Family

Can I just say that I love my family? I know I'm stating the obvious, but seriously, my family is fabulous. Living abroad really puts things in perspective. With Larry travelling so much, our chats on Skype have become something to which I look forward. Our girls are becoming so technologically savvy, IM and email are second nature to them. We've chatted with my brother and his family a few times over the course of the year. One of the major goals of our visit to the US was to see them. It had been five years since we'd seen each other. When we found out Larry was only going to be here for a week, we really fretted as to how to make it happen. My brother made sure it did.

Mark, Lory and Jonathan (Chris flew down a couple of days later) drove over a thousand miles to spend the week with us. Unfortunately, Julie couldn't come because she is an Orientation Ambassador at Roger Williams College and there were still a couple of sessions left. I'm so proud of her, being an Ambassador is a great way to make money, meet new friends and impress all those incoming students and parents; a task in which I'm sure she excelled.

The girls immediately attached themselves to Jon. And when I say attached I mean that literally. He and Sarah were inseparable, whether he liked it or not. It was like a starfish to a rock. He got a few minutes reprieve when Chris arrived. My two nephews were amazing with the girls. Mark said he bribed Jon with a test drive of a 2011 Mustang, which they did their last evening here. But to watch them, bribe or no bribe...I felt my heart crack.

We had a great time together. Memories of cocktail hours in the evenings, seafood lunches overlooking the marshes, and a trip to Tybee Island beach, which left us all windblown and microabrased from the sand will stay with us until the next visit. Hopefully, it won't be another five years.