Surprise Visit

Note: I do not really speak with people in my family outside the occasional MSN Messenger message from my younger brother Chad when he has a technical question.

So, I was a little surprised when I got a phone call on Saturday around noon from my Uncle Terry.  He was in Maryland and on his way north on I-95 and wanted to know if I was up for a visit.  It turned out my uncle had spent all morning calling various relatives to try to find a current phone number for me.

Just a bit of background – my Uncle Terry (my mom’s younger brother) and his wife, my Aunt Betty practically raised me when I was growing up in south Florida.  My parents were away on business at least 2-3 weeks out of every month, frequently taking my Uncle Terry with them while he worked for them.  The rest of the time Aunt Betty was in-charge of both her own household of three kids, and me and my brothers.

By the time I ran away from home they were no longer living with us.  In fact, one part of my odyssey – when my parents got close to finding me in Pennsylvania – involved hiding ouit with them in Jacksonville, FL.

I jumped at the chance to visit with them.   I invited them to crash at our place since they were on their way from Maryland to Plymouth, Massachusetts.   They arrived around 4:00pm and we sat and talked for a few hours before heading out to give Brian another dry run down into center city were he has jury duty on Wednesday.  After that we walked to Ong’s in Chinatown for dinner and then we took a rather longish walk down to Old City so they could see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell since this was their first trip to Philly.

They had a good time but I think Aunt Betty was most excited by the El.  She loved the train ride into town.