MissMandie.com

When people enquire about my family, I usually joke about its dysfunction. I always mean it in the most sincerest of ways – I love the fact my siblings are of the full, half and step variety. Family to me is important, regardless of the biological specifics. So when I came in the close vicinity of my brother’s dad (mum’s first husband) I couldn’t pass up the opportunity of calling in to small town, Almont, Michigan.

I hadn’t seen Andy and Sue (Andy’s long-term partner of 27 years) since my brother’s wedding back in 1994…obviously I had changed a little as Andy would have let me walk straight past him at the train station! What a welcome it was walking into their house…the familiar photos of my niece and nephew plastered all over the fridge, the hand-sewn towel in the bathroom given to them from my mum (I recognized it immediately as mum went through a bit of “stage” sewing these particular flowers onto anything that she could find) and the general feeling of instant comfort that the title “family” affords you.

It was only a 30 hour stop over on my trip but well worth the 14 hours on trains to make it happen. Who else usually gets to stop off on their travels and enjoy such “normal” activities as Saturday morning grocery shopping, lunch out at small town diners, presidential debates with informative opinions abundant, and to top it off – dinner at Craig and Sarah’s (Sue’s son and daughter-in-law). I was greeted by Sarah asking if I wanted to drink beer, wine or tequila…at that moment I knew I was going to fit in perfectly to this family shindig! It was like an all-encompassing, non-stop entertainment night for Miss Mandie…a ride on the back of a Harley, fireworks, unlimited m&m chocolates (complete with take home bag!), Sue’s infamous home made apple pie with whooshy cream,  a stint of poking-fun-at-all-things-found-in-pantry-of-ridiculous-convience (a blog entry in the making!) and even a book to read “The Last Lecture” – a latest best seller. I definitely could have settled on Craig and Sarah’s couch for an undetermined amount of time!

Thanks to Andy and Sue for making me feel so at home…and special thanks to Andy for picking me up and dropping me off at the ridiculous hours of late night and oh so early morning (Amtrak rail is not known for its convenient time scheduling or its punctuality!).