Going to the Big Apple

Ok, so I am pretty sure that most of my family knows by now that in about 2 weeks yes just 2 weeks from today I am going to be having dinner with one of my best friends and lucky enough for me one of my cousins in NYC. I am going to visit Natalie and Miles for 5 fun filled and I am sure chaotic days in a city that I have always dreamed of seeing and for a long time thought that it would just remain a dream.

I cannot believc what my next vacation holds for me, just thinking about all of the things that there are do see and so in that city blows my mind. I am so happy that I am going to be able to see it with family and friends. This trip was just a thought I had a few months back and then Nat and I started emailing and all of the pieces just fell into place for me to be there over Conference weekend.

I was talking to my awsome Gram Ekstrom this last weekend while I was in SLC to see a friend of mine, and we were discussing how lucky we are as a family to have the friendships that we do with our cousins. I get strange looks from so many people when they find out that I am flying across the country in almost every sense of the word to visit a cousin, not a brother or a sister, they think that it is odd that I feel such a bond to my extended family that I would make that kind of effort. I cannot imagine any other kind of relationships, we are such a close family, and I am so grateful for that. For those of you out there that I have not been able to see in the last year, I miss you and I wish that there were more days in the month and more months in the year to visit you. As we grow up and spread out and start our lives as husbands and wives and mothers and fathers, we had great examples set for us by our parents and our grandparents. They taught us to love and to forgive and I don't think that there is any greater gift in the world than the relationships that we share now. I consider my family my friends and my friends my family, you are all so important to me and have had an impact on my life and I love you all for that.

So, as I am getting ready to go on the biggest adventure that I have ever had in my life, I cannot wait to see the city and feel the energy, to experience NYC and all that it can offer me in the short time that I will have there, I am more excited to see Natalie and Miles, it has been to long and I hope it is never this long again.

I know that no one from my dads side of the family reads this but to them I have to say that I love you guys and that you have played and important role in my life. I am going to Ellis Island while I am in NYC, I want to go back to the place that brought our family to the USA and made all that is my life possible. Without the courage of my Grandmother and my Great-Grandparents to leave all that they had known in England and start a new life, our lives would never have been possible. Thank you Grandma Mabey, and Great Grandma and Grandpa Hartley you are an inspiration to me, to want to make my life all that it can be, and to do that I must be willing to do things that may be scary and may even seem impossible but in the end are worth every prayer, tear, and heartache.