The fighting began Thursday night and carried on into Friday. He had been hiding something from me because he was afraid of what my reaction to it might be, but he has agreed to be an open book about everything from now on and knows that he is the one who needs to be super up-front because he is the one with the history of dishonesty by omission. I was glad, though, when as part of his new laid bare resolution, he told me something he�s never told anyone and would never tell anyone had I not called him on his behavior. Luckily, by Friday night, everything was okay again and I got to talk with my stepmom about things. She may be my mom, but because she�s relatively close in age and not the one who birthed me, I think our bond is different. Were she my biological mother, I don�t think I would come to her. But, having spent 20 years with the same person and 20 years can�t all be a cakewalk, talking to her was the best thing I could do. I can�t talk to my dad about such things because a.) He�s my dad and b.) He�s a guy.

Saturday we drove up North, attended the family reunion, and enjoyed some rain. As soon as food was served it started up. Luckily, just as we were arriving, they had the idea to turn the swing set into a tent of sorts, so we had refuge while we ate. We didn�t stay very long, but it was long enough to be able to see everybody and probably longer than C stayed. He had brought E along (she�s still living with them) and she looked a little out of place with her green, nearly dreaded hair, her black with red polka dot halter dress, and her red fishnet stockings, but I think she had a good time. She�s a really nice girl and I feel badly that she has such terrible taste in boys. The worst part is that he�s probably going to dump her shortly after he goes to school and she has absolutely no idea. I think that I�m going to offer her the couch when C goes. We could probably get a small amount of rent from her and she wouldn�t be homeless.

We spent Saturday night at Grandma�s. We got to talk with Luke�s great aunt and her husband, as they were staying overnight as well, and they asked about how we met and about how long we�ve been together. They seem to think very highly of Luke and, now, me as well. We had brought along our quilt so that we could wash it with the rest of our laundry and ended up sleeping with it that night. I have slept well there in the past, but the little bit of home really did something for me and I slept better than on any other visit. Luke and I spent an hour Sunday morning just cuddling together in that median between sleep and waking. It was wonderful.

We got up, had breakfast, started some laundry, and went on our merry way to the cheese factory to stock up. No visit up North is complete without a trip to the cheese factory. When we got back, Grandma and Papa had returned from church (Collin, Luke�s cousin�s 5 year old had a bible school presentation) and we went along with them to buy a birthday present for Aria�s (Collin�s sister) party later that afternoon. We ended helping to choose the gift and wrapping paper, then went back to the house. We visited the house that Luke�s cousin Shawn is building and it is small but very cozy. Cathedral ceilings paneled in knotty pine, a fireplace, some really good ideas for when it comes time to build a house for us.

I know it sounds odd, but most of Luke�s relatively immediate family live in very close proximity to one another. Cousin, aunt, and uncle live next to one another. Great uncle, grandmother, great grandmother, and other great uncle all live either across the street or next door to each other and now cousin is moving in next to all of them. This may have something to do with the abundance of family land there or that most of the men in the family are carpenters, resulting in almost completely free labor.

Sunday afternoon, we went to Aria�s party, marveled at the femullet of the wife of Luke�s aunt�s brother (ultimately no relation to Luke), and ate our fill but had to refuse cake. We also spent some time petting adorable fuzzy things. Aunt Kimmy got a rabbit back around Christmas and this was our first meeting with him. It�s safe to say that he was an absolute love. I was surprised at the power stored up in those little hind legs, though. We also met Jamie�s (mother of Collin and Aria) new Persian kitten, Cleo, and the Sphinx kitten, Shady. I wasn�t feeling well after getting back from the party, hadn�t been feeling entirely well all day, and so I debated staying on another night, but we came back that evening. Grandma seemed a little dismayed that we were departing so quickly, but we had a cat to feed and she knows we�ll be back before too long.

Yesterday, we hung around the house and got 2 new recliners from a friend of M�s. She had been talking for several months about how he wanted to get rid of them, but was having a difficult time coordinating everything, but last night they had plans to go to dinner with him and asked if he wanted to take the chairs with him. So, after they had been dropped off and M & G had left with Bill for dinner, we rearranged the living room a bit before going over to Andy�s for a bit. Andy�s was Andy�s; we didn�t do much. When we came home, I rearranged the living room a bit more and still have more to do before it�s done.

Now, Luke�s at work (I miss him terribly) and we both have a test scheduled for next Monday so that we can be in the running for the city job we both applied for. I still have to fold our laundry and finish up the living room stuff.