SMH - Thanksgiving Days

Nate up and around in the hotel near some
of his cards and notes

It's been a few days since my last post but Nate has returned to class per doctor's orders. The rigors of a grueling academic schedule, a long-distance love affair, and an active social life are a heavy load to carry by themselves when you're a firstie at West Point. But Nate must now add frequent physical therapy visits to his busy life. I do not envy him but of this I'm certain, my OS can do it.

Nate and his pretty bonita Lu in El Sal

Now at home, I am reflecting on the blessings because they abounded during our journey to New York. At times, I find myself just SMH (a term I noticed so often on facebook, I had to google it).

SMH - shaking my head and that's what I'm doing at the cornucopia of sublime treasures we experienced. If I didn't share them and attempt in some measure to take stock in the blessings, it wouldn't seem right.

The mums were spectacular! 

Weather - gentle autumn days teased us with a sense that colder temps soon awaited. During our entire stay, we enjoyed bright sun, blue skies and trees just starting to change colors. During the trip to New York, Aaron and I even spotted a rainbow in the sky. Me likey rainbows in the sky!


Traffic - what traffic? This was a big concern of mine because I'm not a great traveler and I'm even worse when my given mode of transportation isn't moving. Pretty sure this will never happen again but we cruised along the highways!

I have fallen in love with the Hudson Valley. I took this picture as we drove away from the hospital so thankful to have my boy in my car beginning his recovery. 

Destination - And get this, we hardly ever got lost! I can't make my way out of a paper bag but going from our home in North Carolina to New York and back again was practically effortless. I was convinced Aaron and I would be hopelessly directionally challenged even using the GPS but we all worked so well together!

Food - Whether it was the curry chicken salad my friend Gigi made for us, the calzones at Schades, the lunch platters at Foodies, our tummies were full of deliciousness.


Laundry - since we stayed at a friend's house for several days, I got to wash clothes. It does a mama good to do the laundry for her Soldier. Gigi's hospitality gave Aaron and I a relaxing place to chill. 

Nate chiling at Keller the night prior to surgery

Crutches - A West Point mom told me about Mobilegs and you should have seen Nate zipping along on these after surgery! We went to WalMart just two days after surgery and I had to start walking in front of him just to help the shoppers realize a guy with crutches was barreling toward them! He didn't give them time to react. Someone was going to get hurt and I didn't think it was going to be my Soldier!


Healing - ACL surgery is painful but my oldest OS was a model patient. Helping my family is a special joy to me and Nate appreciated anything we did for him which only made me want to do more. 

Homemade, hand-dipped
dark chocolate caramels
drizzled with sea salt.
Keep your grubby
hands away from them or
I am not responsible
for my actions.
Thank you. 

Friends - the prayers and loving support of many people are good medicine for the body and soul. One West Point mom made a bunch of delicious homemade caramels for her daughter's Army sports team and guess what she did? She dropped off THREE bags of it for my crew! Dark chocolate, rich caramel with a hint of sea salt...oh.my.word. Please don't ask how many I ate versus how many the patient and his brother enjoyed. All's I'm gonna say is I deserved it. Final answer. 


Another mom and her family back in NC made Nate homemade cards and caramel corn. Nate now has two homemade bookmarks from little kids who encouraged him. They are Marine kids which makes it even more fantastic! The dad drove the treats over to my house the night before we left, such thoughtfulness.

"Um, thanks Dad for the Batman briefs..."

Throughout Nate's days of recuperation, I would bring him small gifts from others. It was remarkable how each gift was perfect timing for him. Whether it was the Batman undies from his dad, the PopTarts from his grandparents, the Amazon gift card from his aunt and uncle, the cash from his grandpa or the weird plastic caterpillar from the orange hair, freckle faced youngest brother, there was a sense of love and community from all around.

And I'm not done. There are more blessings but on this perfect autumn day, I'm going to bask in these gifts. May I suggest you do the same. Not in my blessings which I pray bring you a measure of joy but on yours, they are there even if you have to look a little harder. I hope you find them today, my friends.


More soon,