Today was a day of many firsts for Milly, most notably, as it says there, her first Thanksgiving.  The day started off for me as I woke up coughing at about a quarter after seven.  After a few minutes of that I went downstairs in an effort to try not to disturb Amanda too much.  I wasn’t able to really go back to sleep and Amanda told me later that she was pretty much awake from that point on too.

I got Milly up at about 8:15 and fed her.  Amanda packed things up and I loaded up the car then we headed off to Richlands.  When we were loading up the dogs we were trying to get Harvey out of the backseat to lay a blanket under him, but he didn’t want to get out and started to go to the other side of the car.  Of course, Milly was in her car seat and Harvey ended up basically sitting on her before I pulled him out of there.

We hung around at the Mercer house for a while.  Michael and Jenn were there and the three of us ended up shooting the basketball for a bit.  We played three games of HORSE and I won the last one.  Michael and I then played trick shot HORSE and he won that and after that we played two on one basketball, me and Jenn versus Michael, which we won, of course.  I mean, none of us are great at basketball and two on one is tough regardless.  He did start out on a 10-0 run.  I think the final score was 20-16.  I named Jenn game MVP.

Milly’s other two firsts today were her first visit to Nana and PawPaw’s house and her first visit to Gigi and G-pa’s house.  That would be Amanda’s parents’ house and Amanda’s grandparents’ house, respectively.  The latter came in the evening when we headed over there for Thanksgiving dinner.  Amanda and Michael spent a good bit of time working on a puzzle Earl started some time ago and has yet to finish.  The Frazelles showed up and we ate.

Of course, everybody took turns loving on Milly and playing with her.  She did really well with everyone and hardly fussed at all.

After dinner Amanda, Hannah, Jenn and I started and nearly finished a game of Clue, but half the people playing got distracted by going to look at old photo albums.

I talked to a good bit of family today.  I called my parents (eventually reaching my dad) and Baba while we were on I-40 and each of my siblings called me at some point during the day.

So, it being Thanksgiving, what am I thankful for?  I’m thankful for my friends and my family, particularly my wife who somehow puts up with me and my beautiful baby girl.  I’m thankful that I live in a place I enjoy and that I have a job that I really like, particularly given the economic climate.  I’m thankful that (despite my cough) I have my health.

Zach Dotsey