to quote SSG

SSG is serving her mission in Australia now, but when she was still in Georgia she often said, "its a tender mercy!" (about things like seeing a grocery store when she wanted ice cream. very important stuff.) i don't use that phrase too often, but sometimes it seems appropriate. i'm not going to lie, last week was pretty rough overall. mostly i felt really isolated & wanted to go be with my family. but, it wasn't really practical & the Hixsons are nothing if not practical. also, Rational Thought told me if i didn't attend her cookout that weekend that we would "be in a fight" (direct quote). so i resigned myself to staying in Atlanta & found some fun sounding things to look forward to (other than the cookout, which was, of course, the best part of the weekend). but then, my mother ended up having a 3 hours layover in Atlanta on thursday night! so i got to see my mom at the airport for a while and, like a good mom, she bought me food & made me feel better. and in my mind i thought, "if SSG was here, she would call this a tender mercy."