thankful on paper {4}

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

via

Today I am thankful for my cousin, Margie.  We didn't grow up in the same town or even in the same state, but we have become true friends in the past five years and it has been a huge blessing to me.

My mom and Margie's dad are siblings who grew up buddies in Northern Virginia.  Margie and I grew up with fathers in the U.S. Air Force for their careers; though doing doing very different work they both stayed in the US for the majority of their careers.  We both lived in the midwest and northeast U.S., but not at the same time.  We changed schools frequently, went to the base chapel for church and have a lot of memories of what growing up an Air Force brat was all about.  But we love to share a giggle of over the funny things Grandma did and our visits

After college, Margie went to graduate school about two hours away from where I was living at the time.  She made time for me and we got the privilege of getting to know each other as friends.  I remember weekends of exploring the new-to-us cities we'd made our temporary homes: Baltimore and Philadelphia.  Since her parents and our grandparents were just outside DC, we also have great memories from our nation's capitol.

Margie now lives on the other side of the world ((literally)) in Amman, Jordan. She's way more adventurous than me!  Our friendship has moved from exploring our cities to conversing via g-chat and skype.  I admire Margie's ambitions and desire for community.  Living so far from 'home,' she has had to work hard to build a community of friends.

Before running the Broad Street 10 Miler in Philadelphia (May 2008), Christmas in Northern Virginia with our mutual friend, AMy (2009)

I am grateful for Margie's...
>>ability to keep up from so far away
>>desire for building community
>>shared interest in pinterest, blogging and twitter
>>running ((she finished her first marathon a month ago in Jordan))
>>independence
>>music taste ((I always need help finding new stuff))
>>sense of adventure
>>shared love for all things Trader Joe's, Starbucks red cups and Gilmore Girls



I'm linking up over here.
Who are you grateful for today?