At home with family and friends

I arrived at home for the holidays last Friday morning, after taking a 6 am flight out of Dulles. My dad picked me up from the airport and we spent the morning doing some Christmas shopping (okay, he mostly watched while I shopped) and having lunch. It’s rare that I get to spend time with just my dad these days, so it was really nice.

I spent Saturday doing more shopping, then Sunday it was off to see relatives. My mom and I stopped by my grandparents’ house, which was slightly strange considering that they’re my dad’s parents and we went without him. After that we went to my uncle’s house for dinner. His two kids, my cousins, were there, which was great since I haven’t seen Jonathan since we were both in Boston for college over three years ago. He looks the same, acts the same—it’s great. Jonathan has been spending the past year or so working all over the world: India, Ghana, and Costa Rica. Talking with people like him always reinforces my desire to eventually live abroad for a while.

On Christmas Day, Laura and I did our usual breakfast and present-opening with my mom in the morning, then went over to my dad’s house in the afternoon for more presents and dinner. Although my parents were separated by this time last year, my dad agreed to stay over on Christmas Eve so that we could do all our usual family stuff in the morning. This year that wasn’t going to happen, so Laura and I have officially become those kids who do two celebrations for each holiday. It was sad, to be sure, but it was nice to see our parents happier and more relaxed than they probably would have been if we had all spent the day together. The family has also felt a bit disconnected because my older sister Katherine wasn’t able to come home from China to spend Christmas with us, so we’ve all been missing her.

Yesterday I finally saw some people that I’m not related to! I had lunch with Lauren in the afternoon, which was awesome, and then last night it was time for the 3^rd annual Saline Bar Crawl. My town has only about 9,000 people, so as you might imagine, a bar crawl through the “city” only hits up 3 bars. To make matters worse (or easier?), only two of them were open last night. So we started at the Brecon Grille, which is located right at what we call the Four Corners—the main stoplight in our town. It’s a relatively nice place with good food and several beers on tap, so it’s a good place to start. After everyone’s had a bit to drink and their beer standards are slightly lower, we head to Dan’s Downtown Tavern, which is a more typical dive bar with a regular crowd of old men. The beer is even cheaper, but you leave smelling like a cigarette butt. Regardless, we love it, and last night it was clear that many other recent Saline grads do too, because we ran into several other groups of younger people there. The first Saline Bar Crawl involved only four of us, last year was a little bigger, but this year was the biggest turnout we’ve had: 10! Hanging out all those guys always helps me remember why I love going back to Saline and why I need to make more of an effort to stay in touch throughout the year. Plus, it helps to remember where everyone is these days and where one might have a dinner companion if traveling through Austin, TX, or New York City, for example... :)

Today I’m heading down to Detroit to see my grandparents again, but this time with many other people. My aunt’s coming in from Atlanta and I'll finally get to meet my newest first-cousin-once-removed. Tonight I have to finish packing and then tomorrow it’s back to DC!