Thankful people

Most of the time, I just blog straightforwardly about what went on during the week. But sometimes I like to take a theme and thereby mention things that went on in the week. And since it was Thanksgiving, it only seems proper that my topic be thankfulness.

I am thankful that I live in Utah. People tend to hate on Utah, but it is a wonderful state. And it's not Nevada, which is just barren desert, as I got to see yet again this week as I rode through it with my parents on our way to California. Utah Territory originally included most of Nevada, but I'm glad that as it got whittled down, we lost Nevada. Utah has five national parks; Nevada only has one. Utah is the second driest state, but Nevada is the first. Utah has the largest lake this side of the Mississippi. The Utah haters can go elsewhere, but it would be better if they stuck around and realized what a great (or "pretty, great") state this is.

I am thankful that I have a good family. I look at other families, and I think, "Yeah, I'm glad I'm not in your family." We are a happy, functional family.

I am thankful that while I don't have any children of my own (and yet people in horrible dysfunctional families do have them, even though they are going to ruin their kids' lives), I get to be an uncle. I know my niece Allie, 11, appreciates having me around. But my nephews live in California, so I don't get to see them much. After this trip, I think they appreciate me too, although I don't think that's always been the case. I didn't get satisfactory pictures of all of them this trip, unfortunately.

Preston is 10 and he is a fun kid. I haven't heard him say this himself, but apparently he has said he wants to be like me, since I'm not married, and he got glasses similar to mine, and he broke his arm (his dad broke my arm twice).

Franklin is 6, but he is an old 6-year-old, since he will be 7 in January. He is a great kid, and both he and Preston have improved dramatically as far as behavior goes. He used to be known for having screaming fits, but I haven't heard him scream since this summer, and I haven't seen him have a full-on fit since December 30 last year. We went to Six Flags on Friday, and I went on a train ride with him. It was nice to have some one-on-one time with him, even though he's quiet like me.

Nathaniel is an old 4-year-old. When we showed up on Wednesday, he talked my ear off, telling me all about Super Smash Bros. He has some major speech problems (he voices many voiceless consonants, and all l's and r's and most clusters with those letters come out as w's), but I think he's gotten a little better since we saw him in July. For example, he now says "fifty" instead of "wifty."

He seemed most attached to me, so I got to spend some time with him, making sure he was safe climbing all over everything at the playground.

In all my time with him, I got to have some interesting conversations. I asked him what his full name was. He said, "Nathaniel Melville," and I said, "Or is it Nathaniel Qi-en Melville?" to which he responded, "That's a totally stupid name!" At one point I was wearing a large frisbee around my neck (to avoid holding it), and he told me my shadow looked like a clown. I asked him if he liked clowns, and he said, "No! Why would you ask that!?" This summer, he would talk about his 399 moms, so I asked him how many moms he had. His number has gone down: "Two, because Grandma is one of Daddy's moms." He does, however, still have some imagination, as he told me about calling his dad by his full name when his dad was a kid and he was a baby. At one point I was playing Clue with them, and he told me he could see through my cards. My favorite thing he said, however, was when we were coming back from Six Flags. Someone asked what time it was, so I said "7:05," pronounced "seven oh five." Qi-en said, "You mean seven zero five, because o is a letter."

I am thankful for my current flexible job and my boss, who let me take work off to go to California. I'm thankful for my chosen profession as an editor, because it doesn't require odd hours or stressful nights--at least it hasn't yet. I would hate to be a snowplow driver, as we saw driving through Nevada today, because then you have to be ready to work at any time.

I am thankful that I got to serve a mission. Today (November 30) is the five-year anniversary of my homecoming. (By homecoming, I mean the day I came home, not when I gave my talk.) It blows my mind that it's been that long. I have changed a lot in the last five years, but my mission served as a catalyst for the changes that have happened since the time it ended. It may very well be the most influential period of my life. The Christmas season makes me reflect back on times associated with it--my brief time in the MTC and my infant days in the field, the time spent in my favorite area with my favorite companion, and the month immediately after I got back, when I was incredibly awkward but trying to adjust and spending time with Preston and baby Franklin, he having been born while I was gone.

And finally, I am thankful for Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday. It's a simple holiday, so you don't have to stress too much. You have to make food and sometimes host guests, but you don't have to worry about buying presents, going to tons of parties, and things like that. And leftover turkey and cranberry sauce is very comforting. Sometimes the Christmas season gets me down, for reasons I can't usually explain, but Thanksgiving doesn't get me down.