Florida

This past weekend Josh and I went to Florida to see his family and to celebrate his nephew’s 4th birthday. We spent Saturday in his hometown and then drove to Orlando on Sunday morning. We spent Sunday at SeaWorld and Monday at Disneyworld. Sunday night when we were all eating dinner, Josh and his dad were talking about the plan for the next day and how long the park was open. They kept talking about how we were going to Magic Kingdom, and finally I had to ask if that was the actual Disneyworld. I am definitely not from Florida...

It turned out that I actually didn’t make it to Magic Kingdom the next day. My eyes finally revolted after the past two nights of 4-5 hours of sleep and then spending all day Saturday walking around in the sun and the wind at SeaWorld. My eyes were getting red, itchy, and dry by the evening, and when I woke up the next morning, they were all red and crusty (lovely, I know). I knew they wouldn’t be able to handle another full day of being outside, so I spent the day in the hotel while everyone else went to the park. It turns out I may not have missed much, since the kids hadn't gotten much sleep the past few nights either, so it sounded like everyone was kind of cranky. Regardless, I really missed being able to spend the day with them and hated wasting a perfect 75-degree vacation day cooped up in the hotel.

I spent a lot of this weekend and the previous weekend thinking about generations of family. Josh’s siblings both have kids, and a handful of my older cousins have kids already, and it’s nice that those kids will be able to spend many years with their grandparents. I’m definitely in no rush to have babies, but in a way I wish I were because then my kids would be able to spend more time with their grandparents and even their great grandparents. I have wonderful memories of how fun my grandparents were when I was younger, and I would hate for my kids to miss out on similar memories if their grandparents are older and less able to play with them.

It’s hard to see my extended family members age, and there were times when I was at home last weekend that I wanted to freeze that exact instant in time and preserve it for my maybe-eventual kids. I suppose time seems more precious now because of my grandmother passing away last spring. I certainly had several years with her, but many of them weren’t her best. I guess I fear that the same thing will happen to my children, but I want them to know my parents as the funny, energetic, loving people that they are now.

Happy birthday, Laura!

Happy belated birthday to my little sister Laura, who turned 22 yesterday! My gift to her is a trip to visit me in Washington, D.C. in a couple of weeks. Laura’s already picked out a Spanish restaurant that she wants to go to, and we’ll probably hit up at least one of the (free!) Smithsonian museums, but the rest of the weekend is still up for grabs. I’m looking forward to doing some touristy stuff that weekend, partly because I don’t make it downtown very often, and partly because I’m hoping most of the summer crowds have left. Somehow, Laura getting older doesn’t phase me all that much, but when I think about the fact that my next birthday will bring me closer to age 30 than to age 20, I get a little weirded out. And sometimes I can barely believe that my older sister Katherine is already 28...

Anyway, speaking of playing tourist, Josh’s parents are coming into town this weekend, so I’m looking forward to spending time with them, although I’m not sure what they’ll want to do while they’re here. If nothing else, they’ll have to play the Wii if they come over to my apartment. :)

Oh, and I almost forgot—my mom is leaving for China tomorrow! She’s spending about 10 days over there visiting Katherine. I think my mom’s a bit apprehensive about spending that many hours on a plane (who wouldn’t be??), but she’s really looking forward to seeing my sister. I don’t usually think of my mom as a big traveler, but she’s got all sorts of cool trips lined up—China, a mission trip to the Gulf Coast this winter, and a potential month-long stint in Brussels! The Brussels thing would be for work, and admittedly, it sounds like it’s in the early maybe/maybe not stage right now, but I’m definitely pulling for it. I mean, come on—someone’s got to go along to help her look for an apartment and get to know the area, right? ;)

I’d say it’s about time for an update...

First off, my sincere apologies to my grandma for not updating in basically forever. :) There was the thesis, graduation, the summer of glorious unemployment, the trip to Europe, the time at home, the move, the new job, and the being in a relationship in which the people involved can finally talk to each other in person each night instead of on the phone. Amazing! What will they think of next??

My new job has been going fine. It’s not spectacular, but it’s not bad, and there are some nice perks that come with working for a relatively small space company. Tonight, however, is not one of them—it’s nearly 7 pm and leaving work is still a ways away. The schedule for this program is very tight, and that combined with my general lack of knowledge about what I’m doing can make for some long days at work.

The most important change that’s happened over the past several months is that my parents, married for 31 years, are now divorced. The past several years have been rocky for them, so my sisters and I shouldn’t have been shocked when we found out, but it’s been a struggle to deal with. My parents told us their intentions to split up back in December, but the divorce wasn’t finalized until about a month ago. I seem to oscillate between these overwhelming pangs of despair because it feels like my family is disintigrating, and periods of calm where I realize that although a lot’s changing—my parents are separating, they’re selling our house, my dad’s getting remarried—everyone’s still alive and healthy and polite to each other. Since December, my periods of calm are now outnumbering the times of despair, so it’s seems that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.