Reunions

The day after Christmas, Romney was able to cash in the IOUs she got in lieu of a couple of gifts. One was for a pair of jeans. Santa did not feel comfortable picking out jeans for Romney all by himself. So Romney got a ticket for a shopping date. The other thing she wanted that definitely could not be wrapped up nicely was a second piercing in each of her ears. We decided to be ok with this but we are also hoping that her piercing excitement will be satiated. 

In the past I took my girls to the little cheapo-mall-shop called Claire's to get their ears pierced. This time we thought it would be better to go to an actual piercing studio, and I'm glad we did. Romney's piercer had a lot to say about all the evils of Claire's. I love the little blue buttons Romney picked out and though it makes me a little queasy to think of the piercing process, it sure was a lot more gentle than those guns that get used normally. Romney's piercer was named Jade, and was super kind and calm and informative, and she also looked like she was paying our world a brief visit from her home realm, the land of sprites and faeries. 

 

She's so cute. And side note - Santa did give her that cute sweater vest and the fact that she is wearing it in public means she likes it and Santa feels very proud of himself for successfully picking out clothing for Romney.

Now on to the reunion part of the post. My sister has three daughters. They are all quite grown up and doing cool things in different parts of the country. Becoming TikTok famous by renovating a cool old Victorian house in Connecticut, getting ready for medical school while working for a well-known author in Boulder, and taking a chance moving to Philadelphia and figuring out life away from family. I'm so proud of them and I love them so much. We don't stay in touch very well, and I need to do better at being their auntie. I almost never get to see them, and it just so happened that they were all going to be in town the day after Christmas, and we planned a dinner together.

It's really been a long time since we have been together, and when they arrived, we were all kind of freaking out about how grown up everyone was. They just could not believe Romney and Emma and I just could not believe them! They brought us burgers and fries from Crown Burger and we sat in the livingroom and just talked and talked and talked. It was so fun. Here's the thing. My sister and her ex-husband divorced a long time ago and neither of them lives in the same home they did when the girls were little. They have moved several times, and even my parents' home, where the girls spent a ton of time, is no longer in the family. My house is the only place left that feels like a home from their childhood. I kind of forgot how much time they spent here - they would walk here after school and I'd watch them on a regular basis. I have so many photos of them playing with my kids, having sleepovers, running around the yard...and so for them to be here was really much more nostalgic for them and for me than we expected. It was actually just so beautiful for us to be there together and be able to really reconnect. They stayed so late! And they also brought gifts. I was embarrassed - I sure didn't get them anything! Margaret sent me, through them, a skein of Maine yarn and a beautiful beeswax candle. Kate and her sweet husband Cameron got us a rock-fact pillow. If you know Over the Garden Wall, then you know all about rock facts. It was really fun and we felt very loved. 

 

 

Just after my nieces all left town Peter and Sheri arrived. I feel bad we couldn't all be there together, though I'm selfishly glad we got some time with just the nieces. Of course I wish we could also have had a bigger gathering all together. Peter and Sheri have been coming up here for New Years for several years in a row. I know it's really our turn to visit them but our girls had New Years plans already and things are just complicated when kids get older. In fact, they couldn't even be here on the 31st itself. But hey, why. not visit anyway!? They came on Thursday the 28th, and we did very little but hang out together. Oh yeah and open present from one another. On Friday we took kids to City Creek Mall for shopping, romping and lunching. Then more hanging out. Really, we were kind of like slugs most of the time, which was great. I only had to throw popcorn at Sheri's head once. On the 30th, which was Troy's and my 26th wedding anniversary (yay us), the adults went to breakfast at this hip new spot called The Egg Break. The sandwiches were very delicious. It was lovely, and no photos were taken until they were on their way out the door later that afternoon.