"Would you and Mike like to go out sometime this weekend? We don't have any plans if you want to drop the kids off and have them spend the night."
No, that's not some sort of dream sequence - that's a regular occurrence in my life. At least once a month, if not more, I get a phone call from my mom with those words. She can barely finish her question before I've got the kids' suitcase packed and the two of them buckled in the car. And the best part is, the kids are just as excited as I am. They love their sleepovers at Grandpa and Abuela's.
This Thanksgiving, I'm so incredibly thankful for my parents and all they do for my little family. It might not seem like much to them (or maybe it does, seeing as how Eli gets up at the butt crack of dawn when he spends the night there), but the impact of their kindness has a tremendous ripple effect. Mike and I know that every few weeks we can look forward to an evening to ourselves. A nice dinner, a chance to talk without constant interruption, a few extra hours of sleep in the morning. The kids know that every few weeks they can look forward to an evening with just their grandparents. A few sweet treats, a movie watched together or games played. Eli loves following my dad around the house, and Elena loves coming up with a new project to sew with my mom. Those special evening strengthen both marriage bonds and family bonds.
I know we're lucky, and I'm thankful for my parents and all they do.
The inspiration for this post (other than my wonderful parents) came from the upcoming #tweetsgiving event in Indianapolis sponsored by Epic Change. Epic Change is a non profit organization that helps "raise money for less fortunate entrepreneurs, giving everyone a voice." #tweetsgiving is a 48 hour event to raise money for the organization. Last year they raised over $10,000 for a school in Tanzania. You can find more information about Epic Change here.
If you're in Indy, I hope you'll consider attending the Indy #tweetsgiving tweetup at Scotty's Brewhouse (downtown location) on Tuesday, November 24 from 5-9 p.m. Cash donations will be accepted there, and Scotty's will be matching 10% of the sales that evening. If you can't make it, please consider making a donation. If you're on twitter, be sure to follow the hashtags #indytweetup, #indytweetsgiving and #tweetsgiving.
Pay a visit to these other local bloggers and see what they're thankful for:
Scott Wise of For What Ales You
Scott Semester of All I'm Saying
Robby Slaughter of Slaughter Development
Nila Nealy of The Human Condition
Lindsay Manfredi of Linzstar
Michael Reynolds of michaelreynolds.com
Jon Speer of Creo Quality
Pamela Reilly of Rawvolutionary Healing
Kenan Farrell of klflegal
Nancy Myrland of Myrland Marketing
Nicki Laycoax of Squish Designs
Amy Stark of Stark Reality Check
And lastly, I'd love to hear what you're thankful for in your life right now!
