Book of D: Familial Gathering and a Chill Weekend

Today, my sis J, her hubby, daughter (whom I consider my daughter), and I attended the early Thanksgiving Day celebration with our late Mom's family here in Midland. My cousins are the children of my favorite aunt, whom was my Mom's favorite sister on their Mother's side of the family. Confusing, I know. My cousin Stella lives in Midland (where Josie and I live). In fact, we three don't live very far from one another. Stella rented the Girl Scouts (GS) Center in Midland for the nice occasion. It was a pretty nice establishment.

(L2R): Jabier, Alex, Josie, Dora

Overall, the event was lovely, and the food was delicious and plentiful. My cousins hit a homerun. It was really nice to see my cousins after so many years. Most of us had not seen each other since my Mom's funeral eleven years ago. My aunt J (my fav aunt) was unable to attend the dinner; she had a personal issue to tend to, so her and my other cousins from Ulysses, KS were not able to drive down to spend the day with us all. 

I was proud of myself for attending if I must be honest. Since covid, I have been somewhat of an introvert. I have clinically diagnosed OCD and anxiety, so being around so many people, related or not, is sometimes a struggle for me. Plus, I lost hearing in my left ear back in 1996, so that hearing condition just adds to the stress and anxiety that being around crowds induces. Not being able to properly hear conversations is not the only issue caused by hearing loss, the other negative obstacle is that I end up with a loud ringing in my ear when I am around too many people. It is not Tinnitus - it's more like otosclerosis. According to specialists/doctors, otosclerosis can be treated with a hearing aid, but surgery is often required. I don't want surgery. Anyway, getting out and being around large crowds makes me uneasy, but today, I decided that I was not going to disappoint my sister or my cousin since I had already given my word that I would attend the family celebration. 

Saldivar Cousins (L2R):
Dora, Josie, Annette,
Stella, JR, Rachel, Ruby

My cousins are wonderful. They are my favorite cousins because they have always made my family and I feel welcomed and loved. They are not pretentious whatsoever. Rich or poor, they are all modest and unassuming. Plus, they adored my Mom and respected her and pampered her whenever she visited with them. That, my friends, goes a very long way in my book, per se. Moreover, when I arrived at the GS Center, my cousins asked about my wife. I explained that she was unable to attend. It was so liberating to be so open about my relationship. They even asked how long we had been "married" - to which I answered, 25 years next March. They were all talking about how long they had been married, so it was refreshing to have been included. They asked if my wife and I had plans to celebrate the 25 years, and I said that we hope to vacation in Costa Rica or Alaska. I wish my wife could have attended, but I forgot that the gathering was today, so when my sis and her family had already arrived at the GS center, my sis texted me and asked if we were still planning on attending. I said yes, then I had to make a mad dash to get ready. My wife wanted to stay home and relax. I did not blame her for not being in the mood to get up and get ready so quickly. She has been traveling a lot for work to train her employees on new policies and procedures with DPS; therefore, I was cool with her decision to stay home. 

I am grateful that I have had a really good weekend. After the last two weeks of ups and downs at work, I was ready for this weekend. Saturday was spent just mellowing out and binge watching season 5 of The Crown, followed by Ŧexas Ŧech Red Raider football. They beat Iowa St. and became "bowl eligible!" Yeah, buddy . . . #WreckEm! Sunday, my spouse and I slept in a little. I woke up first, made coffee, fed my late, beautiful Caty's clowder. I was so happy to see that all the cats (which includes four kittens) made it through the frigid night. I made a shelter for them after conducting much research about how to prepare adequate cover for feral cats during cold weather. I made brunch for my honey and myself, then we settled in to watch the 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which we missed last night on HBO since we decided to watch A Christmas Story Christmas - after our Red Raiders won their game. Wow. Seeing it in writing makes me worry that we watched too much tele. LOL. It's all good. We actually did a lot of things aside from watching t.v. this weekend. After the family gathering, I went to buy items for our family Thanksgiving Day celebration in Big Spring this Thursday. I will be making the ham, so off to HEB I went to get the ham and other items. Speaking of actual Thanksgiving Day, it has been much too long since my sisters, their respective families, and I have gotten together to celebrate Thanksgiving. Thanks, covid. So, we are all looking forward to just being together. We're celebrating at my sis Eva's beautiful new home. Yay!