Unannounced

It's one thing to make plans a week or so in advance to spend a few days visiting your in-laws, but quite another to call them up at 1:00 a.m. and tell them that your whole family will presently arrive on their front doorstep in less than two hours, but that's exactly what we did. What could they say? No?

Here's what I packed: a family Bible dating back to the late 1800's from Dad's side of the family, my camera bag, laptop, Game Boys, wedding and family albums, picture frames, negatives, school journals, guitars, clothing, bathroom supplies, pillows, a filing cabinet with baby books, tax records, birth certificates, bank statements and insurance info, the computer, and back-up discs.

Here's what Dad packed:















Coffee was brewing as soon as we arrived. Once everyone was settled, cups steaming with caffeine, flavored with heavy doses of continuous television news coverage, were readily consumed and digested around the kitchen table.

It was shortly after my first cup of coffee that I came to the abrupt and startling realization that my beloved Mr. Espresso had been carelessly left behind. Though he ranks right up there with my Nikon SLR and 50mm lens--the few material possessions near and dear to my heart, Mr. Espresso had never even crossed my mind. How thoughtless and inconsiderate of me.

But there were other things to keep my mind from the wretched feeling welling up within me that screamed of abandonment and permanent withdrawals. Daylight was breaking and children were waking to the sound of barking. There was no fire in their world.

Only unlimited laptop and Game Boy hours...

spent leisurely in pajamas.