wow... It has been a crazy weekend.

On Thursday night, I got together with Cheri, Joe, Tim, and Seth - four of my closest friends from high school. We set up a big screen and projector in Seth's backyard, bundled up in blankets, and watched In America together beneath a thousand stars. Beautiful.

On Friday I drove down to Lexington, Mass to have dinner with my grandparents, aunts, uncle, cousins... relatives that I have only met on one or two occasions in my life. (It turns out they are great, and they live in Colorado and want me to visit!) Friday was Nana's 90th birthday, and my sister made her a pink and purple construction paper crown. Nana loved it, of course, and she looked as adorable as ever wearing it. She had all sorts of stories to tell us about how the plumber fixed her toilet for free in honor of her birthday... and at Trader Joe's, they rang a big bell and gave her a bouquet of flowers to recognize the day... She was so happy, I thought she was going to give herself a heart attack. It was priceless, really.

That night my cousin Beki and I went up to Concord, NH with my sister to stay the night at her house. And on Saturday morning, the three of us (and my sister's dog) went up to the White Mountains to hike. I can't think of any good way to describe it... just amazing. We hiked for about five hours and then drove back down to Lexington to have another meal with all the relatives. And then back up to New Hampshire again.

This morning my mom and I drove back down to Lexington to get things together for the Big Birthday Party. We finished hanging the rest of 40 or so of her paintings in the church (where she has attended for 60 years and where John Hancock was apprently once the minister...) and put out food for the party. Then for two hours, the place was filled with a hundred people who love my Nana. I got to talk to lots of people who were eager to share their stories about my Nana's kindness, optimism, and generosity. Its good to know that other people appreciate her as much as I do.
After the party, there was more family time. And a drive back to New Hampshire. I'm exhausted.