Annual Family Self Portraits

I was groggy from my “little” afternoon nap intended t o combat jetlag without succombing to it. The 45 minutes had turned into four hours. And, really, sleep is important, so why not take an extra long nap? Groggy was gone, though, as I watched four white gloved, reflective-yellow vested begin an unknown pattern around…

I don’t understand how this has happened. I really don’t. She’s supposed to still be my baby sister. We’re still sharing a room, fighting over the closet space, nagging each other to turn off the lights earlier (or be quieter in the morning). She’s still writing me messages when we’re supposed to be going to…

 “Mooooom, she’s not cleaning her side of the room!” I would yell, in a desperate attempt to get Joanna to actually stop drawing a picture and do the work that had been assigned. Usually, it didn’t work until Mom actually *came* down the hall, looked at the evidence of Hurricane Joanna, and stayed with us…

“Back in the day, I didn’t realize I’d have to tell this story so many times,” he said. “You come home from work every day and have all the stories and mine doesn’t compare to those. It’s not like the ones you write on your blog.” “But it’s YOURS,” said I. “I need to know…