Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig

First off let me say hello to O, who so patiently puts up with my weird posts about him. My emails to him basically read like a second and more personal blog, and those messages are even stranger than the ones I put on here. VERY good guy O is! ;)
Second, my prayers go out to all the victims of the hurricane. I've been watching some of the coverage since I got back last night and words aren't enough to describe the sorrow I feel. :(

Here is a quick outline of my 2 week trip up North:
See brother, see Cindy, Liam and NYC (woo hoo!), get sick and watch Marx Brothers, go to PA and visit extended family (most of whom I haven't seen in over 10 years!), watch more Marx Brothers, visit Shrine of the North American martyrs where my patron St. Rene Goupil was martyred 400 years ago for putting the Sign of the Cross on an Iroquois child's head, see Fr. Kirby for the first time in a couple years, see Beth for the first time since high school--and meet her fiance and listen to the old tapes she and I made when we were 11 (hilarious!), celebrate my mom's birthday, watch more Marx Brothers (6 movies in 2 weeks). I know there's a lot more in there but it all went by so quickly. All in all I thank God because it was an excellent trip, very memorable to say the least, and I was so anxious about it beforehand. Things could have gone very badly on account of a host of reasons I won't go into, but I survived and not only that, I enjoyed every minute of it. I was actually even a little sad to make my return flights home, and quick to tell everyone I'd be back for Christmas. Some of the highlights in my mind have to be visiting Ellis Island, hanging out with my brother, seeing Aunt Ann-Marie again, taking a walk with my dad on the coal bank and finding fossils, dinner with my long-lost family, visiting my Djido (Grandpa) Joe's grave for the first time ever (and Peter's and Aymi's) , standing in that riverbed where St. Rene was buried, and actually being able to buy my mom her birthday dinner at King David's (stuffed grape leaves...mmm). Oh yeah, and I heard from ZZ again for the first time in quite a while and he brought good news...he's now officially a doctor! Hurray! He had been having trouble with his exams, so he was scared about it, but he passed and now he will being his residency. I'm incredibly proud of him because I know what effort he had to put forth to succeed, and well, he's my brother (I adopted him and he adopted me about a day after we met) so...I win out as well! Now I can say I have 2 brother-doctors. I'll never have to worry about getting sick I guess. :-D Congrats, Dr. Brother, and all my love to you.

Thanks to everyone who made my trip so wonderful--now the bar is raised high, so in December things better be just as cool!