Hello Again

Well, I've been gone a week because I went to visit my family in Delaware to celebrate my brother's marriage to a wonderful woman.  Here are the things I wasn't able to write about while I was gone:

1.) Continental Airlines is total garbage.  The slightly reduced ticket price did nothing to make up for the terrible customer service and inefficiency.  Adam and I have grown used to our using our control issues to create easy and well-organized situations whereever we go and this week proved that even the most controlling and OCD people cannot ensure that everything will go smoothly all the time.  Which is perhaps more disappointing than the terrible customer service and inefficiency of Continental Airlines.   This led me to the scary realization that we have put so much emphasis on creating an easy and smooth life that we may no longer be able to navigate tough situations without getting seriously put out.   

2.)  My brothers have married the two nicest women in the universe.   Along with that, they have added the cutest little girl and the cutest little boy to our family.   They deserve every happiness that life is able to bestow upon them. 

3.)  The Wii "Just Dance" game could be a one-time-use game and it would still be worth the $40 price tag.    Never ever will I forget the site of my mom and dad dancing in the living room to old school hip hop.  Especially since I have it recorded on my camera.

4.)  Just becuase the wine bottle is there doesn't mean you have to open it.  Just because the wine bottle is open doesn't mean you have to pour a glass.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Nuff said.

5.)  Despite the fact that I felt a palpable sense of homesickness upon arriving in Philadelphia for the first time since I moved away (meaning that I missed Texas instead of vice versa), I will never be able to be in the Philadelphia airport without feeling melancholy about knowing that I have to leave.  Actually breaking down in the airport bar and crying before my departing flight was a first though.  But that had more to do with #4 than anything.   

6.)  Breaking down in an airport bar while the bartender and stranger next to you stare in disbelief, and knowing that your husband isn't worried about what either of those two people think about you because he only wants to make you feel better, creates an enormous sense of intimacy that I can't quite put words to.   Though the moment was painful, I'm grateful for it.  I wasn't missing anything with him before that moment, but afterwards, I felt something had been added to our relationship that can't be manufactured or prepared for.

7.)  And finally, although I miss my family and although I will forever complain about Continental Airlines, I am thankful I was able to celebrate my brother's marriage to a wonderful woman and hopefully one day a close friend.  I am also thankful I was able to spend time with my other brother and his wife and their child, and to see my parents thrive as grandparents.  I'm thankful I was able to see my grandmother and grandfather, and my aunts and uncles and cousins - all are special beyond words to me.  For every tiny moment that made me sad this week, there were a hundred that made my heart swell with pride.  For each tear of regret that I shed in the airport bar, there were a hundred laughs throughout the week that will echo through my mind long after the regret fades. 

The great gift of being able to visit your home is being able to appreciate, fully, what awaits you there.