The Cat Lady Returns From Florida

Well, this time we almost ran down an armadillo on the way to the airport to come home. (While in the car, not in the plane... no skunks were harmed in the making of this trip.)  Other than that it was an uneventful flight, so I regret to say there will be no new tales of the second worst airplane trip ever... at least not yet.  

Florida is lovely this time of year.  High temperatures are in the upper 70's to low 80's... just the way I like it for warm weather.  (Breezes off the Gulf of Mexico keep the 80's comfortable.) Days were spent lounging at the beach, reading under a palm tree.  (As a Cat Lady, I felt it incumbent upon myself to take advantage of the shade and SPF45 to keep my pasty white complexion intact.)

What was more unusual about this trip was the fact that it was the first time in 23 years that my family had all been together in one place at one time.  (As you can see, I really DO follow Cat Lady time when it comes to communing with relatives.)

It's interesting that after all this time, we're still pretty much the same people underneath that we were 23 years ago.  While our travels may have led to a variety of places and we have had vastly different experiences (including assorted personal disasters), we haven't really changed all that much.

~ My older sister is still the organizer, as evidenced by the neatly printed calendar of events for the week that awaited our arrival.  (And yes, she's still married to the same guy, her high school sweetheart, after 38 years.)

~ My brother, who I haven't seen in 20 years, still has a wry sense of humor and quickly sees you for who you really are.  There's no fooling him.

~ My younger sister still remains more private when it comes to family, preferring to observe from afar.  (Not surprising considering the 7-10 year age gap between her and the rest of us.)

~ My parents are all about family, both having an interest in genealogy.  They enjoy sitting back and watching the interactions between the four of us children... something they haven't gotten to experience often since my sister left home to get married 38 years ago.

~ And I'm the one who will still use humor to alleviate any discomfort.  (I take great pride in the fact that I was able to simultaneously bring tears of laughter to my brother and make my sister snort with laughter during a family photo.)

Perhaps the biggest difference is that none of us kids were sent to our rooms or grounded during our time together.  Guess we've all grown up in that respect.  Of course, it helps that none of us had a room to be sent to and grounding would have meant they were stuck with us longer.  Or could it be that we have achieved some modicum of decorum in the intervening 23 years?

We eventually do grow up.

FYI.... Both my sisters actually have cats, identified by the monikers "Kitty" and "Twitch".