Got to go home to Tooele and see the Mom and Dad and Sister for a few days. Thus getting the only thing I really wanted for Christmas: to make it safely over South Pass. Freakin awesome. I feel like my good friend, Adrienne Hanrahan, (AKA the little redheaded gal I been kinda in love with for the past year) said it best:
I think there is a multitude of buttons in our brain. And of these buttons one of them is named “The Home Button”. And with “The Home Button” comes the “Eat Junk Food” and “Don’t Sleep” buttons.
Ahhh. Home.
Family is one of them things I take for granted way, way, too much. I always roll my eyes at the old adage, "blood is thicker than water" but goshdangit if those words have not rung ridiculously true over the past year.
I hope with all my heart you Phisters know how much gratitude I have for you guys taking this little punk-a-washed-up-wannabe-cowpunk-who-talks-too-much-with-his-foul-mouth kid into your home...
I was in a tight spot. I was in denial of being in said tight spot. I was prideful and scared. I got an invite to a Thanksgiving dinner in Riverton, Wyoming to hang out with some cousins I barely knew.
I didn't want to go.
Thank The Lord or Buddha or Muhammed or Tom Cruise or The Flying Spaghetti Monster I did. Not to get any kind of specifically spiritual, but that Thanksgiving weekend, I don't know what it was, but I felt some kind of seriously good spiritual JuJu. It was this crazy awesome electric-blanket-you-turn-on-a-few-minutes-before-you-go-to-bed-so-its-nice-and-warm-when-you-crawl-in type of feeling. It was safety. It was love.
DANG It's gettin mushy up in here. So before the strange salty liquid in eyeballs blurs my vision any more, lemme say this: Dan, Lorri, Hope, if you're reading this- thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you to pieces.
I could go on and on about how much I love and respect my father and his far-out ideas and his enormous heart, and how I love that fact that I can give him crap bout bein a pudgy old bleeding heart treehugger, and he,without missing a beat, will throw it right back at me, noting the equal amounts of my quirky shortcomings. At the end of the day, he is my favorite person in the word to talk to.
How my dear, sweet, constantly-worried Mother, who, if she isn't digging around in my ear with a Q-tip, (she's slightly obsessed with making sure everyone is ear wax free) will be found repeatedly hugging me for no apparent reason and squeezing and staring at my hands, because they are her Father's hands (seriously, me and Reed have the same bippin hands...aside from the fact that his are way more manly and calloused and scarred up than mine can ever dream of becoming). I keep entertaining the idea of getting the classic "MOM" in the heart tattoo... It would be fun cause it would kinda freak her out, but I know it would also totally make her smile (plus I totally know she's secretly super jealous of all my tats). I like Lorri. She's a good 'un.
Hopie Girl is one of the raddest chicks I know. It's strange, when I moved out, she was like 11 or 12. Just this little kid. I always wanted to be that big brother who stood at the door, sharpening my over-sized Crocodile Dundee knife, putting the fear of God into all the boys that came to pick her up for a date or whatever. But I never got that chance. I am so very,very thankful she has turned out to be such a good kid. Lord knows I didn't set the best example, and I fear if she woulda pulled the same kind of crap I did, it mighta killed my poor mother. Thanks for bein awesome, Sis.
Special shoutout to my boy Matthew. You rock my socks off, Sir. Thank you for lightin the fire in my belly. I love you heaps and scads.
Holy crap, guys, all y'all are just bippin awesome and I gots mad love for yous dudes.
So now that I have officially gushed and mushed this here blog post to an almost unrecognizable point, I shall try my best to wrap it up:
I've been here in the great state of Wyoming for almost a year now. It's been absolutely awesome. I love the bippin bip right outta this little college. I have a passion for what I'm learning that grows bigger, stronger and more gnarly every day. Makes me all excited and jittery and what not.
Life is good (It's kind of a profound statement when said sincerely) Life is good.
Wishing you all a safe and happy transition to 2011.
-A.W. Spoon
10 comments:
When I say all y'all, I mean all y'all. Wright, Pugh, Rydman, Thulin, Crook, everybody else I might forget because it's a ridiculous hour of a Thursday morning. Y'all know who y'all are. It's been a great time getting to know every one of you. Gushy, Mushy, Smooshy, make-you-feel-uncomfortable-y love.
A son to be proud of, grateful for, amazed at. . .
An extended family with incredible hearts, easy laughs, serious chops. . .
A 2010 I'd rather not repeat (losing Lorri's beautiful mom, my work instabilities and depressions) until I think about all the joys and lessons that have come along with it.
Thank you, everyone! The KidsAREAllWright.
Ahh that's really nice Alex. That's what family is all about. By the way, it's ok to be mushy once in a while. :)
Nice thing to read to close out the old year. Pretty good year-- could use a better one. A bright star of the year has been getting to know my Spoony cousins a bit better. It's been good having you around Alex. Almost as good as a Mexican Coke. Remember when you took a special trip to buy me a Coke because you misunderstood my meaning about not having Coke for a week? (I was at Phisters for that time and mentioned that I hadn't had a Coke in a week and I was going to blog about it- I meant blog about my great week at the Phisters, not the Coke). But my dear cousin heard that and figured it was an emergency and went to town and bought me a Coke (a Mexican one to boot). I have to admit- it was a really good Coke. Good times. Good family.
Never did write that blog.
Uh... what's a Mexican Coke? And do they have Mexican Diet Cokes we can hit our son up to go fetch for us?
A diet Mexican Coke would defeat the purpose of a Mexican Coke. You see, in Mexico, they still use pure cane sugar instead of High fructose corn syrup to sweeten their Cokes. This makes for a better tasting coke. Besides that, they package them in the old timey glass bottles which also adds to the charm and makes your cokes taste better. I have no idea what they sweeten Diet Mexican Cokes with.
In Puerto Vallarta they had Mexican cokes in red aluminum (sp) Christmas cans and they tasted great. Not that I had any...hahahee. Too bad I still don't have my airplane and I could take a run down there and bring back a load... as per..Burt and his buddy and dog in "Smokey and the Bandit" and be looking out for Buford T. Justice along the way. But who would be my "blocker"? Any takers?
I ment to say (when I got carried away by the Mexican Coke thing) nice post, Spoon. Amazing depth of thought and interspection (is that a word?) from you. I was a little suprised and happy. A bippin bip and gnarly new year to you.
Absolutely loved reading this post, Alex. We love you so much and are so glad you came to live with us. I miss our long talks in the kitchen when you'd let your old cousin vent a little about things. You always had a great listening ear. I'm so glad you love CWC so much. We're proud of you and you're accomplishments and growth.
You summed up your awesome family just right. They are amazing people and we're all lucky to know you Spoons.
Thanks for being all gushy and mushy. Real men aren't afraid to express themselves and showing gratitude is one of the best traits of humanity, I believe. Love you lots!
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