3rd Letter

Dear Friend,

Have I ever told you how beautiful frienship is? It would be impossible to describe, but I'll try. Friendship is the one thing in the world that can make you feel like you're not alone. No matter how hard your life is at the time, having a friend who cares about you is sometimes all you need to make it through another day. Friendship is the warm embrace after facing the cold world, and the light at the end of the tunnel that makes you push a little bit harder to get to the end.

So, as you know, I'm going through a lot of changes right now, and it's making me think about life and how some people live their lives and talk about the "glory days". Most of the time when I hear that term I think of a middle aged man going through a mid-life crisis and talking about how great it was when he played high school ball. And more than anything, I do not want to be like that middle aged man. I want all of my days to be my "glory days". I think that basing your life's happiness on a few years in your past is a waste. Every day should be spent as if it was a part of your glory days. And that's why I'm making the life changes that I am right now. Because I want to look back and realize that I did everything in my power to do what makes me happy, and have no regrets about it.

The holidays are coming up. I'm not a big fan of Thanksgiving, but I sure as hell am glad for Thanksgiving break. The holidays are always a weird time for me. As you know, my family is anything but normal, and yet we always try to give off this illusion that we are. I always spend small holidays like Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family, which means going over to my grandparent's house and dealing with the whole big "to do". Every year we have the same schedule on how we do things at my grandparent's house. We arrive at least 2 hours before the food is even done cooking, because it's rude to show up right before eating, even though my aunt's apparently don't live by these same guidlines. Then we sit around and switch between scanning the newspaper for shopping sales, flipping between the parade and football, and trying to offer help to grammiese, who never wanted help to begin with. And let me tell you, grammiese is one woman who has to have things a very specific way. The dining room table is always immaculate, complete with the fine china and name cards on each plate, even though the seating chart has not changed in well over 4 years. Every person has a wine glass, because it is inappropriate to bring regular glasses to well set dining room table, so my younger sisters are forced to drink soda out of delicate glasses under the eagle eye of my grammiese. And of course, the menu for each holiday meal never changes because grammiese believes in structure. Thanksgiving consists of turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and rolls. Christmas is pot roast, cranberries, corn, mashed potatoes and rolls. And New Year's Day dinner has honey baked ham, peas, baked potatoes and rolls. Sometimes I wish grammiese would shake it up a little, just to throw the whole family off. Because it's not like we don't throw her for a loop every once in awhile. Whether it be me bringing a new boyfriend along, one, or both of my aunt's showing up, or someone NOT cussing at the dinner table. But I think it's my grandma's desire for structure, appearances and consistancy is what keeps the family together. Yes, we are all a little bit too opinionated and too loud, but in the end, it's my grandma's structure and calm that brings us all together to realize just how lucky we are to have her and each other.

Sincerely,
Me