It’s great to be home. Great to spend time with family again. Coming from a family of seven, there’s never a shortage of commotion at the Barnes home. Or in the Barnes car.
Last night we went to the Almands, our closest family friends in Gainesville, to watch 24 and eat dessert. In the car ride out and back, with Mom, Dad and two sisters crammed into one row, the six of us managed to have two or three conversations going simultaneously. Once a question about details came up and the conversations died. That’s a Barnes trait – we prefer not to do details.
This morning I awoke to my sister, Estie, putting Talia’s new dog on my bed, who proceeded to lick my face tenaciously. Estie stood there laughing as I struggled with the dog and with my consciousness.
Right now there are three of us sitting in the same vicinity, all typing away on our laptops. All three of us are wearing these semi-new AIM jackets because it’s 65 degrees and we’re cold.
My mom is an amazing cook, as many of you probably already know. Tonight she’s unable to cook, which means there’s about a 70% probability of us going to Little Italy, our favorite pizza joint. Some of you have been there. I’d venture to wager that if you know my family, many of you have eaten there with some of us and talked about the Myers-Briggs personality types.
In a couple of weeks I’ll go to Haiti for three months to lead mission trips and community. When I leave, I’ll probably take a shuttle to the airport because it’s more time efficient. We’re always coming and going. Anecdote – once I called home to talk to my dad and found out that he was actually in China.
Efficiency and proactivity, commotion and no-details, togetherness and spiritual health – these are the Barnes. We’re also pretty opinionated, but we have grace. We enjoy each other’s company, and we’re independent. We’re loving and relationship-oriented.
It’s good to be home for a while.
