Arriving home and everything after

For all of you out there nervously biting your fingernails in agony over whether or not Suzanne ever arrived home safely, never fear. I arrived in Salt Lake with nary a snag. But I'm pretty sure December 1 lasted over 40 hours. It literally was the longest day of my life. I got on a plane at 2 in the morning, flew for 9 hours, waited for 2 hours, flew for another 9 hours, chilled in Chicago for 7 hours (and ate delicious pizza), flew for 3 more hours, drove for 4, and arrived home at 11 pm of the same day. So does this mean when it is my birthday it will actually be 366 days after my last one? Do I get to celebrate a day early? Do I get to celebrate my birthday twice? What does this mean for Christmas?

Aislin and her two beautiful daughters were here to welcome me, and we got to spend 3 wonderful, too short days together. Gwen, Cecily, and I, I should say Captain Gwen, One-eyed Cecily, and Suzanne the Fierce, had a fantastic time playing pirates. We sailed the 7 seas, discovered buried treasure, reburied the treasure, attacked Grandpa, held Aislin for ransom, raided the pantry, and ate our cheese and cracker mess in the galley. Gwen and Cecily are natural pirates - they "Arrr" and "Land ho!" like they've been doing it all their lives. When Cecily, who is nearing 3 years old, declared "Arrr! We be pirates!" with one of my scarves tied around her waist and foam sword in hand, I almost died in delight.

Aislin, Erica, and I also whipped up semi-authentic chicken biryani, raita, cilantro sauce, and lassi. Turns out I'm slightly in rice withdrawals rather than being glad I don't eat in for two meals every day.

My family enjoyed the presents I brought back for them, and I've been converting my sisters to Indian music and Bollywood films. I now catch Erica watching dance numbers on Youtube. I also wear my Ali Baba pants whenever I can. Future roommates, I promise I will be better adjusted by the time January rolls around.

Other than that, I've been to my eye specialist, my doctor, been hanging out at home, helping my mom make quilts, cleaning, baking delicious treats, and avoiding going outside at all costs. It's very quiet, but as my mom pointed out, this is really the first chance I've had to relax and take things slow probably since sometime in the middle of high school. I tend to go all-cylinders burning, but this last little while has been nice. Very nice.

Notice I didn't say I'm busy working on transcribing my interviews? Yeah, that's because I haven't started doing that yet. I've really got to get going on those...