Inheriting Cousins is AWESOME!

I am Greek. I have a large family just like in the Big Fat Greek Wedding Movie. Well, I thought I had a large family...until I married into an even larger one. My husband's family is very, very large and they invite EVERYONE to EVERYTHING! On both his mom and has dad's sides. Always. I have been known to describe it as overwhelmingly large. Overwhelmingly because there are a lot of people and they are a very loving bunch. Lots of hugs and kisses and affection. My family does all that stuff, but not to the extent. I have been married to Wes for 12 years in May. Even though the family is far bigger now, it is not so overwhelming anymore. I am used to it and I like being part of the family.

Way, way back in the day, I went to one of my first parties of his dad's side of the family. I felt like an outsider...it was awkward. We were not even married yet as I recall. There were 2 lovely ladies that looked a little uncomfortable and were much quieter than most of the others. They came and sat with us and I got to talk to them. They were Wesley's cousins-well step cousins if we are being technical, but in our family, a cousin is a cousin, so I will stick with cousins! I loved them both right away! Wes and I got married and I would see them at occasional family functions and then Wes and I moved across the country. We saw much less of all the family. They also both moved around. They too have families and husbands now.

Once during my husband's radiology residency, I was feeling particularly poor and I noticed a post on Facebook from one of these lovely cousins of Wes (well and of ME now!) She had been shopping, well couponing, and posted a picture of her amazing shopping trip! I was AMAZED! I started asking questions (via Facebook) and learning everything I could about couponing and deals and that led to my Deals blog!

Both of these girls post on my FB page and send me LIKES and I get to "talk to them across the distances that way! I know we talk only on occasion and that we have not seen each other in YEARS, but to Shanna and Christy, I say thanks! Thanks for all the little things you have done over the years to welcome me to the family, to help me learn to find the best deals, and to just feel good knowing you liked something I posted!

You Probably think this Blog is About you...and it Might be...

Hello world! This is Beckee from Ah...Life...(My personal family blog--Where the Beautiful People come), Ah...Deals...Beckee's Deals (Where the Beautiful People come to score a deal), Ah...Books! Beckee's Book Club (Where the beautiful people come to find a good book, and now this Blog: You Probably think this Blog is About You. It kind-of bucks the trend in that it is not named after me, but that makes sense since it is not going to be much about me. Well, a little, but mainly, it will be about YOU! The beautiful people that I love and adore-the people that have made my life a little better just by being you!

Why, you ask, do I want to write a blog about YOU?! Well, let me tell you how this all came to be...

I moved away from my "Homaha" (as the kids called out Home in Omaha) last June. I live in Scottsdale, AZ, and I only live here for one short year. In a few months I will be moving to Washington state. This is not our first move. Since getting married in 2001, my husband, Wes and I (with our growing family) have moved from Utah to Nebraska to Spokane, Washington, took a 6 week pit stop in SLC, Utah, moved back to Nebraska, and now are living in Arizona (getting ready to move to Aberdeen, Washington). Our families live in Utah (mostly), and we move a lot. We meet LOTS of friends at each stop and I feel like I am leaving family as we leave each home.

It sucks to leave family behind for the unknown. BUT it is also really, really awesome to have friends all over that I know I can still talk to via the fabulous advances in technology that have happened over the past 20 years or so! THANK YOU email, THANK YOU Facebook, THANK YOU Skype for helping me to stay in touch with my people!

I got off track a little (not uncommon for me)...OK, so you get that I know lots of people all over the country-well, even world. It occurred to me a few months ago, that there are a number of people in my life that do small things that make a big difference in my life, but they have no clue! I thought, MAN, I never make a difference in anyones day-ever. When I told my husband how I felt, he said something like "I am sure you do, but you just don't realize it because no one mentions it." That was the beginning of this blog-ideas began to form in my mind-WE SHOULD TELL EACH OTHER HOW AWESOME THE LITTLE THINGS ARE!

What do I mean by little things? Well, thanks for liking my FB post! Thanks for sending me a little email or text! Thanks for remembering my birthday! Thanks for just caring!

I was not sure how to tell people how awesome they made my day or how much easier my life is because of them. I hate emotional interactions-really I do, but I like to tell people how much I like them without having to have a mushy, uncomfortable moment. So, this way I can tall you how awesome you are, if you need to cry a little or if I need to as I type, we can do it on our own and you can send me cyber hugs and we will give real hugs when we see each other in person next time.

Now-to get very serious (and a little emotional-I am crying already as I type this), I think of doing stuff like this often, but never do it. It took a HUGE, tragic push to make me do this. On December 14th, 2012 I was in Disneyland with my family. We were in a bubble of happiness and fun. No cell phones, no news, nothing outside Mickey and his friends. Then we walked out to our car and turned on the radio-and turned it off quickly as the news of the devastating shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT was scaring our children. I grabbed my smart phone with it's dead battery and plugged it in and joined the rest of the world as I watched in disbelief and horror at the news coming out of CT. I have a 6-year-old, a First Grader, and this tragedy has devastated me and scared me in ways I could never have expected (I wrote a blog post more about this here if you want to read it-I will not go further into my thoughts here).

Quickly people started to try DOING something #26Acts, Showing Kindness, Love Wins...to me, the overwhelming theme was SHOWING LOVE to Others-to friends and strangers-making people feel love and know they are loved, needed, noticed and appreciated.

Today I read an article about Daniel Barden's parents. Daniel is one of the children killed in Sandy Hook Elementary School with 19 of his classmates and 6 adults. This is the part of the article I want to point out:

"Something good has to come out of this," said Jackie Barden. "And that's a little comforting to know."
The Bardens said they want their son's memory to live by encouraging people to do little gestures for other...s.
"A little gesture like that goes a long way," said Mark Barden."I think if more people realized that you don't have to do great big things, just little things, it would make a big difference. You can do a lot of good with a little gesture."

So, Here is my small gesture. It is a little thing, but hopefully, I can make sure some of the people that have made me feel loved, needed, noticed, and appreciated can at least get a shout out and a thank you! I Guess Hopefully this blog will be Where the Beautiful People Come to Feel the Love! :)