Way overdue Thanksgiving update

View behind the house.

Steve O. and Trixie at Cross Junction.

I am thankful for so many things. I am actually one of those crazy people that think about the things I am thankful for all year long, everyday practically, so I love Thanksgiving when I don't feel like such an odd ball. Everyone is thankful on Thanksgiving, right? I mean after the gravy burns and your drunk Uncle drops by and you find the giblet bag inside the turkey you thought was perfectly cooked and then there is always that one family member who just wants to pick a fight and someone ends up screaming..."Well! Happy F- ing Thanksgiving!". I mean after all that stuff when you have a moment to look around and appreciate how much worse it could actually be. None of that stuff has really happened to me but a girl can dream, can't she?

Anyway, like I was saying, I am Thankful for so many things.

(forgive me for the length of this post and for it getting so personal but I know many people wanted the whole story)

This Thanksgiving I returned to a beautiful home just outside of Winchester Va.

Let me start at the beginning.

About 8 years ago I met a guy named Steve O. ( I will keep this short) we dated a couple years and broke up. We got along great but the timing was all wrong.

Over the past 6 years I dated a few people, Some where very nice and are still good friends and some, well one, not so nice. Needless to say I never found anyone else like Steve O.

Last year we saw each other at a Christmas party given by a mutual friend of ours - a couple we had introduced years before and are now married with kids. I think they were being a little sneaky and trying to get us both in the same room together since we were both single - just to see what would happen. Maybe we were the "entertainment" of the evening.

Their planned worked and I am thankful to them for having the "party". The way I see it they owed us anyway, we had introduced them all those years ago - they were just returning the favor.

So I returned to Steve's parents house this year for Thanksgiving. I actually got a little choked up as we drove down the long drive way to their beautiful log cabin home on the side of the mountain. I had so many fond memories there but didn't think I would ever be returning. Thanksgiving was great. I have always loved his family and was so happy to be with everyone. Ma even joined us and brought her yummy sweet potato souffle.

OK - so I don't bore you with any little details I will skip to the best part of that weekend. And even though we went to the Wizards / Hawks game and got to see my brother - which would be a highlight in any ones book - that was not the best part of the weekend!

Sunday night after Thanksgiving we drove down the dirt road from his parents house to the cabin his great grandfather had built. I couldn't wait to see it again. We had great times there including a run in with the biggest black snake I had ever seen outside of a book - but that is a story for a different time.

Shoot - I really was trying to make this short.

So we are in his Grandfathers cabin and I am looking around remembering things and making sure the snake was no longer there - Steve started saying really sweet things to me and then he went down to tie his shoe - or so I thought. I see him searching in different pockets for something, I wasn't paying all that much attention to it. Then he proposed!! - and it all happened so fast it is kind of a blurr. I was shocked and thrilled and of course I said yes.

So that is the short version.

I am Thankful for:

The wonderful community of close friends I have landed in.

My three great parents, Ma who is funny and sweet, Pop who is patient and kind, and Kitty who is creative and caring.

The opportunity to do what I love with people who I am constantly learning from and growing with.

An amazing BFF who never seems to get tired of listening to me.

And Steve O. who makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world everyday.

really, who could ask for anything more.