Present and future
Dec. 26th, 2005 09:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cosmolinguistI got some pretty cool stuff for Christmas this year: a Twins jersey, a portable DVD player, an Olive Garden gift certificate (all the more impressive because the aunt I got it from usually gets us terrible gifts), a skirt I really love ... and only two sweaters this year. Three if you count my birthday present. I didn't get anything worthy of complaint, and that may be a first.
But despite all those good things, the best Christmas present I got this year, as far as I'm concerned, was not given until today. It's not even, technically, for me. And I knew about it weeks ago.
Some of my parents' friends gave them plane tickets to Manchester in March. My mom cried. My dad said "huh" in a very surprised and overwhelmed sort of way. I grinned. I was first consulted on this weeks ago, and have been excited about the secret ever since.
Now they're excited too. I'm so glad. Giving them something to look forward to is a big part of the reason their friends wanted to do this. I've heard my mom say things like "We have Chris's birthday coming up, and then Holly's, and then Christmas, and then her wedding, and then I think Dave and I are just going to fall apart," which just break my heart.
This should help with that. And having details like passports and packing will keep them busy, which is also nice. For the rest of the day, they've been talking about which coats to bring and passport applications and buying adapters so Mom can use her curling iron and hair dryer there.
Their friends—all parents themselves—talked about how nice it is to be able to see where your kids are living so when they talk about stuff you have some idea of what they mean. That's especially nice when I'm going to be In A Foreign Country, which seems even more strange and unknown and thus the subject of even more confusion and worry.
Their friends not only shopped around for affordable tickets, but also spoke with both their employers to make sure this would be all right. Both were very understanding and lovely (they've both already been great, paying my parents for all the time they took off when they did not need to, and things like that). Since they're flying out of Chicago (always cheaper then Minneapolis), my parents will have friends driving them there and picking them up. Practically everything that can be done has been taken care of.
As much as any of those things, though, it's good that my parents know just how much they are cared about. Mom and Dad are just overwhelmed. I caught Mom still looking stunned at random moments this afternoon. They said they knew they had good friends, but still. It's great to see them feeling excited and loved and happy. It's so nice to see my mom cry about something good for a change.
But despite all those good things, the best Christmas present I got this year, as far as I'm concerned, was not given until today. It's not even, technically, for me. And I knew about it weeks ago.
Some of my parents' friends gave them plane tickets to Manchester in March. My mom cried. My dad said "huh" in a very surprised and overwhelmed sort of way. I grinned. I was first consulted on this weeks ago, and have been excited about the secret ever since.
Now they're excited too. I'm so glad. Giving them something to look forward to is a big part of the reason their friends wanted to do this. I've heard my mom say things like "We have Chris's birthday coming up, and then Holly's, and then Christmas, and then her wedding, and then I think Dave and I are just going to fall apart," which just break my heart.
This should help with that. And having details like passports and packing will keep them busy, which is also nice. For the rest of the day, they've been talking about which coats to bring and passport applications and buying adapters so Mom can use her curling iron and hair dryer there.
Their friends—all parents themselves—talked about how nice it is to be able to see where your kids are living so when they talk about stuff you have some idea of what they mean. That's especially nice when I'm going to be In A Foreign Country, which seems even more strange and unknown and thus the subject of even more confusion and worry.
Their friends not only shopped around for affordable tickets, but also spoke with both their employers to make sure this would be all right. Both were very understanding and lovely (they've both already been great, paying my parents for all the time they took off when they did not need to, and things like that). Since they're flying out of Chicago (always cheaper then Minneapolis), my parents will have friends driving them there and picking them up. Practically everything that can be done has been taken care of.
As much as any of those things, though, it's good that my parents know just how much they are cared about. Mom and Dad are just overwhelmed. I caught Mom still looking stunned at random moments this afternoon. They said they knew they had good friends, but still. It's great to see them feeling excited and loved and happy. It's so nice to see my mom cry about something good for a change.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-27 03:57 am (UTC)happy day after christmas!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-27 05:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-27 06:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-27 12:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-27 06:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-27 10:02 pm (UTC)