It was kind of a whirlwind trip visiting my family, but very refreshing. I saw my brother and his wife, who had just returned from a trip to Taiwan. I saw my sister and her husband, and their cute baby niece who'd come over to be babysat. We also went to visit our former SIL who is no longer married to our brother, but is still a dear friend. One of her daughters, (our niece), and her two kids came over to see us while we were there. That was a treat! Those little girls are so adorable! One of them did a dance for us.

My sister had some baby clothes from her little niece, by her husband's brother (are you thoroughly confused yet?), that she wanted to deliver to one of our other nieces who just had her second baby, so we did that too. We stayed and visited her for awhile. It was such a joy to see her in her own home, with her sweet family.

So, we've got baby nieces, mama nieces, great nieces, and a whole lot of clothes to spread around. It brings back happy memories of how it was when we were all having our babies... 'Please pass the clothes...' Girls clothes especially. I'll never forget the three giant bags full of pink and frills that arrived when my first daughter was born.

By that time my sisters were claiming to be done, I refused to accept any girls clothes until after her arrival. I already had two boys, and didn't know what I was having. I figured that collecting girls clothes before the event might send my sons the message that I had a preference. I didn't, but pinafores and ballerina dresses are one of the great maternal pleasures I had hoped to experience one day.

It was hard to have to leave but I wanted to avoid rush hour traffic. It's the great equalizer in this area. Some may drive Jaguars, others Mercedes, I've even seen a Rolls Royce or two, but when traffic crawls along at 5 miles per hour, we're all in the same boat. Fortunately I didn't hit the slow down until the last half hour of my journey.

Glad I went. Glad to be home... which is probably a testament to how far I've come with this house!