Which time zone?

Back in Mendoza, I managed to change my ticket to Seattle and return a few days early, then headed to the east coast to see some friends and family, readjust to English and healthy vegetarian food!

First stop, Boston, and some old college friends who are now married and had their first child last summer. He is, of course, beautiful, now 9 months old. And more astoundingly, seemed to actually like me! I've always been someone who doesn't do much with kids, and frequently seems to alarm them (though perhaps it was the shaved head). So to have him be comfortable with me was something new!

The most amazing thing about visiting was how much these two have continued to be themselves. So often, it seems, people have kids and settle into domesticity, and change into these unknown people who can only talk about how cute their baby's spit is and when to paint the living room.

Nice for them, tough for previous friends. But instead, these old friends put him to bed, then had actual functional adult time - we made dinner and talked about normal things and enjoyed being friends with 12 years' history. Beautiful in so many ways.

Through Philly to visit briefly with another old rowing friend (no pictures, sadly), then on to see my parents in Maryland. On the way, the conductor of the train noted that if the door nearest you doesn't open, it has simply frozen shut - please go to the next door! I managed to sneak into and out of Maryland in between major snowstorms that were shutting down much of the east coast.

We spent a quiet few days near home since DC and much of the surrounding area were not equipped to deal with the amount of snow that had fallen. But good to spend some quiet days with my folks. My sisters were not there (they live in Colorado), but here's a great picture of my mom and sisters from last summer. I love that my parents didn't put us into boxes or dictate the direction that our lives would go. As a result, you get some pretty different results! *grin*

Back in Seattle now for two weeks, looking forward to some skiing and re-organizing before India again.