I have to admit, I’ve been guilty of conflicting goals these last few days. On one hand, I want to be with the grandkids. On the other hand, the desire to get back to our CA home. We got blocked again today from flying westward, and given that I have been in goal achievement mode, that felt bad. Once I get focused on a goal, I’m blind to all other outcomes.

But the silver lining showed up this afternoon and evening. With today’s abrupt flight cancellation, we were “forced” to spend the day here in KY. We went over to the kids’ house and had a great afternoon/evening with the grandkids, the other grandparents, and of course E&G. It was better than anything we had waiting for us on the Left Coast. Good food, good company, the grandkids, and most of all family, albeit an extended one. My daughter and son-in-law are wiser than us, and we benefited from their tradition of “come one, come all” on Xmas Day. I enjoyed the evening more than I can express.

Having distributed families is hard. It’s not natural, and we’re all figuring out what it means and what it can be in our lives. Divorce, moving away from the childhood home, jobs, children, and marriages all shape your life in ways you never expected – this is all new, in a sociological sense. But today I experienced the best of that. It turned out to be a Merry Xmas, indeed. Ho ho ho, after all.