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| Thanksgiving 2009 |
Showing posts with label thanksgiving 2009. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thanksgiving 2009. Show all posts
Saturday, November 28, 2009
GT
A long, long time - some 30 years ago, I was friends with a guy named GT. George Theodore Ballance, a big kid with a round face. GT played on the offensive line for our flag football team, truly found himself in the play, and knew how to pray with great fervor.
I said goodbye to GT midway through our 8th grade year when I moved away. We reconnected on Facebook a few months ago when I found a "GT Ballance Jr" online. We exchanged pleasantries, and then he told me his dad actually was on Facebook using his wrestling name. Seemed like GT had continued to be an athlete and dynamic performer.
GT and talked and shared via messages about his son and life and beautiful wife. Just a few weeks after we started talking, his wife was killed in a car accident. Age 32. She loved the Lord, and her husband, and now I see him walking a life of faith and tears. Yesterday's trip to the mall with Jr. ended up with some fun and three breakdowns. Pretty good for him, he commented.
GT can mean something to you and me. Give Thanks. For the remarkable blessing we have that we EXPECT - the time spent with those we love. Please don't waste a moment today. Tell those you love you love them. GT.
Thanksgiving
We traveled home this Thanksgiving for the first time in years.
A year ago, Jen and I were holed up in a room in Children's, praying for Zoe. This year, we were able to show her both her mom and Dad's families. At Jen's Thanksgiving, Terry, Josh and Jen acted out scenes from "A Christmas Carol" with great vigor. The food was marvelous and better still was this family, who through it all, has insisted on being a family.
We then drove up north to Bat and Christa's. I don't think it would surprise you to know that there were three floors of activity and conversation, waves of eating. I think the two most interesting dynamics are the huge number of grandchildren who play and talk and interact without thinking of the uniqueness of their relationship; and the fact that we're all old now. I'm not. But Erin is. Also, Heidi just revealed that she is only seven years younger than David Hasselhoff, which set off a chain of comparisons.
Bat and I talked briefly at how impactful the five short years we spent in New Orleans were. All of us recall those years as foundational and a true part of our personality. And the people all recall us and Bat with love. He told me that he's just honored to have been used by God.
To be able to spend time with my dad and to fight Zoe all night. To have beautiful, remarkable young ladies who are kids like Iz and Teia. To see Kellen towering over the group, quietly iTouching. To make a mindless bunch of jokes with my brother. Christa offering 10 pies after dinner. Selah and Elise free to play with cousins. Goofing around and cutting down a 20.00 tree at the ol' tree farm. A very, very Happy Thanksgiving.
A year ago, Jen and I were holed up in a room in Children's, praying for Zoe. This year, we were able to show her both her mom and Dad's families. At Jen's Thanksgiving, Terry, Josh and Jen acted out scenes from "A Christmas Carol" with great vigor. The food was marvelous and better still was this family, who through it all, has insisted on being a family.
We then drove up north to Bat and Christa's. I don't think it would surprise you to know that there were three floors of activity and conversation, waves of eating. I think the two most interesting dynamics are the huge number of grandchildren who play and talk and interact without thinking of the uniqueness of their relationship; and the fact that we're all old now. I'm not. But Erin is. Also, Heidi just revealed that she is only seven years younger than David Hasselhoff, which set off a chain of comparisons.
Bat and I talked briefly at how impactful the five short years we spent in New Orleans were. All of us recall those years as foundational and a true part of our personality. And the people all recall us and Bat with love. He told me that he's just honored to have been used by God.
To be able to spend time with my dad and to fight Zoe all night. To have beautiful, remarkable young ladies who are kids like Iz and Teia. To see Kellen towering over the group, quietly iTouching. To make a mindless bunch of jokes with my brother. Christa offering 10 pies after dinner. Selah and Elise free to play with cousins. Goofing around and cutting down a 20.00 tree at the ol' tree farm. A very, very Happy Thanksgiving.
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