Thanksgiving; funnest three days of my life

Monday morning--back to the grind. I am at work, procrastinating homework just long enough to blog. (I tutor students and if there isn't one at the moment, I am free to be on the computer.)

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with 6 of my kids; the four at home and Richard and Alden and their families. The two of them are nine people now, ten if you count Dallas, the Beagle puppy (AesaLina's baby) who came for Thanksgiving dinner, too :-) My grandchildren are the cutest and the sweetest and pretty smart, too. I know everyone thinks that about their own grandchildren. But they really are :-) I LOVE them!

Then in the afternoon, Melody, Joy and I went to the airport to pick up Keith Chandler. That began the funnest three days of my life. I am a very private person so I won't be writing a bunch of details--even this is hard for me. But my kids love him and he fits right in. My word for it is "familiar" and his is "natural." I took him to the airport last night and he has gone home to Missouri, which will allow me to recover from too much smiling and laughing :-) That was not a joke. I do need to recover :-)

Okay, I know you want to know. Well, some of you. He asked me to marry him. I said yes, more enthusiastically than it comes out in this writing. There's no timetable because a few details need to be worked out. He has to move to Utah for one thing. And we plan to get married in the temple so there are a few details there that make it impossible to know the date right now.

And now, I MUST concentrate on homework which has gotten the short shrift for the last several weeks. Three more semesters! I can do it!

rose-colored glasses

I went to bed last night at 8 pm because I've been so tired lately. Joy and Sam came in and out of my room though to ask important questions for which only a mom will do like, "Can I get on the computer? Melody won't let me use the power cord." And "Can I use the computer now? Joy's on it." Being the warm, caring mom that I am, I handed out helpful answers like, "Have you brushed your teeth? It's bedtime. And shut my door all the way when you go out." They know I love them. :-)

I'm keeping my head above water at school but just barely. It's starting to feel like work. Every time this happens though, the end of the semester looms. The class average on the first half of the last accounting test was 60%. I got 76%. I think that's the lowest I've ever scored on anything. All I have to do is stay at the front of the bell curve though which I usually manage.

So I've been single for a couple of years, as most of you know. The entire time, I've prayed to be invisible to anyone who is not right for me. Anytime someone appeared on the scene who seemed interested, I've prayed, "If I need to be protected from this person, please protect me." In every case, it would become obvious within about 24 hrs that my prayer worked :-)

Until recently. He and I have known each other for about 16 years but only had a real conversation a few months ago. I already knew that he shares my religious convictions, has integrity, and is kind and hard-working. What I didn't know is that he is a writer, articulate and intelligent, more in my league that way than...(cough) other people. With whom I may or may not once have been associated. And he makes me laugh. This might be a small thing to some people but for me it's right below breathing on my life's priority list. We're the same age. He would do anything for me and worships the ground I walk on. I think the rose-colored glasses he views me with are extra-strength. We all have our faults you know. :-) But he's fair. He views everyone that generously. I think of myself as more of a realist which is just code for, 'I'm not that good.' He does live 2 states away. He's coming to visit at Thanksgiving. I'll let you know how it goes.

His name is Keith. If you were ever in the Lebanon Ward, I do mean that Keith. I am as surprised as anyone that it worked out this way.