I left my heart

John and I just spent two weeks touring the Midwest -- Ann Arbor, Saginaw, Chicago, Whitmore Lake, Plymouth, Birmingham, Detroit ... we took the rental car company seriously when they said unlimited miles.

Getting on the plane to fly back to New York felt harder than moving here in the first place. I love my adopted hometown and we really enjoy living here, but after a year in NYC, I realize I'm no where near having the kind of deep, amazing relationships we have in Michigan.

While in Michigan, I performed the wedding of two of my favorite people in the world, Rob and Lara. What an honor, and what an amazing way to feel intimately connected to the love they share for each other. A little like being midwife to their marriage, maybe?




















I asked my cousin Anna if maybe she and/or any of her siblings might have time for a dinner while I was in Saginaw. It was a spectacularly beautiful Sunday smack dab in the middle of graduation party/wedding/family vacation season, and there we were, five of my cousins and their spouses, one of their sons, my aunt ... all on pretty short notice.
















We had dinner in the homes of several couples we're friends with -- including grilling at a few, which we totally miss. Kara got up early so she could make homemade dessert for the evening we spent with her and Sean. Amazing. Barry and Carrie played euchre with us late into the night even though they're sleep deprived new parents.
And when we couldn't find the keys to our rental car after dinner and a slumber party with Jeff and Rachel, Jeff was offering to drive us to the airport so we could live up to our promise to pick up Rob and Lara from their honeymoon. Mind you, it was 8 a.m. on a Saturday and he's never met them, but that's just the kind of friends we have.






There's a lot about our vacation that was nice -- spending a few days with my dad and maybe convincing him to come visit us in New York, sailing with John's nephew Ian and his roommates in Chicago, eating at most of our favorite Ann Arbor haunts ...

But the overarching theme is how far we are from having our roots down here like they were in Ann Arbor. (apologies to those folks not pictured here -- we were shutterbugs for a lot of the trip but the camera didn't make it everywhere we went. we have your images in our minds)