[Soggy]Family Weekend

Hurricane systems Ivan and Jeanne created a lot of ambient weather conditions up here in the mid Atlantic region--namely rain, gusty wind, tropical humidity, and tornadoes. My hair did not fare well. I got a fresh cut and style before heading down to DC to rendezvous with my mom, a family friend, and my middle sister, Crystal. Crystal, the dog, and I went down separately to settle into our hotel room--then we made our way to campus to eat dinner with Caryl and her friends.

The rest of the weekend proved to be excellent in terms of bonding, but so many of the campus activities, like the cardboard boat races, were rendered about as appealing as wet sand in one's underwear because of the icky conditions. So, as it turned out, we took a lot of our meals at the campus dining hall, but did our bonding in our respective hotel rooms (Mom and family friend stayed at a different one from the girls and I), and about Lexington Park (the "town" just before you get to the college).

It was a pretty emotionally charged time since one of the subplots of the visit was that Crystal was coming to take her dog home with her to upstate New York. The dog has lived with my mom and Caryl for about three years now. Needless to say, they are quite attached to her. But, this was always the plan. Now that Crystal has her own place, it's time for her dog to resume its occupancy where she is.

Because Crystal is so much farther away than the rest of us are from each other, I struggle to feel connected to her in the same way...and emotionally she has created distance, I believe, as a means of escaping the confines of our family dynamic. She stands in sharp contrast to Caryl and myself... in terms of her choices, her independence, all of it. She's much more easy going in temprament, than either of us, and I see that she is better for it. I've always admired her, but in some ways, she is alien to me. It is one of my priorities this year to make myself more accessible to her. To that end, I am going to go and visit her in mid October in her apartment. I just really want to make that connection before it's too late.