Summing Up September Part I

September, the month of my birth.

Autumnal Equinox

The start of school

Talk Like a Pirate Day

Here go my attempts to review the very Satisfactory September that just passed me by.

The whole fam (minus Tanner, who’s in Argentina) came to visit AZ during Labor Day weekend. Mom and Dad made it in time to celebrate their birthdays; Taylor and Courtney (perhaps future sister-in-law? Do I jinx it by saying that in a public forum?) managed to get out of class and work to make the trek down to AZ. I’d been to two continents since the last time I saw my dad.

Mom’s sisters presented her with hilarious birthday gifts, themed around blueberries, since my parents run a blueberry farm in their spare time. But the big kicker, my two aunts claimed, would be the very limited edition gift they put together for my dad. They slaved away over the stove for hours, they claimed. And finally, when the time came to reveal the gift, I almost couldn’t stand it.

I was nervous. Knowing my aunts, they’re quite the characters. You never know quite what they’re going to do.

Tah-dah! He pulled out a tie from a bag. But not just any tie. A tie that had been specially dyed with fresh blueberries. Cooked with blueberry juice. Stained in such a way that could never be reproduced. Apparently this tie didn’t absorb enough color; they spent hours and hours cooking down the blueberries to get it just right.

Who thinks of such things?

The two crazy aunts also put together a ‘Welcome to AZ’ pack for Courtney, complete with a coloring book and scorpion lollypop. Ewh.

We drove up to Sedona for a day, something to pass the time. My mom had been calling for weeks prior, what should we do while we’re there? Uh….same thing we always do. You grew up here. You’re here at least twice a year. You’ve been here 3 times this summer already. What is there to do besides the normal lay by the pool, eat Mexican food and shop?

So we tried Sedona. We sort of hiked in the barren mountains. We ate at a mediocre restaurant. We walked through the sidewalk sales and saw Native American dances and drummers and finally drove out through the gorgeous trees and water.

Taylor and Courtney came to hear me mess up on the organ at church on Sunday, and soon enough the weekend was over and they all went home. I felt that I should leave with them. But no, I live here. I’ve lived here for a year. Does it feel like home? Still not really. But where else in the world should I be?