Thanksgiving with the Griswolds (Raudios)

Thanksgiving with family - isn't that the way it's supposed to be?

After making the 6-hour drive with downtown Chicago traffic

(picture me, jamming out to Pink, calling anyone who would answer the phone)

I finally arrived at my cousin, Jolene's, house.  It was a houseful of people, and I was exhausted, sore, and frustrated from traffic.  I hope nobody was offended that I wasn't my usual chipper self.

The weekend was mostly spent on the couch, helping out in the kitchen on Thursday without getting in the way, and hanging with the KIDS!
            (This term has dual meaning - I got to hang out with my cousin's kids, which I don't know very well since I don't see them often, and they grow so fast!  Great kids ... But ALSO, that side of my family is apostolic lutheran - when they are growing up, they tend to hang out with other kids from the church, and they always said "Im going out with the kids" ... meaning church kids)

The food was awesome (thanks Jolene!), the family time was perfect.  Friday was spent watching a Twilight marathon, and then going to the theatre with 2 of the kids to watch the grand finale (Breaking Dawn Part 2) - AWE-SOME.  Seriously.  AWESOME.  Of course, Georgia and Abby were just watching our faces and our reactions the whole time.  Can we say embarrassing?

Jolene hired a medium to come on Saturday.  This is where is gets really interesting.  And let me backtrack.  I believe I have a bit of sensitivity.  I have done a couple levels of Reiki (energy balancing) training, and have always been interested in ghosts and such.  In the last few years, I have had the unique experience of "hearing" the recently passed at their funerals.  And then this year, I acted as a pretend medium at a seance', but it turned out to be really real.  I had spouted some information to a girl I've never met about her father from the other side.  Nobody really seemed impressed.  Maybe they thought it was planned.  Im like "PEOPLE!  WE JUST TALKED TO THE OTHER SIDE!"  But back to this weekend ... I was excited to have a medium coming over because I have read that a lot of loved ones gather when they know there is someone that can speak for them.  He was great.  He contacted many of our relatives, and gave us very specific details to validate it was really them.

BUT I HEARD A FEW THINGS TOO!

I didn't get much, but every now and then a name would pop into my head.  4 to be exact.  And guess what - they were all relevant to what was being said, although I didn't know it at the time.  So I'm putting this out there.  You may think I'm weird.  Oh you already think I'm all weird and new agey anyway.  This is me!  I'll be working on developing this ... I'll try to remember to keep everyone updated.

Peace.  Love.  Family.  Serene.