A Holiday Week

This week was marked by turkey, family gatherings, and insomnia the likes of which I haven't seen in years.

And random run-ins with friends, some of which were even intentional.

The unintentional ones have been ... awkward. At least three times this week I've found myself in some version of the following conversation:

"So ... You're in Sioux Falls now!"

"Yep."

"For how long?"

"Oh ... Indefinitely."

"Oh ... Um ... So ... How's your sister?"

Leaving me wondering if I should have explained further. However, trying to explain my life plans inside thirty seconds -- particularly to people who aren't up to date on anything else in my life -- just doesn't hold any appeal. (Really, it would probably suffice if instead of "indefinitely" I said, "At least till January, hopefully not past August.")

Aside from that, I'm wrestling with the fact that no, I'm not packing up and leaving tomorrow as I have for the last eight Thanksgivings. At some point I'm sure I'll get used to the idea, but right now? It's weird.

Enough about that.

There was one particular bright spot to the week: after a valiant struggle, we prevailed and Mia Sorella has a plane ticket for Christmas. I never knew so much suffering could go into trying to buy a ticket ... Murphy was persistent. Luckily -- we won.

Now I just hope her flights go as scheduled. After last year's Christmas storms shut down airports from Wyoming to Wisconsin, we're all a little nervous...

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