to see any of my immediate family won’t come until sometime in midsummer. Tried to persuade them to visit me, but no one is interested in spending the time and money apparently. 2 weeks ago

to Pella, Iowa, over the weekend to see my wife’s parents, as well as our niece, who is a sophomore at a nearby liberal arts college. Good to see them. Had a good time catching up. Pella is known for its tulip festival and big dutch windmill. Festival is next week, and most of the tulips aren’t open yet, but that didn’t bother us. Good to get away for a few days and relax. 3 weeks ago

from anyone in more than a week. Didn’t even return my folks’ call on Easter. Am really making a poor effort right now, but not sure why. Will just have to make some calls. 1 month ago

when they’re so far away and so busy with their kids. I’ve just got to make time and fly out there for a three-day weekend soon. 2 months ago

to my birthday calendar. My father offered to pay me for the cost of printing and shipping (I declined). One brother texted that it was awesome, and another told me on the phone that they were happy to have it. So that’s a pretty good response. 3 months ago

a family calendar using Shutterfly that includes many recent & not-so-recent pics along with everyone’s date of birth. It seemed a simple enough project at first, but after checking and rechecking dates and trying hard to include equal number of pics of all 15 nieces & nephews, it became exhausting. At $17.50 a calendar, I sent one to each of my six siblings and one to my parents. Should be arriving soon. Hope it’s not too screwed up. 4 months ago

My wife and I visited my family for a week at Christmas. As expected, it was great fun to see everyone. My dad and two of my brothers played a round of golf at a quiet old partially closed resort near Camelback Mountain (I hadn’t played in over a year but still had fun). Other than that, the weekend revolved around hanging out with 13 of our 15 nieces and nephews and my brothers and sister and folks and my brilliant, slightly eccentric aunt/godmother. A trip to snowy Flag included sledding and a dinner out with two of my charming unmarried first cousins, who came from L.A. to take part in the reunion. The down side of the trip was that my wife and I picked up a virus and spent the last day and a half in a hotel room trying to recover. It was sort of a nasty one that started with chills and soar throat and worked its way into our chests. We finally had to take antibiotics and are only now finally about done with it. My father, aunt, and some of the kids also came down with this bug. Definitely a great trip save for that. 4 months ago

trying to arrange a family reunion for this winter. In my nuclear family, there are nine of us, including my parents. My brothers and sister are all married, in their 30s or 40s, have kids, and consequently are very difficult to pin down. But I have commitments from 7 of the 9 thus far, plus maybes from two aunts and two first cousins. With the adults, come as many as 15 nieces and nephews. So, off to a pretty good start. 6 months ago

on the phone July 4, the one who lives in New England, the middle child, the most outgoing of our brood. He’s Dean of Students at a posh private school. Seems to be doing well. My wife and I thought he’d never marry. He used to teach, and every spring he’d come stay with us during spring break. He seemed like the perpetual bachelor and not unhappy with it, until he was in his mid 30s. Then he found the right person and they settled down and now have four wonderful kids. The eldest is 6. Their house is absolutely out of control. 10 months ago

on Father’s Day and had a good talk with him. He’d been playing golf with three of my brothers in the Arizona heat. Said he drank gallons of water to stay hydrated and played better than a couple of them.

What he likes to do these days is mention an old family picture or two and talk about how we’ve all changed and maybe discuss what things were like for all of us back when such-and-such a picture was taken. Must admit, I sort of like this game.

It’s pretty certain now that I won’t see any of my family before Christmas. Way too long for me, but we’re trying to pay down credit card debt here, and few things are as hard on the bank account as travel. 11 months ago

see anyone before Christmas. It’s hard to get away from work, and now that airline tix cost about 50 percent more than a couple years ago and there just aren’t any good sales and we have debt to pay off, I won’t be getting on many planes. 11 months ago

to see my parents. They’re in their mid-70s now. They are in pretty good shape for their ages. They have the great pleasure of being able to help take care of about ten of their many grandchildren a few times each week. Was wonderful to see them. We drove a few hundred miles to my mother’s hometown so she could attend a gathering of her high school class, their 55th anniversary. We were sorry to see that her father’s formerly beautiful house has fallen into disrepair, much like most of the shrinking farm town. The wheat crop, way early this year, was beautiful. My folks left on Amtrack about a week ago—Mom wanted to ride the train, as she used to do so often back in college days. 11 months ago

this spring to write e-mails proposing one or a bunch of my brothers and sister and godmother to come to KC for one reason or another. They’ve pretty much stopped responding to them, darn it. Time for a new approach. 13 months ago

in the late spring for a few days. This should be good fun, though I am disappointed that none of my brothers or sister will come as well, along with their kids. 14 months ago

my little brother in Rhode Island for the first time. He’s been out there for about four years. He has four delightful wonderful children who are between the ages of 11 months and six years. They drive their parents to distraction daily, but they’re so affectionate and smart, their parents spend half their free time worrying about how to keep them under control and most of the rest of the time how to keep anything bad from happening to them. Wow! What a different life my brother leads. Was so much fun to visit. 16 months ago

among me my siblings:
NCAA football’s need of a tournament
intense dislike of Republican Presidential candidates
nieces & nephews

good to stay in touch 16 months ago

a long letter to my sister today. I have only the one sister, though I’m one of six brothers. My sister is great, cheerful, charming, has three wonderful, delightful kids. I go to her for advice about many things, and can’t seem to help but offer unsolicited advice of my own. We don’t write nearly enough, and I only see her twice a year for at most seven days in total. Wish I could change this. 17 months ago

after midnight last night and woke him and his wife up. I’d forgotten that AZ doesn’t follow daylight savings, so I was calling after 11 his time. Still, he kindly talked NFL with me for a few minutes and then went back to sleep. Like a dope, I stayed up past 1 o’clock puttering around. Got up late at 6:55 this morning and barely made it to work on time. 17 months ago

visited for a four-day weekend. Though it rained much of the time, Saturday we drove north to some wetlands and watched the bald eagles looking for their next prey. (This time of year, about 200,000 geese migrate through this partially frozen wetlands preserve). Then we watched about a thousand hours of football and managed to have some good talks. He’s got a 3-year-old daughter, a 13-year-old step-daughter, three dogs, and a charming though often-depressed wife. He loves his life, especially his 3-year-old and wishes now they could have had more. But I think he’s sort of overwhelmed at times by his close quarters and many domestic obligations. It was good for him to just hang out with us for a few days, as he used to do in college days. 17 months ago

in the mail, especially to Rhode Island bro. Will feel good when this is accomplished. 18 months ago

observed yesterday that I’m most likely to call while driving for five or ten minutes at a time. I didn’t think he noticed things like that. I hate talking on phones in general, but most other people in the family don’t like to e-mail, so there’s not much choice. 18 months ago

sometime this winter to see Timmy. Plans are coming right along. 18 months ago

said than done for me. I have five brothers and a sister, and they are all married with families of their own. All but one live in Arizona, while my wife and I live in the Midwest. Tim, the middle child, is in Providence, R.I, with his charming wife and four kids of his own. They’ve been there going on four years, but we’ve never managed to make it out. Maybe this is the year, for a long weekend at least. 19 months ago