Happy Belated Thanksgiving!!

SOOOOOooo tired. I woke up at 7 am yesterday to hit the road early. Josh and I went to Austin, MN for Thanksgiving at my Grandma's. It was a pretty good time. I hadn't seen my cousins Emily and Sammy in over a year. It was nice to see them again. Emily is like 13 now... so weird! She is a freshman in high school!! So bizzare to see her that tall and that old. Before we went, I forgot to inform Josh that Sammy was autistic (not sure that is how you spell that). I guess I didnt really think about it. Apparently (I wasn't actually present), Sammy just went and sat on his lap after they exchanged "Hello, nice to meet you." It kinda shocked and surprised Josh. Whops! All together it was a good time, though.
I have been emailing back and forth with Mary and Tom (my half siblings) all day. I was trying to figure out when Dad was actually suppsed to be home. I guess he was supposed to fly in today but nobody has heard from him. I keep tyring his cell phone, though!! All I can do is hope I will get a hold of him one of these times! I am soooo freakin' excited to talk to him. I was playing around on their website today and found that photo. It is the best one I have seen yet. Its funny, though, because I have NEVER seen him smoke a cigar! :) I like it, though, because he actually looks relaxed. Every photo before that one has been him doing SOMETHING "business" related. He never looks happy and always looks exhausted and sad. I love it!!
I hope he is okay when he comes home. I hope that he doesn't suffer any severe problems after this all. I can't imagine the amount of emotional turmoil he has gone through.
I love him, and miss him dearly.

Hmmmm....

I am not really sure what I am going to write about... but I am bored. I have almost everything done at work. I wanted to be sure I would get out of here quick tonight. I want to leave Ames around 8 am to get to my Grandma's early. I am pretty pumped about going there for Thanksgiving. I haven't been to their house in Austin, MN forEVER! It has to have been about a year or so.
I am pretty excited to show Josh off some more. I think my Grandparents have met him once now. Aunt Lisa hasn't met him, and neither have BETS (Barb, Emily, Tim and Sammy). I would have brought the dogs along, but BETS have a big old lab. I'm not sure how she will respond to two small, energetic dogs. We decided to leave their asses at home! :) Sarah's boyfriend, John, offered to spend some time with them while we're gone. Even though we are driving back the same night... I still worry about them. John will take care of them. Sarah first suggested that we ask Michele to take care of them. Josh wont allow her to be in his house, though!! GO JOSH! I thought that was pretty hilarious!
I talked to my therapist on Monday. It appeared as though she already had a plan of action for the meeting, but I kinda changed that. First of all, I had to share the story of my engagement! I hadn't seen her since then (nearly a month) and I just had to tell her that! Then, I wanted to update her on my stepmom. I got a couple more vicious emails from her. I decided to just print them all off so she could actually see what a mean person she is. I also included the LONG letter I emailed to my Dad. That whole deal took up most of the hour we had together. It felt pretty good to get it out.
I will write more later!

Why would anybody do that?

I just don't understand the situation with my stepmom. She still wont talk to me. I tried to fix things... no progress. She either ignores what I have to say, or comes back with something. I had to email her today for two reasons. First, I needed to request that she give me Dad's cell phone (which comes into use ONLY after he comes back from Iraq) and the home phone (so I can try to get in contact with the kids). My cell phone busted about a week ago and I lost all my phone numbers. Second, I had to tell her that Josh and I are engaged. I suppose if I didn't tell her, I would be making and even larger effort to push her out of my life. Whatever.
She actually responded this time. She wrote the phone numbers and "Congrats on your engagement." Thats it. Nothing else. What the hell compels her to be such a horrible person to me? I don't understand what it is that I've done to her. I don't deserve this. I am so tired of her treating me like this. Its not like it has only bewen going on just recently. She has been doing this to me ALL MY LIFE. She puts a permanent, long lasting guilt trip on me.
The other interesting news of the week has to do with my Dad. I sent him a long letter about 2 weeks or so ago telling him exactly how I feel about this whole Pam situation. She told me that I "wasn't welcom to visit when Dad comes home from Iraq," and that was the last straw for me. I felt as though she no longer had the power over me to tell me when I can and cannot visit my father. Fuck her. I said it, though, in the nicest way possible. I didn't want Dad to get too upset while he is over there. I didn't want to get him involved at all, but it went too far. So, I haven't recieved a response from him. I am not TOO worried about it, though. I understand the pressure he is under and don't want to push it. BUT... a couple days ago I sent him an email telling him Josh and I are engaged. I figured I would at least get a "WOW" or something from him. NOTHING. I sent him an email today saying that I miss him a TON and love him a TON and hoped that I hadn't pissed him off too much. I assume this is the reason for the delayed response.
Not sure what to do... I don't want to stress TOO much. I'll just have to be patient and wait it out. Its my Dad, though, you know? MY DAD.

Here are some photos from dinner the other night. After I told Mom about the engagement, she asked that we all (Scott, Josh, me, Mom and Dan) got together for dinner sometime last week. We went to the Broiler and had a really nice meal. It was cool to get together with all of them for a change. I see them all... but rarely together. Mom bought Josh and I a couple gifts. She got one that includes ways for couples to show their love. The second is called "All About Us." Josh and I have already dove into it. It's really neat. All sorts of questions that spark interesting conversations between us. Very cool. Very nice night!