Alright, alright.

I know I'm slack.   My defense?  I am juggling work, a cold, fatherhood, partnerdom, puppy-ownership, traveling, life... blah blah blahddy blah. 

Here's a run-down of life over the past week or so:

• Our trip to Arkansas and Missouri was as wild as the extremes in weather we experienced during the week.

• My three "little" brothers, all now in their teens, have grown incredibly, and I am now officially the shortest sibling;
• My father told me he thinks global warming has caused an increase in homosexuality. I provided a bit of a rebuttal;
• We left Arkansas with two 8-week-old puppies;
• My (formerly) strict Southern Baptist cousin came out to me, providing a further shock by sharing details about his leather gear & preferences, smoking cigars and inviting us to join him at Fayetteville's only (tragic) gay bar;
• Pam, my beautiful friend from high school, gave us a much needed laugh as we stopped to visit her and her lovely young-uns on our way from Fayetteville to the Kansas City area.  Pam and I both managed to escape the clutches of NW Arkansas after high school.  She moved back from LA only a few years ago, so that her children could grow up around their maternal grandparents.  We always get together and debrief about the Arkansas experience and how weird it is to be "back home";
• My young, wonderful great-niece in Missouri is in a sad struggle with ADHD, while her cute-as-a-button little brother enjoys an enormous amount of attention as he learns how to walk;
• Mom has had a cancerous lesion removed from her leg;
• We left one of the puppies with her, as her cat died from the melamine/cat-food debacle earlier in the year;
• My sister cried when we left Missouri, making Zane a little sad.  I told him they were tears of happiness that she got to see us after a few years;
• I resigned myself to the fact that, while the depressingly redneck town where Mom lives is the exact opposite of the type of place where I would like her to be, it is now her home and I guess she must be happy there.  Her place is with her grand and great-grandkids.  I worry about her doing too much and being placed in a parenting role instead of grandparenting, but she said it makes her happy.  If she's happy, then I must be too;
• Tulsa, where we flew in and out of, has some pretty incredible architecture to gawk at;
• Finally, after balancing the virtual checkbook, and with some encouragement from Mark, I have come to realize that all these trips back home come at a very great cost. It's time for my family to come see me.  Throughout my life, I have traveled exclusively to see my family for vacations and holiday visits.  After all, I have lived in some pretty incredible locations.  Why wouldn't they want to come?

And now, sit back and enjoy the picture show.  (Many more to be seen at my Flickr account.)

Sandy & Mark

Sandy & Zane

Mom's icy street in NW Missouri

Customer service in Arkansas

Tulsa's architecture

The Pythian Bldg lobby (Tulsa)

The Mid-Continent Tower lobby (Tulsa)

Boston Avenue Church (Tulsa)

Detail

Zane with Bobby & Martha

Martha's pre-travel bath

Sandy & his big little brothers

Comments

[LB]

Well, that clears up a lot (except what you spilled on yourself in that pic with your brothers).

I'm still a little confused about the dog--are you taking her back to Oz? Won't she have to be in quarantine for a long time?

Thanks for the update.

sandy says: It's a wet spot from bathing Martha. Yes, we will take Martha to Australia when we move back after Mark's upcoming doctoral studies. Like Roger, our other mini Schnauzer, she will spend 30 days in quarantine.

[DougT]

Happy New Year. I'm glad to hear that you survived the trip to Arkansas.

[Kev]

Hurrah! What a wonderful blog entry - glad to hear that everything is going well. You make me want to go visit too (but only in Winter or Spring) it looks fantastic! I got to get my finger out this weekend and update my blog too. Missing you boys heaps over here....