Years ago I learned that the best way to enjoy visits with my family is to go into them with very low expectations. And the theory continues to prove itself. I spent the last two weekends in Columbus -- the first for my brother and sister-in-law's annual crawfish boil and the second for my nephew's first communion. And while you would think that the crawfish boil would be a no brainer for fun, it hasn't always been for one reason or another. But this year I had an absolutely amazing time! Got just drunk enough to really enjoy running around talking to everyone, allow some guy to draw a cupcake tatoo on my neck, and not even mind getting sick before I went to bed. Then this past weekend, I truly enjoyed the whole group of family who came to the communion -- my mom, my sister-in-law's sister (who I don't always enjoy), and her aunt, who I'd met only one or twice but never spent any time with. As with the boil, I brought cupcakes (at my sister-in-law's request), and her sister and aunt went just wild over the idea of my opening my own shop. It's practically all we talked about all weekend. Then yesterday was Mother's Day, the first I'd actually spent with my mom in years, which was nice. And the best part about both weekends was that I was really conscious of enjoying them AS they were happening, which is rare for me. So I guess my effort to "be present" is actually working, which is great. I've been making a true effort to work on that, and these two weekends it happened without me even really having to think about it. Very cool. Anyway, after all that's gone on in the past three or four weeks, I feel like I could get in bed and sleep for a week, but it's all been totally worth it.