Home for the Holidays...

I have been back in the US for almost two weeks now, and I am totally loving it. When I got off the plane, it was great to see my Mom (and eventually my Dad later on in the evening) for the first time in almost three months. Truth be told, Mom got a little emotional, but that's ok - that's why I love her.

Had a few great days with the parents before Dad and I went over to Lawrence to pick up Mary. She came over for a bit while I had Lasik surgery on my eyes. Which, BTW - is one of the easiest procedures in the world. The initial appointment (preliminary) was about two hours where they deemed my eyes 'worthy' to do the surgery on. The actual procedure was only about 20 minutes from start to finish (with about two minutes total under the laser). I am not sure how many of those surgeries the doctor can crank out, but I do know that I am in the wrong profession for those kind of dollars.

Anyway, it's great to be back in the US. I am definitely getting used to driving a car, going to Target, and sleeping in a bed bigger than a shoe box. Today is Christmas, so MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone. We had a great day today. The whole family was in town (minus my Mary - she is with her family), and it was great to get to spend some time together and actually have a meal together. I know that these days are few-and-far between, so we really have to enjoy them while we can.

Not much else to report here. I go over to Lawrence to spend a few days with Mary, and then we are going down to Missouri to visit her family before we head to Phoenix for our little 'mini-vacation'. I said last summer that we should go somewhere warm in the winter. I was thinking about Florida to visit my mother's side of the family (they haven't met Mary yet), but we decided to just go out to Phoenix to scout the area for the future.

Anyway, more posts later on - hopefully before the New Year, but NO PROMISES! I hope that everyone had a great holiday, and that you all enjoy yourselves! I know I am! It is going to be hard to leave all of this, all of the people to go back to the land of coloUr. But, I am sure that once I'm there I won't want to leave either - I wish I could be two places at once! Merry Christmas, and a very happy New Year.

P.S. Stepping Stones for Euphonium, Vol. 1 - going to be on iTunes soon! Check it out!