Following Edge

Ken, my father (pictured above with myself and with Lauren and who you've seen previously) visited this weekend. While he kept up his usual pace of visiting almost a dozen people in less than three days, he's also taken plenty of time this visit to play with Lauren, which I think is a real treat for both of them.

Ken and I have a hard time talking about personal things, which I think must be typical of father-son relations, but we share a lot in common with raising kids (his younger kids, my half-siblings are just entering their teenage years), interest in investing and, of course, gossiping about my mother, Bonnie. Even though I sometimes wonder if we could be closer personally, I think our recent habit of seeing each other twice a year and keeping up to date on each others' seldom-changing lives is as much as we can spare in each of our busy lives and is much better than many families are able to manage.

We'll get to see Ken again this Summer in Oregon for the family reunion near Glide. I sure hope we can make it to Chicago to visit him in the coming year, but with the trips we need to take to Philidelphia for Anne Marie's Nure Practitioner certificate program, I'm not sure it will be possible. We'll make it there again relatively soon, I'm sure.

This week, with Ken's visit, with Bonnie moving and spending time looking at old pictures of my childhood (as the one above), I realize what great parents I have and what an idyllic childhood I was able to enjoy. I'll have to tell you more about it later. Thanks mom and dad!