The Long Way Home

Take it From Aunt Helen

This post was supposed to be about Jeff’s Aunt Helen, but we think she’s playing tricks on us. Each Christmas she stood next to her tree in the same pose. For years. We have four of these photos; the dress changes, but Aunt Helen is comfortably, reliably in the same space: the tree to her right, viewers’ left; Aunt Helen in pillbox hat, her head tilted towards the tree as if she is about to give it a big hug. This year I only found 1968′s photo; the other three have disappeared. Last year I had ’67, ’70 and ’72, but then we couldn’t find ’68. We’re convinced she’s Internet-shy, hiding them from us so nobody will ever see her sweet face. I’m sure they will reunite again as I’m organizing the photo boxes in the dead of summer  (for as organized as I am, my photo archives are a mess – a project possibly tackled in the new year).

Thanks, everyone, for reading. It means a lot to me that people support my writing and photography through this blog, and in my ‘real-life’-life too. I’m humbled and happy each time I receive a thoughtful comment, or email from a reader who is inspired by what I’ve written or shared with the Internet world, and super happy to connect with other people who are as thrilled with life’s weirdness as much as I am (I’m also super lucky I’m married to such-man too).

So I’ll cut the sap now and wish everyone a happy holiday. This is a tough time of year for a lot of people, for various reasons. We take a cue from Aunt Helen and do the things that give us structure and comfort to an emotionally chaotic day: order some Kung Pao shrimp, take a walk in the first bite of cold and later snuggle by the fake fire to watch Black Christmas.

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