The Only Cool Thanksigving

Thanksgiving has always been a boring holiday in my book. You eat strange food (I don't know anyone who eats turkey, dressing, and cranberry nastiness on a regular basis!) and if you already do your best to be grateful each day of your life, the whole thing feels kinda cheesy. Plus, when you eat the food...the holiday is over. Blah. The end. El fin.

In my lifespan, there's only been one Thanksgiving that wasn't boring. No lameness there. It was cool. It was the last Thanksgiving that Granny (my mom's mom) cooked us dinner before she went to be in Glory.

It was the Thanksgiving that may have been Granny's last, but it was the first Thanksgiving for two immigrants from Mexico we welcomed into our home that year.

Ya see, it was my senior year of high school, and my best friend was this amazing girl from Mexico named Magaly. To make a long story short, she wanted to learn English, I wanted to learn Spanish-and the rest was history. Amigas por siempre!

Being Mexican, Magaly had never celebrated Thanksgiving before. When Granny heard this, she declared in her slow Texas drawl "Well we need to fix that! Bring that little girl over my house!"

When I told Magaly the news, she was stoked! We invited her brother Victor, too and he jumped at the chance to go. Our whole family was thrilled at our "Mexican/American" Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving came, and Granny was so proud to host the first Thanksgiving Magaly and Victor experienced. Like me, she loved other cultures and hospitality. I'm glad her last Thanksgiving on earth got to be her happiest.

That friendship I built with Magaly and her family was the beginning of one of my biggest passions in life, which is welcoming and serving immigrants to the United States of America. Now I'm an ESL teacher and aspire to one day serve in a ministry or non-profit that welcomes these people to this great country.

Yep, Granny's legacy lives on in me. Andy and I were chatting about all of the cool people from all around the world we'll invite into our home for Thanksgiving! The Hazeltons will have the ONLY cool Thanksgiving on the block!

Thanks for the idea, Granny!

Granny, Papa, and I today :)

A Trail of a Bad Events Train

A train of bad events seem to trail together. That's what this week was, at least.

I turned in my final grades for the trimester on Monday, and um....let's just say that I'm surviving and healing from my first angry parent attack. I grew up in a family of teachers, and I heard horror stories about the untamable angry parent. I thought "Oh blah blah blah just deal with it!"

Yeah, right. You can't just "deal" with something that haunts you. You always feel nervous in your stomach. You cry regularly. You question your desire and qualifications to teach. According to Mom (who's taught for nearly 30 years)....."you will quickly grow a tough skin." Tough skin?! I'm a ginger. I'm a physical ginger. And I'm a teacher ginger. That makes no sense. But see, gingers can't handle bad things happening to our skin...like I'm sensitive to heat and cold more than most people...and thus, I am a teacher ginger too....get it?! I lack tough skin!

But no matter what Angry Padre (padre=parent in Spanish) does to me....I still had a conference to look forward to! Yep, the school was sending their newbie teacher to the American Council for Teaching Foreign Language World Expo 2013 in Orlando!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Thursday, I eagerly awaited my flight with Silver Airways. The flight would take off at 2. I got there an hour and a half early. I sat at Terminal A-4 and made friends with my fellow passengers. They were probably the coolest part of my day. I met everyone from a precious seamstress grandma in her 70's who proudly "did NOT own a computer!" to a young man from Alaska who had been serving a three year jail term in Tallahassee, was just released THAT day and discussed with me the unknown world of jail and the hopes he had for his life as a free man.

Our flight was delayed until 3:30, so I snagged a sketchy airport sandwich at the cafeteria.

I came back. Our flight was THEN pushed back to an "unknown hour" due to a "maintenance issue."

I got antsy. I sat and texted my dear fiancé Andy. I called a friend. I even gave in and spent $4 on a rip-off Starbucks drink. By this point, it was 6 PM...and after nearly six hours of being trapped in a terminal......I had to pottyyyyyy.

When I came back from the bano, Precious Grandma told me "Our flight has been cancelled."

CANCELLED?!?!

