October? Hello? Where are you???

I needed to write something before the whole month of October flew by! I was looking at the calender and just realized that October is almost gone. That means that 2010 is almost gone! Thank goodness. This has been a year. I am not going to say that it has been all bad, but I am so ready for 2011 to hurry around.

This year has been a life changing year for me. I realized the importance of letting people know how you feel because you never know when you have seen them for the last time. I realized that love is such a wonderful thing to have in your life. True, deep, unconditional love. I realized just really how rare that love is. When you find it, you must find a way to hold on to it.

I also just realized that in 8 weeks is Christmas Eve. I have bought one Christmas gift so far. One! And, no, it was not for me! It was actually for my mother. This is kind of an odd thing. My mother is usually the one that I leave almost until the end and then throw something together with my brother. My mother has everything she needs and if she needs something that she does not have, she goes out to buy it. She called me the other day and told me she just bought herself a new coffee pot. I said, "Oh my gosh...are you kidding me? Do you KNOW how close Christmas is?" To which she replied..."Oooops." This has been the case with my mother for years and years. Her tree is always overflowing with gifts, I mean really overflowing. She has more gifts under her tree then decorations on the tree! But, there are usually only one or two things for her. She likes it that way...or at least I think she does! She must, right? Otherwise, why would she go out 8 weeks before Christmas and buy her a new coffee pot?!?

Before Christmas, however, is Thanksgiving. This year I have a lot to be thankful for, if I can sort it out through all the sadness. I am very thankful for the things in my life, the people in my life. However, it is just not enough this year. There are going to be people missing ...

But even before Thanskgiving is Halloween. Not a huge favorite thing for me. It really never was. Well...there was that one year in high school. All I am going to say about that is toilet paper, eggs, spray paint... If you ask me about it, I am claiming amnesia!! The day after Halloween is All Saints Day. Catholics are really big on that day. I was named after St. Louis (Louise) and so my saint would be celebrated that day. I think...I never really understood the whole Catholic saint thing! My Auntie Lisa just sent me a text message and she wants to add my daddy on their All Saints remembrances at her church. I just cried and cried when I got the message. Trent came down to find out what was going on and I could not even tell him, I had to show him the message. I was touched, deeply.

On to some personal stuff -- Garrick has finally decided on a major!! YAY!! He is majoring in Biology with a minor in nursing and chemistry. He plans to go on to get a Master's and perhaps be a physician's assistant. I cannot think of anything that would make me more proud of him. He also has some exciting news, but I will share that at another time. He is going to try to come home for Thanksgiving but more than likely I will only see him around Christmas. I will take any and all time with my most favorite son. Natalie is just finishing up her last varsity year in volleyball. She has had an exciting year. She found that aggressiveness that she has lacked for a few years...should make catching in softball exciting! She is going to be 18 in a few weeks...geez...I cannot even believe it. She is going to start applying for colleges. Yikes! Where has the time gone? My niece, Audrey, went off and joined the Army. She left this week for basic training. What a remarkable young lady. My brother and sister (in-law) should be very, very proud of her. The youngest of the Johnson clan, JJ (see below for a funny, funny story of JJ), just turned 12. I find it rather amazing how all of my family is aging, except for me...holding forever at 25!

That is all for now.

XOXOXO