Second Post-Trip Blog: Family Times

The RPG Times has posted my most recent Retro Roundup column, about that great classic Sega CD game Lunar: The Silver Story.

So a major portion of my trip was spending time with my family, including my 81-year-old grandmother who seems to be doing exceptionally well for an 81-year-old. She's developed a kind of selective hearing, and seems to be a little crankier than she used to be, but if I was 81, I could probably say the same things about myself. It was a genuine pleasure to spend time with her. My parents were my parents, and my brother even dragged himself downstairs for a while to talk with me, although not as much as I wish he had.

Liz's family was great, too: her parents are fixing up their house, so some rooms are open to the elements while others smell of... strong odors. But there was enough to live in, and even have Roger and Crabby over for a couple of days (I'm so glad they came down). Her parents seem to have mellowed out quite a bit with age - I wouldn't call them "laid back," but they are getting there.

The only problem with these trips - we were gone for nine days - is that everyone wants to see you, and you can't please everyone, all the time. We never got to see Jimmy and Kelly because we just never had the damn time to do it, and I wanted to try to contact Bob and Heather at some point to see them, but again, no time. But we took the longest break we could without burning vacation days we haven't earned yet, and it still seems like it isn't enough.