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| "Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, is a small island nation in the North Indian Ocean known for recording artist MIA, whisking away your middle school sweetheart, and cinnamon." Map Source |
Hannah and I stayed in touch for a few years, as old-school pen pals. Email was still some weird thing that made a lot of noise on my dad's work computer and meant that no one could use the phone for the next half hour. I would write to her about the people we knew and keep her updated about life in Walkersville. She would write about homesickness and summer camps, and she sent me a picture of herself being lifted in the trunk of an elephant. My home encyclopedia set had only an exasperatingly brief passage on Sri Lanka, and nothing about the elephants there, or the fact that they could be trusted to lift an adolescent human child. I stared at the picture in awe, and kept it in my dresser drawer long after our once flowing correspondence had dripped down to a memory (we would meet again, randomly, but that is a story for another day).
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| Fort-building with Frankie! Photo stolen from Joy Klauder. |
That photo seriously piqued my curiosity about the world, and now I am the one living abroad and trying to maintain relationships with family and friends from home. Facebook and Skype are lifesavers, and I don't have to miss out entirely on major events the way that I would have had to a couple decades ago. This is especially important for my nephews and niece, who are changing and growing as rapidly as only children and unchecked hamster populations can. Frankie, the oldest and the only one of them born before I left, can now hit me up on Facetime. I can talk to him while he and my brother-in-law build parachutes for eggs on a Saturday afternoon, and Grace, his sister, can grin at the screen and run away, mumbling something profound about the universe and Strawberry Shortcake. Arthur is the newest addition, to my other sister, and is a man of many facial expressions not yet understood.
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| Hiking in Cunningham Falls State Park, their first time in the mountains! Photo stolen from Joy Klauder |
All of this is wonderful and I love it, but nothing compares to going home and getting to spend time with everyone. I make it back every summer and usually at least one other time each year, but this summer I had to leave mere days before my little sister's due date! I was gone when she had Arthur, but by an incredible stroke of luck, I was able to fly home and meet him only a few weeks afterwards.
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| Hot lava?? Photo stolen from Frank Klauder. |
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| Watching out for roots in the river. Photo stolen from Joy Klauder. |
For anyone new to the blog, I had an absolutely terrible time with the visa process for Spain. I had to go through the application and paperwork in Quito, Ecuador, and the hydra that is dueling latin bureaucracies proved too much for my diplomatic skills and pain tolerance. I ended up having to apply in the US, but because the visa takes up to a month to get approved, I had to leave for Barcelona before it was ready. Then things started to take a turn for the better. My visa was approved on September 3rd, my nephew was born on September 8th, and my school flew me to Washington, DC on September 20th. In a whirlwind trip that gave me less than 72 hours in the US, I was able to finally get my Spanish visa and to see Arthur and family for the rest of what I could scrounge out of the weekend. So thank you, Spanish Consulate in Quito: that your thoughtless maze of documents, signatures, and self-significance could lead to anything so wonderful and loving as this visit is one of the most delicious ironies I have yet to experience.
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| Ethel holding her new son. Photo stolen from Joy Klauder |
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| Hello Arthur! Photo stolen from...someone. |
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| I'm pretty sure this was taken as he was farting on me. Photo stolen from Ethel Sayles |
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| Redskins vs. Eagles in-house rivalry. Photo stolen from Ethel Sayles |
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| The Spanish visa!!! Victory!! All of that work for a damn sticker... |
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| Cousins |
