october 19

Fall Colors

We went to Cleveland to visit with A*’s cousins and his parents this past weekend. A*’s cousins have always been really good to me and they insisted I come, which I almost didn’t because of work and money, and they made sure I could. It was wonderful and relaxing and actually felt longer than a weekend. The weather was downright balmy and the fall colors were at their peak. We pressed cider, hottubbed, drank wine (oh, we really need to get them to a West coast vinyard, the wine was horrendous), marveled at A*’s parents new motorhome (it’s mammoth), and just caught up on the details of each other’s lives.

We were updated on the latest family dramas. Some have been going on for as long as I’ve known the family. Some were new and a little disturbing. Nothing tragic, but one in particular bothered me because it centered around a group of headstrong women who all thought they were doing the right thing but were just hurting themselves and the people they loved. I wanted to tell them that life it too often shorter than you’d planned and to just get on with it. But that would mean I would have to do the same with my family, lest someone declare me a hypocrite.