelby laughed and said "uh, you have to run outside ALL the time!"

"Oh." Such disappointment in my voice!

After our workout we hit up Starbucks and went back to the house to make breakfast.

The day went on...cooking, setting up....drinking...eating...drinking...walk....drinking, eating dessert, drinking....

At 9:30 pm Anna Wintour showed up. No, not the ball busting editor-in-chief of Vogue but MY AW, the ball busting yet ever so fashionable Christina. Her aunt and uncle live in the town over from where I was staying, so keeping with our Thanksgiving tradition, we entertained one another with a visit. How lucky am I? I got to squeeze in Christina time TWICE this fall!! Very lucky in deed.

****skip to Saturday morning in Pennsylvania****

Saturday morning I visited with my Grandma and naturally we spent three hours talking about her life, my life, her family history, her memories and of course, pop culture. As we were getting ready to go out to lunch her phone started ringing.

"Katie, can you grab that? It's Mrs. Morgan. She's calling to see if I'm alive," my G-Ma yelled from her room.

"Sure," I said picking up the phone...thinking to myself , uh, alive??? "Hi Mrs. Morgan," I said. "This is Katie, my grandma is putting her shoes on."

"Oh! Hello Katie. How are you? So nice that you're over there. Is she OK? I got worried when she didn't call at 11:00," Mrs. Morgan's happy voice floated through the phone.

"she's alive and kickin! We're headed out to lunch."

I chatted with Mrs. Morgan for a few minutes about Washington and my job, and then put G-Ma on to talk.

It turns out that every morning at 11:00 a phone chain starts between G-Ma and a few of her friends. They check to make sure everyone is OK. With most of them living on their own still you just never know if someone has fallen, hurt themselves, or can't get out of bed. I think it's a wonderful thing.....these lovely ladies are still kicking and doing well, and are certainly friends for the long haul.