village idiot

this past saturday, some of my cousins, chris, and I piled into a minivan and made our way to the big apple for a weekend of family fun. the trip went surprisingly smoothly -- mainly due to my cousin jennifer's organizational skills (which makes sense since she works in project management.) one particular delight was getting together with jennifer and my cousin paul, who works at a hedge fund in new york. the three of us are all within the same age, and as kids we mostly played with each other during family reunions (the older cousins shunned us and we shunned the younger ones). even as kids, jennifer was the organized one who always played the teacher, or the boss, or the mom if we played house. paul was always wheeling and dealing, selling his baseball cards so we could buy candy. and ... i don't know what i was doing, but i'm sure signs of my eventual career in writing and editing were beginning to show.

during this trip, i wondered aloud what life would be like if we lived in the olden days when everyone who was born in the village grew up in the village, married within the village, and died in the village. the american spirit teaches us to leave home for the next grand adventure. well, i've done that and in many ways it seems completely backward. why do i see my sister -- whom i LOVE and would do anything for -- only 3 times a year, and yet i see my coworkers 5 days a week for 8 hours a day? horrible! It makes no sense! i would so much rather see Uno and my parents and my cousins for that amount of time.

and yet, i choose this life. I choose to live away from family all because of my damned ambition. it doesn't make any sense.

i just want to move back to the village.

best family in the world.

more photos to come, y'all.