Thanksgiving weekend was really fun. Mr. W and I had planned to fit in at least one day of gym time, he even looked up the nearby 24 Hr Fitness gyms in Vegas, and we thought we’d take in a show on the Vegas Strip. We didn’t end up doing either because we couldn’t fit it in between the family dinners, hanging out with his parents, having dinner with his brother’s family. The only time we hit the Strip was before meeting up with his relatives for Chicago pizza dinner, when Mr. W and I parked in the Harrah’s parking structure, walked through it to get out on the Strip and get to the Venetian to catch Flat Coke & Flies before she and her boyfriend Bat entered their Blue Man Group show. We only got to hang out while they were in the will-call ticket line, but it was fun to hear about all her Vegas birthday surprises. (On the way there, Flat Coke and I were text-messaging each other on our whereabouts, trying to coordinate, and I told Mr. W that I felt like I was going to a BBS user meet that I hadn’t gone to since I was 17. He’d never gone to a user meet before, so the he likened it to a blind date. Which got me thinking — I’m okay with showing up to a blind date and getting disappointed, but it would really suck if the person who was meeting ME was disappointed, ya know?)

We did go to the Red Rocks with Mr. W’s parents on Saturday before we left. He climbed it alone; I stayed behind and took pictures, and hung out with his parents. It was freezing, but all the red stripes on the gigantic rocky cliffs made for some mesmerizing photos.

This Thanksgiving, I was and remain grateful for a great boyfriend who opens up his life and his family to me, and offers me the most stress-free relationship I’ve ever known. In the other direction, I’m also grateful he opens himself up to my family, culture, and greets things new and strange to him with excitement and wide-spread arms. I love that he spoils me sick with all the little and some not-s0-little things he does for me without so much as thinking twice, and he in turn appears surprised that I appreciate the automatic things he does so much to think I’m being spoiled. Last but not least, I appreciate that his brother left behind his Playstation 2 and Guitar Hero 1 and 2 games with the guitar controllers for us last weekend, which is the reason that I have lost much sensation in my left fingertips. (On Friday nite Mr. W and I were up till almost 3am playing!)