The Long Visit

in the home stretch from a long journey back from midwest. it would be an understatement to say that we are exhausted, not just from the traveling but from the excitement and events. from the day we arrived there has been nonstop movement, from surprise wedding receptions to family dinners to spending time with friends we don’t see often enough.

highlights?

• seeing Charlie, Jess & Ray’s baby and getting to spend some quality time just getting to know his bright little personality.
• a surprise party in which we spent time at my parent’s lake cottage fishing, boating, fireworks (yes, fireworks!) and talking around the campfire late into the night.
• spending time with Mark’s family, most notably our niece Olivia (affectionately called Livi).
• Frank’s wedding. what a perfect event it was! lots of friends i hadn’t seen from both sides of the state, both college and my Detroit friends. so much has changed since i’ve seen them all and still, so much has remained the same.

we also managed to squeeze in some shopping as well as a visit to our much missed Lebanese restaurant La Shish. i had the most delicious meal of hummous (creamy and with just the right amount of garlic), fattoush (their pita is so toasty), shawarma sandwich (the pickles make the sandwich) and topped it all of with a thick frosted glass of their freshly made lemonade.

spending time with out families was refreshing and much too short. for me, the beauty of family is that you truly don’t have to be anyone but yourself. of course, this is also the downside sometimes. you can’t be anyone but yourself either. it prompted me to think about our roles within our family. we are still the children. the parents still want to pay for everything and we still do things to press our parents’ buttons (all in good fun, of course).

and now we are home. i am working diligently on getting pics from the trip posted.