I have admittedly become very bad at blogging. I’m over two months behind! But I realized, with amusement, that it’s not because I’ve lost interest, or have nothing to say. It’s because this trip no longer feels like a trip. It just feels like our lives! And why should I be writing about our boring, normal lives. This revelation definitely gave me a chuckle. And a litte bit of pride.

Anyway, let’s go back to Orlando!

We stayed with my oldest brother, Ilan, and his family for a fun-filled four weeks. They have three kids, ranging in age from 9-13. Before this leg of the trip, one of my sadnesses in life was how little time I’ve been able to spend with my nephews. We get to see each other only a handful of days per year, and when we do, it’s always a big family gathering where you never feel like you get enough time with any person, let alone enough time to feel like you’ve gotten to bond and play with any of the kids, so it always bummed me out that I just didn’t know them very well. So, what an awesome opportunity to really get to know them and see who they are as people!

By the end of the month together, we knew things like what each person would order at each restaurant, what each person’s favorite dessert was, what everyone’s favorite movies are, every kid’s favorite game, and even everyone’s fashion tastes.

We learned which days the kids came home early or late from school. We heard them practicing their musical instruments, and heard about what they were working on in school. We learned about their teachers and their friends. They taught me how to play chess, and Bears vs Babies. We watched Freaks and Geeks. We rooted for our knight together at Medieval Times. And we successfully completed an escape room with zero hints!

This leg of the trip drove home to me that really knowing someone includes knowing those little things that you can only know by spending hours and days and weeks with people. Now, no matter how much time goes by, it’ll feel normal to call and wish happy birthdays or happy hannukahs and not always feel like I’m some far away auntie they don’t really know.

You can learn a lot about someone by talking. In fact, that’s usually the main way I feel bonded with someone. But this leg of the trip made me realize that another kind of intimacy comes from observing, instead. Just, being around, experiencing the day to day, seeing people in situations, and seeing what they do. This is a part of intimacy that really seems to require time. It makes me realize how little time we usually do have to learn these things. Even with friends we see often, you see them in little bits at a time, in certain situations, in certain places. But it’s the little things that make up a life, and the nature of time means we all have to miss a lot of the little things in each other’s.

So I feel privileged that we have the time. And grateful that we made the time. And determined to create more time in the future.