We Are Family

Here I am with my sister M, in a photo taken by my niece E, in Sugar Mama's Bakery this afternoon. We shared a fig and rosemary scone and drank water, leaving room for a couple of small scoops each of housemade ice cream at Lick's, a wonderful locally-made ice cream store in another part of Austin. (In case you're wondering, I had a scoop of dark chocolate with sea salt and olive oil, and a scoop of goat cheese with honey and thyme.) Phil had a wonderful afternoon at a local beer festival, so all of us were happy!

Even though I'm eight years older than M, we are more like twins than sisters in many ways, and this visit has reinforced that. We've spent a lot of time looking at old photos and reminiscing about the relatives in them, as well as about our childhoods, and catching up on the periods in our adult years when we didn't see each other often.

Getting together with my niece E several times on this visit, and this evening, with my nephew A, who couldn't come last night as originally planned, has been such a joy for me, and a pleasure for Phil as well. E and A are bright, warm, interesting adults, as is their brother D, the "middle child," whose work and parental responsibilities in another part of Texas precluded him seeing us on this visit.

Monday is our last full day, in which I'll photograph still more old family photos, as well as look through family china and silver with M, and consider whether it's realistic to ship a couple of family heirlooms to the Pacific Northwest. E and A are going to swing by after work for brief visits with us and last hugs goodbye for now, but we're all determined to see each other more often in the future than we have in the past.

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