2. Glad that each girl took turns doing the princess wave. Because...why not?
3. Glad for just hangin' out, enjoying simple pleasures. And taking too many pictures.
4. Glad for "James Dean". Seeing this bravado is such a blessing given his self-esteem licking of late.
5. Super glad for a same-aged 2nd cousin-once-removed (?) to come play at her grandma's (my great aunt's house) for a sleep-over with Drama girl. They are not quite one month apart in age.
6. Glad for Great Aunt D., a wonderfully supportive friend to Grum. She always hosts us when we come to Iowa, and seems so glad to do it. I know we must tire her out, but after raising 4 kids, and having 6 grandkids to run after, I suppose it's all in a day's work for her. She and Grum are 10 years apart. On the table, you can see the skeins of yarn which Aunt D. painstakingly started and re-started cro-hooking for me. Cro-hooking is like a crochet/knit hybrid; you use 2 different colors for a reversible effect. Ha! I never got past trying to get the 2 colors on correctly! :)
7. Grateful for patience. Though I don't have any. Someone would be patient with her son's umpteenth screwy-faced picture. Oh, well. I guess he's 12.
8. Iowa, beautiful Iowa. You know, I was never glad about being from here as a child. Colorado (and certainly, WA) are much flashier than quiet, corn-fed Iowa. Truth is, though, because the land is so rich and the crops so valuable, it's never going to be as hyper-developed as other less agricultural places. That suits me just fine. A silo in the distance. Corn fields abutted to my Aunt's house (in the middle of Ames, no less). A place where simplicity, family values, and good old fashioned Friday night football games are heralded with more pomp and circumstance than the best of the pros. Yeah, I'm glad for Iowa.
SDG,
Gretchen
