It's only 9:30 Phoenix time! Um...

[wishfulaces]

This weekend, sitting in Red Lobster with just a tiny portion of my extended family, my cousin K's girlfriend said, "I don't think I've been in a room with so many sarcastic people before," and we were all like, "This? You should see a proper family reunion," and sitting at that table that evening, with people I hadn't seen in a few years and only ever have seen every few years--this cemented why family is important to me. Because there is some throughline, some connection, deeper than constant and everyday contact; some pattern of behavior and thought and style that transcends and cuts through the morass to help us recognize each other. R. may still have no idea where I live or that my sister has left the Midwest; K. may not have known that we moved our aunt to assisted living; none of us may have known K. was dating or now a grandfather ye gods and little fishes, but we are still able to catch up and laugh and tease and be ourselves in some way that we can not with others.

So, despite the panic of taking my mother through airport security for the first time since 1995, despite going stir-crazy and feeling trapped in the hotel room yesterday afternoon when the elevator broke down and mom didn't feel comfortable leaving in case they couldn't fix it, despite my nephew being a typical ten-year-old boy yesterday and reminding me once again why I am so not ready to have kids, it was an excellent weekend.

Also, my brother has an adorable miniature poodle that charmed me so much it was all I could do not to put her in my luggage and take her home with me.