Back from Washington. I'm not a very wired person, though, and only just managed to get my email a few times, so that's why I've been inconspicuously absent.

Dad is getting older and more crotchety. Sister Terri has a new boyfriend who is a pretty terrific guy. As is necessary when dealing with my family, he's got a lot of patience. Brother Mike and sister-in-law Katie look good, and niece Amanda is *sniff* growing up. The Baltimore cousins (from Timonium, actually, and how cool a name is that?) are all doing fine. It was really good to see them.

Word #7 (yes, I'm still bumbling along on the words, and just *how* many weeks ago was it that I was assigned the letter "e"?) is "entanglement." As in, with family.

In our highly mobile society, we can essentially choose our own communities. But while we may be able to get along with our families, we may barely tolerate our families, we may want to disown our families, we cannot choose our families. And is this such a bad thing? My siblings and I are all related by blood and upbringing, but they are very different people. Each has aspects that would draw me to them, make me hope to include them in my chosen community--but each of them has aspects that would, and can, drive me away. My sweet little brother, bless his heart, is a kind, honorable, hard-working, conservative gun nut. Gah. For me, the last two could be considered show-stoppers, and if he were just some random goofball I met at a party I could turn around and walk away, but I like him. Even more importantly, he's my brother. He gives me an opportunity and an incentive to hear different viewpoints and try to understand. Something I can always use more practice at.

In other news, I took the book along to edit and got zippo done. I was pretty much kept busy helping Dad get ready for the visit and then visiting. Now it's sitting on my desk and it's the next big project. One more time through and then it goes out and it either sells and/or gets me an agent or it doesn't. But I need to write another one. I've got some ideas for a book set in the same universe, but the more solid idea is for something completely different. Hmmmmmm......