Go together well

{Chris's childhood climbing tree} In the past week, I've driven 1,817 miles through 9 states. Chris joined me for the first half (from Baltimore to Chicago) to have "one last party" at his parents' house before they move (tomorrow) from the house where they've lived for 24 years. We had a great time seeing friends and going through old clothes, yearbooks, and school art projects. After spending a few days in Chicago, I headed to Lawrence, Kansas, to visit my dear friends Vickie and Dan--and their beautiful almost-1-year-old Suzanna. Today I made it to Sidney , where I'll be for a few days before making the trek to Burlington!

Today is my brother Matthew's 23rd birthday! (My family prefers to have birthdays exclusively in the months of April and November .)  At some point, I started calling Matthew "Maffrew," which has subsequently been shortened to "Frew." I don't really know how that started, but I don't think he minds. At least,  I think he prefers it to "Math," which is what one of his kindergarten classmates called him.  ("Can I call you Math?" "No." "Hi, Math!") {me at 5-1/2, with baby Frew} When my parents told my older brothers and me that we were going to have another sibling, I promptly began to pray each night for a sister. In spite of the fact that my prayers were not answered, I wasn't all that disappointed in the end (as you may be able to tell from the picture). He even let me dress him up in a tutu and teach him ballet positions, so I really wasn't deprived at all.  We have missed him a lot sinc...

I lived in one place from the time I was born until I left for college, but since then I've led kind of a nomadic life: four different dorm rooms/suites during my time at Creighton ; one summer spent sleeping on the floor in a bedroom shared with my friend Marie in a house rented by some girls we sort of knew in the Dundee neighborhood in Omaha (it seemed like a good idea at the time...); 4 months in Granada, Spain ; a year in Forest Park, IL ; a year in the Field Club neighborhood and three years in the Gifford Park neighborhood in Omaha, NE; and now a year in Charles Village in Baltimore.  {this will always be "home"} {transient homes, in chronological order: top L-R: Kiewit Hall, Kenefick Hall, Davis Square, Dundee--sleeping on the floor; bottom L-r: Plaza de Gran Capitan in Granada, Opus Hall, Des Plaines in Forest Park, Field Club in Omaha} {the second-longest home: Gifford Park} When I found out on March 15 that we're heading to Vermont for t...

Favorite things about Bawlmer, Merlin   When we first drove into town last June, our GPS wanted to show us the scenic route, so it took us on a winding road through a lovely forest full of bicyclists and joggers before leading us into one of Baltimore's grittier neighborhoods. (Prior to moving here, my knowledge of the city was drawn from a vague memory of a visit to the National Aquarium when I was six...and from what people told me about some HBO series .) After we  drove through several blocks of boarded up houses and apparent drug deals, the GPS told me that I was less than a mile away from my soon-to-be home--and I began to wonder whether I should have enrolled in public health school in a different city .  Once we got settled in, my perspectives of Baltimore began to change...and I have actually found the city to be quite charming after all. There are certainly more sirens and police helicopters than I had seen previously, and the juxtapositions between ext...