Home

Back in August, just after I finished my internship and about a week before the fall semester began, I found myself very homesick but without the means of fixing it. I couldn't go home - I don't remember why, because I wasn't employed or studying - and it sucked. So I coped by booking flights home for fall break in October and a quick trip before Thanksgiving in Iowa.

Christian in my running headband. He's the only 18 year old on the planet who always gets his knee in the picture.

As it turns out, the latter was a little short-sighted. After I got my syllabi in September, I realized that my flight home on Friday would mean I had to skip class on Tuesday. I was a little panicky, but that mistake was SUCH a Godwink because those few days at home were gold.

Coldstone date with my favorite girlies

I spent Saturday watching football with my dad and playing with the dog (I have a fantastic video of her on my phone, and when I can figure out how to get the stupid thing to upload I'll post it here), and Sunday I had a lady date with the S girls. We had some frozen goodies and then walked around the CSU campus for a bit. The littlest was in fine form, even though it was pretty cold:

Tuesday morning I flew to Des Moines for Thanksgiving with Andrew's family. His mom is the middle of nine siblings, and all of her brothers and sisters - and almost all of their families - were together in Ames (most of us under one roof!). There are so many things I could say about this adventure, but my best takeaways are thus:

a) home isn't just where I grew up. Being at Andrew's grandpa's house in Ames felt exactly like being at my grandparents' old house in Rapid City, which is just as comfortable and wonderful as my house. I felt so loved and welcomed - so at home. And I feel like that in the S family's house, too. Home isn't a place, it's people.

b) maybe one of the best things about getting married is knowing that all of those people - Andrew's cousins, aunts, uncles, their kids' kids - will be my family! I get to keep these guys forever and that makes me feel so damn lucky. Andrew's cousins, especially the ones right around our age, are some of my favorite people in the world. It's going to be unbelievably fun for me when they get to meet my cousins in June. And we'll all grow up together. I don't know what I did to deserve these blessings, but man...they are so rich.