I have this great family but when you wander around the world as I have, you don’t always get to see them.

My brother, my parents, and I are under the same roof for the first time in a year. My brother is just back from a summer tour of Europe (yes, as I was told in Alaska, I’m the boring one this summer) during which he decided not to shave or cut his hair. Hard to blame him for that decision, really.

I picked him up in his university town. Lots of people say we look alike. I’m not sure I agree.

Meanwhile, I also have a great bunch of cousins, many of whom I got to see on the same night. As they age, they just seem to get neater and more interesting. And they do fascinating things like have children of their own, which just creates more cousins for me to enjoy.