My 1st Letter: To: Dad and Kel

November 3, 2010

Dear Dad and Kel,

As you know it is November, and I have decided to take on a challenge to write a letter every Wednesday to someone I am grateful for. Before I even took on this challenge, I had been thinking a lot about my years at home and how much I enjoyed where I grew up. When I came across this challenge, I decided you two would be the perfect people to start this challenge with.

On Halloween Eve, I was at my sister-in-laws for chili and trick or treating. As I was hanging out with the family, my 14 year old niece and a group of her friends showed up and “crashed” the kitchen. They were laughing, tee-heeing, being loud, and I LOVED it! As I was sitting back observing this “chaos” I immediately went back home when we had these exact moments at our house. I went back home and saw the faces of 1 million kids coming in and out daily for any one of us or all five! I went back home to where the kitchen was the local hang out for everybody and the laughing was pretty contagious and continuous.

Later that night my sister in law made the comment that she wishes her kids would have their house be the hang out house. She loved having them all there and wanted it to happen more. With that statement, I said…”that was my house growing up.” We were the house where everybody went to and hung. We were the house that fed a bajillion kids dinner regularly, had people sitting on counters, and just hanging out. I am so grateful for those times.

I have really missed my siblings this past month, and all the fun we used to have as the NelTon gang. It seems like it has been a long time since we were together, just being our crowd. Between schedules, kids, work, and life in general it is hard to get all 7 of us back together. I am looking forward to the time this holiday season with our family. The e-mail regarding the NelTon annual Christmas party gave me the first holiday jitters this year!

Thank you for raising us kids in the open environment where friends were always welcome. Thank you for supporting every one of us kids in the way we individually needed support. Thank you for allowing so many “adopto” kids into our home and always being an adult so many could count on and rely on to be there for them. But most of all, thank you for being my parents and helping me become who I am today.

I love you both tons and tons!

Love Always,

L.D.