I’m Thankful I Rock At Poker

Happy Thanksgiving, ya’ll. I have a lot to be thankful for.

Yesterday my dad and I baked cookies. These cookies, straight from the Pioneer Woman. There were three substitutions though. We didn’t have actual milk chocolate so the cookies became white chocolate chip cookies. And we didn’t have margarine so I just put in extra butter. And no flax seed because we didn’t have that either. I am nothing if not flexible.

I can also kick serious ass at poker. Apparently, I’m good at it. Or I was just really ridiculously lucky the first third time I played. The first time I ever played poker was on a Church ski trip. With poker chips. Only no money was actually bet because I promise we’re good people. Either way, I did really well when I played two days ago with some old friends.

It’s funny being back home. It makes me feel kind of like I’m still in high school, especially when I see my old friends. It’s strange how much we’ve both changed and stayed the same. And hanging out with three straight boys was pretty fun. We joked around a lot and I kicked their asses in poker. We originally agreed to play for money but somehow I never got any out of it. Oh well. It was stil nice to be around boys who like girls, even though I’ve known them for six seven eight years. We’ve been through the awkward years together. One of them was my first ever boyfriend. Who I never actually broke up with. Oops. That’s the second boyfriend I’ve never broken up with, too. I also never ended it with another boy. Man I suck at break ups.

These boys I hung out with and I have gone through tons together. We’ve endured insane Spanish teachers, the attacks of Karen, and multiple crushes. I’ve never been the kind of girl who actually hangs out with girls, apart from that blip in 7th grade, and these boys were my best friends in high school.

Apart from when I was really little and lived in Wisconsin (oh yeah, I was totally Laura Ingalls-Wilder out there), this is the first time I’ve ever really had girl friends. But man, am I glad I have them.

The first is the lovely Rina. I’m pretty sure she was one of the first friends I made in college, although Orientation Week has pretty much become a blur. We’ve had so many fantastic adventures. Most of which I intelligently summed up here.

There’s also one of my newer friends but an amazing one nonetheless, a fabulous RA with whom I’ve had many an adventure I haven’t written about because I don’t want to give my brother a heart attack. We’ve always been good but together we’re basically a black cat that lands on its feet.

And Miss Michelle, whom I haven’t seen since God knows when because we tried to plan time to hang out back in October and the only free time we had was in December. Yeah. Ridiculous. I think it’s time to change that.

Other people whom I love and am thankful for include my brother and his girlfriend. These are two people who get to see me at my best and worst and I’m so grateful that they’re still there through it all. Especially his girlfriend, who has used to have the option of walking away. I say “used to” because she’s so amazing that I can’t imagine us being without her. And my brother who deals with my little mood swings which I probably should have outgrown oh maybe eight years ago. But he should also be thankful for me because I saved him a good bit of oplatek, which is pretty much my favorite part of Christmas Eve. My mom went to Poland this fall and brought us back about 80 mini oplatki (oplatek’s plural form) and 60 normal oplatki. Most normal people only use one package of oplatki for Christmas Eve. I’m a big oplatek fan.

My beautiful little niece is someone else I’m thankful for, along with her parents and grandparents. She’s one year old and an integral part of my life. Who else will I sing the itsy bitsy spider song for? Over and over again. Complete with hand gestures. In public. Yep, I love that kid.

Instead of going through and listing everyone in my family, I’m just going to sum them up as one unit. I am so thankful I have them in my life. Especially through the rough patches.

I have a lot to be thankful for.

Hope ya’ll had a wonderful Thanksgiving.