Hello

"Well, I'm back."
-Last sentence in Lord Of The Rings by JRR Tolkien

The last two weeks have felt like a month. My sister (T) is visiting from the Netherlands and we (my sister M and I) originally expected her to arrive in Denver on February, 23rd so I drove in on that date. I planned to stay until Wednesday of that week and then come home but T's plans changed due to business and she did not arrive in Denver until Friday the 27th. Since it did not make sense to drive back home just to come back to Denver a couple of days later, I ended up staying the week. I didn't mind staying longer because I always enjoy visiting my sister M and my niece.

We had lost a week so T's Denver plans were also changed and instead of coming out to Kansas to visit me on the weekend of March 6th, T and I drove to my little town the day after she arrived and then back to Denver the following Tuesday, March 2nd, our niece's birthday. That night we celebrated my niece's birthday and the next day I drove back home.

Throw in driving my niece to and from school each day during that first week, the fact that I am not used to driving or living in a city with so many high energy people anymore, the fact that we drove in and out of rain/slush or snow showers with a pretty good crosswind trying to push my car off the road on the drive to my house and you can see why the whole experience wiped me out.

The good part was spending time with my sisters and my niece. The fun part was joining my sister T in teasing our niece. She is at that age where anything her adult relatives do is embarrassing. In the restaurant at my niece's birthday dinner we sang Happy Birthday to her while she pretended she wasn't there. The next day we drove her to school. The rules are that when we drop her off we drop her off at the far end of the block away from her friends, that we do not hug or kiss her before she get out of the car, and that we not talk to her once she is out of the car. This day, as we drove away, my sister rolled down the passenger window and yelled at her, "I love yoooou." We drove away roaring with laughter. I found out the next day when her mother and aunt drove her to school she told her aunt not to do anything to embarrass her that day.

Funny, during the week I was in Denver the only access to the Internet I had was at the library and at first I thought it would be hard for me not to write each day or to read other people's blogs each day but I found out I did not miss it. I have been reading other blogs now that I am back but not with the same intensity as I did before. I feel disconnected from things. Out of the loop. Do I need a break? Have I run out of things to say? I don't know. I just know that right now I do not feel the need to write like I did before.