here begins loads of posts about my thanksgiving-week-east-coast-tour.
i took a red-eye to boston, which was a little bit terrible but toooootally worth it once i met saydi on the curb (and turned on the seat warmer in her car – holy cow the cold sure took my breath away) and shared hot oatmeal with these bed-headed children at their home in malden:
saydi, hazel and i bundled up and drove out to our alma mater/future school – wellesley college. as always, it was so fun to be back on campus, to walk the paths of my college experience, to remember and be grateful. wellesley is a magical place. 
we went to the common room and dining hall where both saydi and i spent so much time as college students, walked along the path by the lake (it was soooo bitter cold), stopped by the library, and enjoyed classic wellesley quirks like this sign and platform 9 3/4! 
wellesley will always be a tender home and spectacular place for me.
after our freezing walk around campus, we went to church in the neighboring town of weston, where i had the joyous opportunity to meet in person my friend katie. katie found this blog a while back and several months ago wrote me an email with a few questions. we continued emailing sporadically, and katie expressed her interest in the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. we continued to correspond as katie met with the missionaries, read the book of mormon, shared beautiful spiritual experiences, and made the decision to be baptized. learning about and taking a small part in this incredible girl’s faith journey was a huge, huge blessing in my life – a super bright spot when things in my heart seemed pretty black. katie is a truly beautiful human being with such an earnest, golden, faithful and brave heart, and she continually inspired me through our email exchanges. on november 10, katie emailed me a picture from her baptism, and i thought my heart would burst with joy. it was so so fun to meet her in real life, to sit next to her during sacrament meeting, and to talk face-to-face. i am so blessed to know this pearl of a girl and can’t wait to hear about her many faithful adventures to come.
we also went to the last of saydi and jeff’s church meetings in malden, and then went home for a cozy pajama party. it was so blustery outside and it felt so good to bundle up, cook sunday dinner together, sip hot coco by the fire, make saydi and my favourite cookies (molasses spice) and talk and play together. i love those shumways so so much!
next up: a 17-degree run along the charles river and other boston adventures…then on to dc and nyc!
