I promise I didn't forget about you. But, I'm terribly short on time and Wi-Fi and space and curiosity. We're camped out at LaGuardia Airport, a place that normally fascinates me, but today? Today, I feel like all I want are hugs from the people I love. Today, I really miss my family, and I wish there were more time. I want more time. I want everything to last longer and nothing to disappear. Here, surrounded by strangers, I'm realizing how misguided it was to have bemoaned yesterday's big social gathering; I was anxious about how huge and talk-y I knew it would be (it was both), and it wasn't until the evening ended that I appreciated what a lucky thing it is that we can fill an entire event hall with really super people who really love my family. Even as it overwhelms me—that kind of luck, that hugeness, that amalgamation of goodness—it fills me right up. I wish there were more of it. I wish it didn't have to end. I wish. I wish. I wish. In any case, it's with me now. I've got hold of it. I'm carrying it as we fly back to the RV, as we fly forward into the new year.

'Til soon,
Helen

Notes from the week of December 20

MEALS EATEN, DRINKS DRUNK

+ quiche
+ cookies (my mom makes these and they're to die for)
+ pesto (my dad grows the basil, makes the sauce, and freezes batches to last all winter)
+ ramen noodle soup

FRIENDS/FAMILY VISITED

+ Mom, Dad, Dave, & Sarah Jo
+ so many cousins, aunts, uncles
+ Davis family
+ Kitty & Zane
+ Kaylin