Charlottesville

After a sleepless red-eye through Cincinnati to Richmond we were toast. Well-done, maybe burnt. Andrew's brother Gus picked us up and drove us the 50-some miles to Charlottesville where he lives with his wife and awesome-crazy 2-year-old Alex.

We demolished their back deck board-by-board and rusty screw by screw in the 90-degree swampy air. The project for the next couple of days was to redo everything on the deck except the underlying structure. Andrew worked with his brother while I slid between pulling rusty screws, Harry Potter and naps.

It is a little strange how much Gus and Andrew look alike. And Alex? A toddler Andrew running around the house. Admittedly, I was drawn to Alex partly because of his energy and enthusiasm and curiosity, but partly because he looked like he could be Andrew's. I was hesitant to admit this even to myself. That was my biology speaking. Logic set in later when, overwhelmed by 2 toddlers, an infant, 2 couples trying to control their children and grandparents watching the scene, made me realize again that children are the best birth control ever.

The chaos of the few days in Charlottesville was caused mostly by the presence of all of Gus's in-laws. The chaos was fun, however, because I spent most of my time during the day running around the house like a crazy woman with Alex. I'm pretty sure Andrew has taken on the role of being the crazy uncle that teaches nephews naughty things, just as I am the crazy aunt of my Alex that can get him wound up and give him back. If we ever do have kids, we are really in for it.

I spent the evenings meeting Andrew's friends from UVA, and I imagine it was like meeting anyone's friends, especially if they haven't seen one another in a while. They reminisced about professors and friends and ill-advised adventures. I listened. Good stories, long days, thunderstorms.