Susan, laughing with my uncle's girlfriend. I truly cherished the time I got to spend with Susan, despite the reason for the trip. I've never stayed with her before - I always stayed with Grandma when I came home. And since she moved out of my mother's house when I was only 6 or 7, I never really got to know her very well. We just kind of took separate paths, and then I moved away. But while I was home this last time, we were together constantly. We stayed up until 1:00 or 2:00 every night, talking and laughing (MAN, did we laugh a lot, though some of it was hysteria), watching the mouse come out of hiding and explore the kitchen (it became such a pet they didn't have the heart to kill it). We rediscovered just how much we really do have in common - the same sick sense of humor, the same sarcastic tendencies, the same values, the same love for our families. She's a wonderful mom - I've never really had the opportunity to watch her in action. She's devoted her whole life to her kids - three different soccer practices, extended schooling for Lucian, Sable's fund raisers and signing classes, sitting for an hour discussing Pokemon with Ethan, looking at each and every bug Tristan brought in and proclaiming it to be more beautiful than the last.

Susan's husband is a great guy, too. I've known him since I was nine or ten, and it immediately became the big brother/little sister relationship I didn't have the opportunity to have. What I like the most about him, though, is how obvious he makes it to everyone else how absolutely in love he is with my sister. After 18 years, four kids, six moves, financial destitution, bankruptcy, and impossible Maine winters up on that hill of theirs, they still believe in their supremely happy life.

Despite the sadness that prevailed throughout the whole trip, it really was wonderful to reconnect with my sister and her family.