Good to be Home

I have a few random thoughts running around my head this morning. Several of them have surfaced from the past few days of visiting and observing family, working from my parents’ kitchen table and watching my children thrive with the rest of my family members.

1. First and foremost, it is nice to wake up before the children and have the coffee already brewed, as opposed to the previous four days and starting the coffee myself. The coffee maker at Mom and Dad’s house is quite ancient and the wait for a freshly brewed cup of coffee is approximately 45 minutes. Note to self: spend the $20 and get them a new coffee maker. The only thing stopping me from doing that is hearing how “lousy” the coffee maker is – “why all the buttons?” “Bah, I don’t need a timer.” “Why would you spend your money on that, this one is perfectly fine.” “This coffee’s lousy.” I’ll hear how thoughtful I was in buying it in about six months when they start missing me, and bragging to others about how nice it was for me to buy one for them. On second thought, I might just let one of my siblings be the good guy and I’ll slip them the money and the idea for a new coffee pot.

2. Watching a four and a half year old imitating Daffy Duck is rather humorous. The other day I asked Tony if he wanted a drink and his answer (in Daffy Duck’s voice) was: “No more for me thanks, I’m driving.” He’s got it down. Love that boy!

3. My stance with the NRA has always been negative, but as I watched the news today I thought about people’s rights to have guns. It’s fine for the hunters, the normal people – they can have all the guns they want. But when you see the inner-city shootings that happen at 2am every night, the right to bear these arms is rather questionable. But then I think, if these people are going to shoot each other, let them go right ahead. But then I think that maybe I’m being a little judgmental by one, referring to them as “these people” and two… I suppose one is enough. In any case, I’m tired and driving home a political point, especially with regard to the whole NRA debacle, seems to be a waste of my time. And my time is important.

4. I watched parts of my wedding video yesterday, mainly to catch a glimpse of Jeff’s little speech at the start of the reception. As some of you may recall, he introduced a slide show of me by stating how all my siblings influenced me in one way or another.
Corinne: taught me how to smoke and break curfew and live life to the funnest.
John: taught me strength and the ability to work through problems
Cliff: taught me that reading and writing really is a good thing
Jim: taught me the greatest lesson of all – that maybe the family needs a lawyer
Jeff: taught me that a brother and sister really can be best friends.

He choked up in the video. I sobbed as I watched it eight years later.

My mom watched the credits roll: Met: April 19, 1998 / Engaged December 15, 1999 / Married September 23, 2000. Her one liner: “Where are they going to fit the divorce date?” Funny woman, she is.

5. My dad doesn’t smile much in the morning unless he’s already pooped and had a cup of coffee.

6. The safest I feel – ever – is when I am laughing with my sister, and my kids are chomping on popsicles beside us and I know I’ll see the rest of the family at some point in the three hour period.

7. When I woke up this morning the feeling that “something big was gone” had positioned itself in my chest, and that coming home is real hard when there is such a huge void in the family. I miss my brother, and his entire family, and it sucks sometimes.

8. John is rather funny and quick-witted, and when he and Dana play off each other, the laughter is fast and bubbly.

9. It has been 68 degrees, rainy and humid since I got here – and all I want is an hour of sunshine in Jim’s pool. Where the heck is he?

10. I cannot keep my promise to my neighbor that I won’t be sad when I get back to Maryland.