We all stormed the Silver Airways ticket counter. The best they could for me was to put me up in Days Inn that night, give me a meal voucher, and send me on another flight to Orlando that would get there....at 2 PM. And the Expo started at 8 AM. By the time I'd take a taxi from the airport, get checked in, and get to the conference, it would have been over for that day.

I sadly called my principal,  who is honestly one of the nicest and smartest guys I've ever met. We looked up other airlines tickets together, but nothing was really available for Friday. Since we didn't want to take another chance with this suspicious airline....we decided to get a refund for my flight and hotel and cancel the conference.

He definitely made the right call-and even told me to not come into school on Friday since we already had a sub lined up and I needed to rest. But that didn't change how hungry, tired, angry and disappointed I felt Thursday night. That disappointment stuck with me Friday and is still with me now as I just saw some Facebook pictures of some colleagues who went to the Expo.

And there are still issues to be resolved with Angry Padre.......
********************************************************************************
Now you're wondering how this related to marriage/engagement.

Well here's my thing. So many times when we're single, we think about how much better our life will be when we have someone.

But you still have the Angry Padre's in your life.

Your flights will still get cancelled after being stranded in an airport for six hours...

And you will miss that conference you were nerding out about.

Life's frustrations stay the same. You will still fall. But the difference? You have someone there to help you up.

After the Angry Padre mess began, Andy cheered me up. He gave me a shoulder to cry on, encouraging words, prayer, and even took me on a date night for Mexican food! That's all I need right there!

When my flight was cancelled, Andy rushed to the airport to help me figure out what to do next. He then took me home and listened to me vent and cry...after we made a stop for Chinese take-out. And to make up for the conference? Guess who is leaving the football game early to take me to see Catching Fire so I still get to do something cool this weekend?!


Having someone in your life doesn't change life, but two people change the way you handle life. They don't change the trail of the bad of event train, but they can give you the strength to handle the blow. Especially if they are as awesome as Andy!

"Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. ¹⁰ If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. ¹¹ Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? ¹² A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer." Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 a

L-o-v-e is to G-i-v-e

My lifelong friend, as in we were friends while we were both fetus in our mothers' wombs, Carissa, just got hitched in September to her Marine man! Yay for Mrs. Near, who was a GORGEOUS bride!

As I bawled like the babies we once were together while Carissa was all grown up and said her vows and such while Andy cracked up at the emotion mess of me, the pastor we also grew up with-Bro. Edsel, who is full of wisdom, told Carissa and her new Marine hubby some wise, wise, wise words:

"The world will tell you that marriage is all about l-o-v-e. But God calls the recipe for marriage as another four letter word, which is g-i-v-e."

Like Bro. Edsel's words often did, they came to haunt me (in a good way) this afternoon when all I wanted to do was take a nap after doing a bunch of grading and planning for my students. But I knew Andy would be coming over, and since he has his PhD preliminary exam on Monday, I know he would be stressed. So even though I was tired, I started cooking BBQ beef for dinner. I changed from my ratty Orphan's Heart shirt to a mint green dress I knew he liked. I even put on some Bath and Body so I wouldn't smell like I was tired from a long week of teaching, although I was!

But that wasn't all. Speaking of four letter words, I h-a-t-e working out, but I know Andy adores it. So I decided to even agree to go to the gym with Andy for a while after dinner.

I was excited about surprising Andy, but when he opened the door I was the one who would be surprised-Andy smiled and gave me a luxurious bouquet of a dozen red roses and baby's breath-my favorite :) And we spent the rest of the evening happy, having learned that loving someone is really giving.

Loving is giving, be it a bouquet of roses or your last fry in your Chick-fil-A kids meal :)

P.S. We also believe to love God is to give to God, and so we're looking for people to join us in giving to the children's malnutrition center I interned at in San Juan, Guatemala this year for Christmas instead of giving your loved one's presents. We also ask for your prayers as we prepare financially and spiritually for a return trip to the malnutrition center in Guatemala so we can give to those babies there who need our love. If you're interested in either one of these things, contact me!