Very Thankful this last Thanksgiving

Despite being very thankful for the health and well being of all of my loved ones first and foremost, among the other many things I am thankful for, I found myself being extremely thankful this Thanksgiving.....one of the "funny" stories I have permission to share? Not sure yet -- maybe funny in a couple of months....

I was doing the usual running around all Thanksgiving morning trying to pack a lot of things for a day away from home....I pack a few toys to keep the youngest of the entire family entertained and out of mischief since he came so far behind the other cousins, extra clothes in case the cousins want to have a last-minute sleepover, extra clothes for potty emergencies for the youngest, cooking lunch while waiting for my outfit to dry (something is apparently wrong with our dryer), etc...you know, the hectic part about the holidays. I had turned on some chicken noodle soup for lunch on the stove so the kids could eat a little something before we left (they don't like holiday meals really-only the treats). I was folding laundry and DH hollered that it was boiling. I responded, "Well, it's ready then. Can you do me a favor and scoop it into bowls for the kids to let it cool?" He did this and then left for work.

I continued to gather things together, gate the dog into the back hallway (parents live 1.5 hours away and it always turns into a 10-hour total trip), load the car, etc. As I pulled into my mom's driveway, I realized I forgot everything I was supposed to bring. Sigh. I left the kids with her and then went about locating a store to repurchase some of those items.

It just seemed to be such a stressful start, worrying about being late, etc. to forgetting that "stuff," and then onto the festivities......you know, some of the really annoying things that family can do. I don't want to get into details, but I pretty much just sat back and watched it all go down. Some things just really make me scratch my head. I wasn't up for it since I was running on 4 hours of sleep. As others would hear kid noise and ask, "Is that my kids?", I was the one to get up and check it out, etc. At one point, I was sharing a story with my mother as I helped her take the leftovers out to the garage fridge to note, by what she was saying, that my sister had some sort of problem with it. I'm confused, no idea why, as she and I had this discussion only a month earlier. She also happened to be interrupting me with a part of my story that *I* had shared with her and just had not yet gotten to yet with my mother. She came in really condescendingly, and I snapped.....don't get me wrong, when I say snapped, I don't mean lose my cool, but rather I called her on it, which nobody dare do with her. "Why are you saying this? Didn't I say this exact same thing to you a month ago?"

As we get ready to leave and I get everyone and everything back into the car (one of the cousins developed a fever during the visit, so no overnight), we can't find the DVD player remote for the car. So now I'm dreading NOT having THAT because I'm already listening to DH go on and on about how DS lost his Nintendo DS that he only had for 2 weeks, and I just can't imagine having to tack this on. See, DS loses his mind when he gets excited. He's just like his father this way, although DH will never admit this. DS had the remote as we pulled into my parents' driveway. He started squealing with delight and practically jumped out of the car before I had a chance to stop. At any rate, I then turn OFF the car, which has already been running to warm up for a good period, and head back into the house to try to find this remote. My parents look at me as if to say "What's up?" and I just let it go with a bit of a rant -- again, not something I usually do. I was definitely agitated by this point, about 9:30 p.m., about 30 minutes of searching. We found it and we headed home.

As I pull into the garage, DD wakes up crying that her arm hurts. I tell her to hang on because I have to rush to let the dog out and ungate the foyer so the kids and I can get through. As I enter my house, I notice an odd smell. Just didn't smell like our house. I let the dog out, and I can hear my DD screaming about me ignoring her. Couldn't believe my ears, but I was most certainly not going to rush to her side and reward her behavior. I went out to get the youngest first, again, her screaming her head off when I shut the door (I can literally hear her in the other end of the house from inside a closed car!). I went out again to get her, but she was still having at it, so I decided to unload all of our "stuff" first and told her she could climb up front so I could get her when I got back, and if she was still having a fit at that time, she would be walking herself), and on the last pass back by the stove, I definitely smelled gas. DH had turned that burner down to low, which we just cannot do because the slightest breeze knocks out the flames (even just walking by), but he continues to do this for some reason. I can't even believe I'm still standing there, let alone my home....this gas has been running on low for 10 hours! The dog was still okay. I noticed that I had luckily left the kitchen window open about 3 inches. I can't even imagine how much worse it would have been had I not done that. I opened all windows and doors to let the house clear out, turned off the furnace and turned on the fan unit, etc. The smell cleared out relatively quickly this way and now I only had to contend with DD and her hour-long crying fit about now it being too cold to change, don't want a shower or brush teeth, etc. @@

I called DH to tell him what he had done. I said "Umm, you left the stove on, and we're very lucky our home still exists after 10 hours." You know what he said?--"I didn't touch that stove today." (and this isn't the first time he has left the burner on, although I usually catch it within about an hour) @@. I just hung up. I just didn't have it in me to go into the explanation proving it was in fact his doing. I then called my dad after thinking about the "what if".....picture it....me having a bit of a fit, more frustrated than anyone has probably seen me in a long while, news coverage....."local woman suspected of killing herself and her 3 children by blowing up the house....her family members tell us she was a bit off her rocker this evening, but they can't imagine her doing something like this." I told my Dad what happened and said "Dad, I just want you all to know that no matter how off my rocker I may seem at any given point in time, I would NEVER 'off' my family, OK?"