What I Learned--Thanksgiving 2008 Version

Yesterday I learned....

• That Little Sis (b.k.a. K. Iris) drives me bananas because she fights just like I do. Relentlessly and on the verge of Dirty. I know that will make us successes one day, but yesterday--over a Scrabble game no less--it was just annoying.
  
  
• That despite the craziness K. Iris drives me too, I love her to death and am so impressed with the young woman she is growing up to be. And with FuBILOD (future brother-in-law-one-day), who is the best thing that ever happened to her. I love them both.
  
  
• That my BMI is five points higher than it should be. How did I learn this? Damn Wii board my mother has which measures your weight...and then adjusts your Wii icon accordingly. So now my Wii icon has a little belly around the middle. Wtf? So I was at Bally's today, with Nunez Mom, sweating over a treadmill. And I can't wait to get back to the DMV so I can find my way to the campus gym and my Afro-Cuban dance class.
  
  
• That my aunt is way more politically saavy than I ever thought she was. We talked about politics (national and Chicago) ALL evening. Thanks Barack!
  
  
• That Chicago white people are still the coolest white people I know. No bull. By Chicago I mean born and bred--no yuppies allowed.
  
  
• That my Puerto Rican mother makes awesome sweet potato pie.
  
  
• That my Puerto Rican grandmother thinks Mexicans talk too loudly on the phone in public (because you NEVER hear Boricuans on the phone on the CTA? Come on....)
  
  
• That Mr. is on my mind all the time, but especially at holiday time. He should have come up here for Thankgiving. :(
  
  
• That my (light-skinned) Puerto Rican cousin is way more racially saavy than I ever thought HE was ("I can't go canvassing in Indiana for Barack--do you see what color I am? I won't make it back!") Of course, he did actually canvass in Indiana and Ohio. Which just shows how awesome he is.
  
  
• That my aunt does not follow Regla Ocha, but she is a believer. And I learned this because she began ranting that a Catholic priest, a rabbi, a Greek Orthodox priest, and a high priestess santera are needed to remove the Cubs curse. (Word??? That's a lot of firepower you're calling on Tia. Then again....)
  
  
• That Nunez Abuela has never heard the song, "My President is Black," but either way, "He isn't black. He is black and white. And we voted for him because we wanted him as our President. Not because he was black." And that I choose to see the positive and the all affirming humanity in that statement, although it did make me a touch suspect. (As suspect as the cell phone remark, abuela?)
  
  
• That my aunt, as Catholic as any Rican I know, not only stated that she firmly believes Catholic priests should be able to marry, but that Catholic priests who molested young boys had nothing to do with them not being able to marry or being gay, "because if they hadn't done it in the Church, they just would have been your neighborhood child molester," and in fact, that gay priests should be ordained because of the aforementioned reason and because their faith is as strong as anyone else's. (I love my family) She also said, and I quote, "If I want to have premarital sex, that is between me and my God." (I LOVE my family)
  
  
• That Chicagoans--or maybe just my family--are a spiritual people. And baseball is part of that spirituality.
  
  
• That, at least according to my text message inbox, I am very loved by a wide range of people. And that my linesisters and I have gotten more and more creative with the text messages. Which I hope only shows that our bond is getting even stronger. :) So I'm thankful for all those who "texted" me, and all those who thought of me over the holiday, and even all those who did not. Danken!
  
  
• That I still dislike green bean casserole.
  
  
  
• That I still cry when I think of Barack as the Prez. In public. Without shame.
  
  

Chime in anytime.