Saturday, November 27, 2004
Thanksgiving
Has it really been a full week? If it's been a week, it's been full.

I left Wilmore last Friday morning around 8:30 am. Can you believe the only trouble I had roadtrip-wise was the first half hour getting out of Wilmore and the final half hour getting into Tulsa? My Yahoo!Maps directions lead me through numerous Kentucky state roads through the middle of nowhere that looped me around and dropped me right back at the corner of Harrodsburg and Man o War. I could have gotten there without Yahoo! in half the time on my own, thank you very much.

And in Tulsa, they've changed all the signage for the Tulsa exits off of 44, and I missed it and wound up deep in Broken Arrow. I just wanted to be home by then. I pulled in around 8:00 pm. So, given stops for gasoline and eats plus the time change, it was about 12 hours.

And one of the biggest reasons I cannot again live in Oklahoma is this: Toll roads. The last 200 miles of my journey--from the MO/OK stateline to Norman--cost me $7.75. And for nearly eight bucks, that stretch of road is no fancier than the previous 700 miles. It takes the phrase "highway robbery" to greater heights.

Saturday I drove another two hours to Norman, OK, home of the illustrious Oklahoma Sooners, who happen to be about 14 million college students. My brother Jason, his wife Kelly and my sister Sarah are all nursing majors at Oklahoma University. We pal'ed around for a couple of days while they all tied up loose ends at school, taking tests and finishing papers.

Holidays with the Whites means one thing: Movies. Here's a rundown of movies watched since the beginning of the week to date: Napolean Dynamite. Trekkies. Zoolander. Pulp Fiction. Love Actually. Grave of the Fireflies. Edward Scissorhands. Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Finding Neverland. Am I missing anything? Oh, there were a couple episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm in there, too. And I have no idea why I haven't been able to start my homework, yet.

Yesterday was spent at Grandma and Grandpa White's place, just our family of six plus the three grandparents. And enough food for a small country. Tomorrow will be another banquet as the White House plays host to the Dawcett clan--Kelly's folks, three siblings, brother-in-law and cute-as-a-button nephew. Family time is exciting for me.

I'm so thankful to have a family that I look forward to seeing and spending time with after months apart. And I'm so thankful for my new community of friends that I already miss and am ready to see again. So much has happened in the last year, all I can do is stand in awe at how good our God is.

posted by Peter at 1:47 AM
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