"We are family do do do do do do" (in a sing song singing voice)

Hokay.

So.

A lot has happened in the last four weeks that I don't particularly want to talk about at this current moment in time. But what I do want to talk about is Family.

I don't know about you guys, but I love my family. I think my family is fan-freakin-tastic. I just saw them over the holidays for the first time in longer than it should have been. And it was great to see their beautiful faces. No really. I realized when I was there, that my family is a good lookin group of people.

But for real. Of the six main grandkids, there are the "older kids" and the "younger kids". For my whole life up until now it had always been: older kids: Ror: 26; Sissy: 24; and myself: 21. And of the younger kids: Maggie, Logan, and Levi: 14, 12, and 9 respectively, and Jack: 10. But this winter we decided that Mags is now part of the older kids. Now, 14 is a lot younger than the rest of the older girls, but she's in high school now. And that means she's practically an adult. And now it's kinda separated into boys and girls.

Here are the girls:

Sissy, Mags, Ror, and myself.

I could go into this whole story about how awesome my cousins are, but I'm feeling very lazy about this so I'll just say I'm impressed and proud of them for being so darn smart and talented. And I shouldn't be surprised because I feel like my uncle is a great father and it's no wonder why they're so great, because he's great.

On a side note, I just made some fruit punch and it tastes like crap. But the orange chicken I made is delicious.

I'm fairly certain that I have the best Grandmother on the planet of the Earth. It may be because she was there in my early years. It may be because she is MY grandma, so that automatically makes her better than yours. It may be because she makes the best food anyone could ever ask for. It may be because her hugs are the swaddle of pure love.

It's all of these things and so much more. I know you will read this Gram so I'm just saying that I love you so so so so so so so so so much :)

Family means the world to me. I love them so much. And I feel privileged to have the family love that we share because I know that some people don't get that in life. And we are a little spread out; the hub in Pennsylvania, with branches in Michigan, Sissy and I in Washington, and Ror in San Fran; But that shouldn't be a reason to not see each other. It was only a few years that we went without seeing each other, but so much has changed in our lives that I never want a gap that big again. Everyone is growing up, and I don't want to miss out on that. I mean, Mags, Logan, and Jack play instruments, they all play sports, Mags is thinking about playing lacrosse (one of my favorite sports!) and I want to be able to see these things happen and their skill and knowledge bloom like flowers. And when I get older and have a career like my aunts and uncles do, things might change, I may not have the time, blah blah blah, excuses excuses.
But that's just what they are.
Excuses.

So.
From now on (or at least the next few years), I will go back home more often. I'm already planning something epic for this summer. But I don't want to ruin the surprise. We will talk about that when the time comes.

P.S. Renee left last week. It was good to see her. Our time together was shorter than expected, but we'll talk about that later.

Tata for now.