THIS is Miami...

So, apparently I chose the wrong week to visit Miami. I guess I should have asked Mother nature instead of just my Mother when she wanted me in Miami... I'll know next time! anyhoo, Miami was amazing!! I haven't been down there for many years, probably closing in on a decade, so of course, every thing's changed, people have all become adults, the adults I knew all look the same, and my next door neighbor, Aaron, with whom I grew up is still living at home with his mother, so I guess not everything has changed... I can't tell is he's a super genius or super slacker for still living at home, either way, I was so glad he was there, because I love his company and he stays up late, just like me...
So, let's go with some Miami pics... this is going to be a long one... I was there for over a week!
I got in, after a 28 hour train ride (what!! I don't like to fly, and I've never done it before, um, and I won't do it again, maybe flying ain't so bad...) and slept in Saturday morning. My Mom and Mel went to see the Cirque de Soliel big top with the horses, and so I had a few hours to kill before having a lovely evening with Bubba. I went next door, hung out with Aaron and then went to dinner with Bubba. The next day, My Mother threw a gathering with all of my relatives in Miami and all of her friends that had watched me grow up. It was funny, because I kind of felt like I was the main exhibit at the petting zoo, or the auction block, people sized me up, checked my teeth, asked about my occupation, love life, home and dogs, and I answered politely and made sure not to kick or bare my teeth. Hahahha, that said, everybody there was awesome, and I'm so lucky to have such wonderful family members and friends. Seriously, that they even showed up after so many years of me being away was a big deal to me... so I shouldn't be snarky, it just felt weird at the beginning... Anyhoo, here are Ray and Patti, I used to babysit their daughter who's now an adult (and a teacher), and Ray was my Dad's (stepdad's technically, but that's too hard to write and I never called him that growing up, it was always me and my 2 dad's, so for this post, my 'Dad' is Mark, and not James, to whom all my NY relatives are related. This is the Miami side of the relatives) so, Ray was my Dad's best friend. They had poker games and birthday parties and superbowls together and I remember them as being the great adult mysterious parties of my youth when my Mother would sneak me some snacks and tell me to go play in my room or stay with her while she folded laundry or some other chore, because I wasn't allowed to disturb the men folk while they were enjoying themselves... When I think of my Dad, whom passed form cancer when he was just 42 years old, I remember his laugh, heard loudest and largest evern amongst all of his closest friends... that laugh, I still hear it in my dreams, he was really quite something amazing. On the far right of the image is Carol, Aaron's Mom and my next door neighbor. I feel like she and Aaron are relatives too because I grew up with them, and I've pretty much known them my whole life. Carol is the bees knees, and I had long conversations with her while I waited for Aaron to get his ass in gear so we could go out and do all the things I wanted to do once my Mother was fast alseep (south beach and the everglades, etc...)
HAHAHA, here's my grandmother, my dad's Mom, Susie in the middle and Aunt Mira. I'd asked them to stick their chests out proudly so I could make a picture of strong women... hahahaha!!! Hmm, and where did I learn my sense of humor... I wonder...
hahaha, these ladies are great!!
Here's Mira's middle child, Teddy and his girlfriend, Janet. Time is amazing... the last time I saw him, or either of his sisters, they were barely reaching puberty, and now they're all taller than I am and they're all doing adult things... Teddy's a therapist for touched kids, Janet's a teacher,
Sabrina's a teacher, and married to Chris...
and Jenna's getting her doctorate in Physical Therapy for sports injuries and I don't know what her boyfriend Eric does, but he was really nice. It was amazing to have the time to catch up with everyone and I can't thank my Mother enough for getting everyone together, because I never would have seen them all if she hadn't organized us.
Oh, and did I mention that my Mother eloped in November!! Yup, E-loped, not cante-loped, not ante-loped, but E-loped... so here are my new step brother and sister, Michael and Rachel... weird right? Now I'm one of 8 kids... hahaha!!! suh-weet... *sigh*, they look scared... and I was even bahavin' well...
so this is my Mom's across the street neighbor's son whom was born mid December. He was enormous and sleepy and so warm and soft... I've got 'other people's baby, fever' right now, and I will hold anything that's smaller than my dogs for as long as the parents want me to... I can't get enough of other people's babies!!
and then he was done with strangers holding him and Rachel promptly returned him to his mother.
aah, and here's the oldest dog on the planet. Sheila is 17 years old and still kicking it. She's wheezy and crickety and my mother just adores her. She outlived Roark, and she may very well outlive Hank if he doesn't start doing something besides sleep on the couch.
ok, I'm going to stop here and start a new post because I just realized that I have about 40 more images to put up, and that's too much for one post.
Cheers!