I spent the weekend in the shadow of Marie Osmond

The plan had been to write every day until I left, just to get myself primed for frequent writing during the trip.  But the internet connection here at my sisters is erratic (the guest room is just too far away from the wireless router upstairs I guess), and then we had a mini-family reunion this weekend so I've been busy catching up with cousins.  My uncle plus four of his kids (and their wives and kids) all came down from Salt Lake, and another aunt and uncle came from California.  I haven't seen them in four or five years, so it was a lot of fun catching up.  A couple of them went on a trip through Guatemala and the Yucatan a few years ago, so they had some really great tips for David and I as well.  After talking with them I think David and I are pretty set on heading to Palenque, which messes up the route to Belize, but I'm sure there will be a way to figure that out  depending on what we want to do at that point.

I always love talking to people about travel, because no matter who it is, this fire lights up in their eyes as they tell you what they did and saw.  Our route is going to be much less straightforward than theirs was (and backwards), so every time they mentioned something that we said would probably be too far out of the way for us to get to, they'd practically yell at us, "But you can't miss THAT!!!"  It was really funny, but I'm sure I am the same way every time I talk about Cambodia or Indonesia.  Travel is exciting because it is an intimately personal experience that can be shared with everyone.  And when you find someone who is truly interested (often because they've been or are going to the same place you did), it brings those memories and feelings back in a vivid and vital way.

I had another cousin show up who was attending the CES tradeshow, whom after we talked we realized we haven't seen each other in 19 years, which was scary.  In my mind he was still this little kid, and now he is all grown up and running for Congress.  We had a few interesting discussions, and he quickly pulled out the policy nerd in me talking about the Fair Tax, which I'd never heard of before. (Basically the income tax would be replaced with a national sales tax.)  I wanted to talk more politics but wasn't sure it was polite dinner conversation, especially when Sarah Palin came up.  ;)  But here I am getting ready to go travel through the Yucatan and I want to go to a bookstore to buy the Fair Tax book to take with me so I can evaluate the idea.  Nerd!  Nerd!

My cousin Troy made a very insightful comment, about how when you are apart from family for a while, and all you get are occasional comments on Facebook, after a few years it is easy to start to feel like people are changing and how you might be growing apart or something.  But then you get together again, and everyone is just the same as you remember, except fatter and more gray.  I'm glad we all get along so well, and that David can enjoy himself with them as well, because I feel blessed to have the family I do.  (Even when they are crazy, and believe me, they are crazy.  lol)

I missed the best part of the weekend though, when the family went to church and accosted poor Marie Osmond in the corridor.  Come to think of it, I'm glad I wasn't there, cause I'm always super uncomfortable meeting celebrities, but still thinking about it makes me giggle.  Poor Marie, it must suck to be the most famous Mormon.