Fun with Friends and Family

It feels strange to be at work on a Friday after a holiday. It feels strange to be at work on the fifth of July, period (being that I have had July 5th off for the past ten years).  

Luckily, my boss (who some of you might not know, is my dad) was nice enough to give me the day off, yesterday. Even though there were many exciting places to go to in San Diego, I think I had more fun staying home and spending time with my family and friends. 

I was able to spend time with my sister, yesterday. She and I have an affinity for playing games. We are quite the power-team for Catch Phrase, but I learned that it is almost impossible to be successful in a game of Scattegories when she is playing, too.  Even with our very contrasted personalities and interests, she and I share a brain.  During another time in our lives, someone thought it was so strange how we would answer questions at the same time, with the same voice inflection. So, he decided to see just how similar our brains were by giving us each a piece of paper and a pen, telling us a word, and waiting for us to write down which word came to mind when we heard the word he said. We got most of the same answers, but the one that really stood out was when he said the word airplane.  Both my sister and I wrote Tylenol as the word that came to mind when we heard the word airplane. Usually, people do not associate the word airplane with Tylenol; my sister and I do. This is the reason I know that we share a brain. So, playing Scattegories, (a game where, if you match answers with someone, you lose points) with her was fun because if validated that "we've still got it," but was complicating my ability to win the game. I'm pretty sure I will get over that, though.  I would not trade sharing a brain with my sister for winning a game of Scattegories.

One of my friends also came over to visit, and she brought her adorable little girl. (It is so fun to watch friends become parents! I loved listening to my friend being called "mommy".)  My friend and I spent a lot of time together when I was in my early twenties.  She is one of the most giving people I know.  When I needed a place to stay until the end of the 2004-2005 school year, she allowed me to live at her house. Since all of the rooms at her house were full, she offered me her couch. Even though I didn't have a bedroom to sleep in, I was so thankful to have had the opportunity to stay with her for almost three months. Ironically, that time in my life contained some of my fondest memories. Because of my time with my friend, I learned how to play drums, had a sushi-making party, and wrote some very deep poetry on cocktail napkins. She and I have many memories together, and I am really looking forward to making more.

It is the end of my third week living in San Diego, and I am feeling very, very good about being here. It was a difficult decision to make, but with some of the recent memories that I've been able to make with my "old" friends and family and knowing that there are more to come (along with the fact that work has been an incredible adventure), it becomes more apparent that it was the right decision.