Marching Upon the City
So today, the Family descends upon us. By "Family" I refer to my brother, sister-in-law, niece, and cousin. By "us" I refer to my cat and myself. Yes, the Silverstein-Correntes and Dr. Levine arrive in Seattle today. To say that I've been making myself a little crazy over this event is to put it mildly. The house has been (mostly) decluttered and cleaned (with kudos to e_bourne and MD, heroes of the revolution, who did astonishing work last weekend, cleaning the kitchen and bathroom while I sorted through stuff to continue The Great Decluttering). Art and antique family photos have been hung. A new lamp has been acquired (a deal at Goodwill that I'm rather pleased with). One or two pieces of furniture have been rearranged. A couple of loads of stuff have been taken to Goodwill. Nine linear feet of books have been chosen to be traded in at University Bookstore when the invasion concludes.
Yes, madness takes its toll. (As suricattus says, writers use Easy Pass. Or is that EZ Pass? Of course, that's in New York. In Seattle, we use Good to Go. Anyway, you get the gist. If my reaction to this visit isn't evidence of same, I don't know what is. Maybe it's suricattus' reaction to the revving up of her latest Kickstarter. You should go look.) (You see what I did there?)
My point, and I do have one, is that the family arrives today. I work until 2ish (maybe a little earlier) and then depart for visiting, tour guiding, and so forth. Maybe I should have just taken the day off. I don't know how much I'll get done today, frankly. But I wanted the hours, and I wanted to demonstrate my commitment to the new job. We'll see how it goes.
So, wait, why have I been making myself so crazy over this? Because this is only my brother's second visit to Seattle in nearly 17 years of living here. It's the first time my sister-in-law and niece have ever been here. And while my cousin has been here before, on business, it's the first time he'll have been to my house, and it's the first time he's proactively reached out to us to be family. I know it's all about the visit and no one's arriving, white glove in hand, to inspect my housekeeping. But I can't help wanting the place to look good and to make a good impression somehow.
Whew! I need to freakin' chill.
OK. Chilling commences. I have a few things to get done this morning before I depart for parts Eastside. Suffice it to say, as I have said before, there's no Norwescon for me this weekend. As much as I'll miss it (and I already do), this is going to be a different kind of awesome, and I'm genuinely glad for it.
Yes, madness takes its toll. (As suricattus says, writers use Easy Pass. Or is that EZ Pass? Of course, that's in New York. In Seattle, we use Good to Go. Anyway, you get the gist. If my reaction to this visit isn't evidence of same, I don't know what is. Maybe it's suricattus' reaction to the revving up of her latest Kickstarter. You should go look.) (You see what I did there?)
My point, and I do have one, is that the family arrives today. I work until 2ish (maybe a little earlier) and then depart for visiting, tour guiding, and so forth. Maybe I should have just taken the day off. I don't know how much I'll get done today, frankly. But I wanted the hours, and I wanted to demonstrate my commitment to the new job. We'll see how it goes.
So, wait, why have I been making myself so crazy over this? Because this is only my brother's second visit to Seattle in nearly 17 years of living here. It's the first time my sister-in-law and niece have ever been here. And while my cousin has been here before, on business, it's the first time he'll have been to my house, and it's the first time he's proactively reached out to us to be family. I know it's all about the visit and no one's arriving, white glove in hand, to inspect my housekeeping. But I can't help wanting the place to look good and to make a good impression somehow.
Whew! I need to freakin' chill.
OK. Chilling commences. I have a few things to get done this morning before I depart for parts Eastside. Suffice it to say, as I have said before, there's no Norwescon for me this weekend. As much as I'll miss it (and I already do), this is going to be a different kind of awesome, and I'm genuinely glad for it.