The Last Year

Thanksgiving Day

I love Thanksgiving. It's the time of year I feel like I have a normal family but it will never be the same without mom here. All morning me and my Aunt Beth have been baking an assortment of pies. Soon our relatives will be arriving. I love all my relatives. They all had this funny uniqueness to them that made me feel so happy inside. I couldn't wait till they all arrived.

It was now about 1 o'clock and everyone had arrived. People brought all sorts of different kinds of food. It was Heaven. We were all taking our seats and getting ready to grace the food when my grandmother came and sat next to me. "Hey grandma." I say happy to see her. She usually didn't come around us much. I think that's mainly because grandma and Aunt Beth don't get along. See after mom died grandma wanted custody of me and my brother but Aunt Beth also wanted custody. They had this whole argument about it. It almost split the family all the way down the middle. In the end the court granted Aunt Beth and her husband Jeffery full custody of me and my brother Andrew. Grandma was furious and she refused to talk to Aunt Beth for a year and a half. Now things were a lot better but I can sense grandma still has a grudge against Aunt Beth for what happened. "Mia you look absolutely beautiful." My grandma said putting an arm around me. "How's your Senior year been so far?" She asks. I smile and look down. "Honestly grandma it's had its ups and downs but I have a feeling it'll all get better soon." I said thinking of Jeremiah. "I see. Mia you know what I see in your eyes?" She asked. "What?" I say smiling widely at her. It meant a lot to me that she was paying attention just to me. Sometimes I felt like she didn't like me. "I see a beautiful girl who is scared of life. I see someone who has secrets she's afraid to share because they show who she really is on the inside." I just stared blankly at my grandma. Was she really saying this to me? "But why Mia why hide so much back from the world?" She asked. I didn't answer her. I just looked away. Why was she doing this? "I see. It's because of a boy." I looked at her with nothing but surprise on my face. She smiled and nodded. "Mia don't hide who you are from him." I shook my head. "But what if who I really am isn't good enough for him?" I say. She puts an arm around me and says "Well then he isn't right from you." Her words really hit me. Right then Uncle Jeff stood up and said "Everyone please bow your heads as we bless our food." Everyone did so and Uncle Jeff began to bless our food. I should've been more focused on praying at the moment but my mind wandered to thoughts of Jeremiah.

After everyone had stuffed their selves they started  to leave a little at a time. As me and Aunt Beth cleaned up the huge mess that was left for us I decided to talk to her. Girl to girl. "Aunt Beth how did you know you loved Uncle Jeff?" I asked. She looked puzzled for a minute and then smiled sweetly. "Well... I knew I loved him when we had went snow tubing one day. It was freezing outside and the air was crisp. I was afraid to go down the biggest hill at the lodge we had went snow tubing at. Your uncle got me to the top of the hill before I started to cry because I was scared. I thought for sure he was going to think I was crazy and then break up with me but he didn't. Instead he calmed me down got me to sit in the tube and then just made small talk with me. After awhile I thought we were just going to sit up and here and talk but then when I least expected it be pushed me down the hill. At first I was scared and then I just started laughing. He had stood by even through one of my not to great moments. When I reached the bottom I thought to myself no other teenage boy would ever do that and I decided then and there I loved him." As she told the story you could see how much she really loved him. "That's a beautiful story." I said as I put the rest of the dishes in the sink. "Why do you want to know about me falling in love with your uncle?" She asked eyeing me suspiciously. "I was just curious. That's all." I said finishing my share of the clean up work. "Is there a boy I should know about?" She asked. I smiled. "No there isn't but there might be soon." I said. Aunt Beth smiled. "I see but be careful boys are idiots. Now go get ready for bed." I gave her a quick hug and went upstairs to get ready for bed. She was completely right boys are idiots but Jeremiah he's a special kind of idiot.