Visit

I spent Thanksgiving with my family for the first time in 11 years. It was also my first trip back to California since moving back to the States, and the visit marked the end of my longest absence yet from home. I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel a little strange.

The trip was a whirlwind. 5 nights, 4 beds...lots of eating and visiting and driving laps around the bay. We squeezed in a night and a morning in San Francisco and went to a concert to mark our first date at the same hall (way back when in 2000)...and ate yummy Chinese food, and a fancy dessert after the show (oh the people watching there)....and walked, and walked and walked. That next day we circled our old neighborhood countless times before finally finding a spot out in front of our old apartment there, where we left the car so we could indulge at Amoeba. Some things never change.

The trip was framed by long flights back and forth across the country, and a perfect read for the occasion. Sasha, Bennie...Lulu! As ready as I was to come home at the end of the long weekend, I didn't want A Visit to ever end.