Back again -- and Reunion 2008

Hi! Remember us? I'm thinking that many folks started to wonder what happened to the updates. Since the flood (below), the blogging opportunities went from infrequent to nonexistent. Why? Well, a multitude of reasons, really.

Most impacting was the flood itself. As you can imagine, there was no shortage of things to do for some time. Between chaos and cleanup, the weeks that followed were a bit out of the ordinary. Pumps working overtime. Continued seepage (don't you hate when that happens?). Money quickly getting allocated for unplanned uses.

Added to that burden was work. The day job. Well, the job that became day AND night. And some weekends. Too many hours, too much stress, and not nearly enough energy to even begin to approach this blog site.

Toss in a few surprises like extremely bad back problems, a bout of food poisoning, and several filled weekends with birthdays and assorted family/friend events and you get the general idea. Something had to give. And the blog slipped to pretty much dead last on the priority list.

But at least one of those planned events was worth waiting for. It was even worth fighting off the food poisoning and gutting out (no pun intended) what could have been a miserable Saturday. What would possibly make me pull myself out of bed, get in the shower, and drive 1.25 hours with a headache and nausea?

The yearly reunion at the Zupec's place -- to celebrate with the families from the midwest who accompanied us on our incredible journey to China 5 years ago. Since that life-changing event, most of us eagerly return to Gurnee each fall to spend time together, compare our lives, share tales, wax nostalgically, and -- most important -- watch the kids simply go nuts with each other.

It's pretty amazing, actually. Most of these kids haven't seen each other since LAST fall, but you wouldn't know it. Almost from the first instant that each kid set foot in the home of Mike and Cinda, the routine from previous years was immediately remembered. Each kid would come in the door, remove the shoes, run down the hall, and make a beeline straight down the basement stairs to the play area, joining those already there. No warm-ups needed. No shyness. Just an immediate bonding -- one that I've never witnessed in any other setting.

The kids all played together, yelled and screamed, ran around, ate, and simply had a spectacular time. And no fighting! Go figure! With each year, the volume level in the house gets louder. The kids get more expressive and the personalities yet more developed. They grow bigger and more beautiful (sorry Colvin and Tristan... that would be "handsome" in your cases) each and every year.

The parents? Well, we get older and perhaps a bit slower. But we seem to enjoy each others' company no less. While we all live very different lives apart, it all comes together for one afternoon and evening. Such wonderful people. We had the pleasure of spending such incredible moments together in a faraway land. And, five years running, we've had the chance to stay in touch, rekindle friendships, and cherish these children.

We're already looking forward to next year.

Next up: The Chinese New Year!