Sunshine and babies make the heart glad

I spent this past weekend visiting my girlfriend Olivia's family in the east-bay of Northern California. We had a great time and I felt at home with her family right away. It didn't take long for the kidding to begin; both her Step-Dad and brother Shawn located a weakness in the "new guy" immediately: he's a Seattle Mariners fan. Living in the Bay Area, naturally they are fans of the Oakland A's who beat (or more appropriately crushed and slaughtered) my beloved M's 19 out of 21 games last year (or something ridiculous like that). That's alright. Maybe I'm naive, but you know what they say about paybacks . . .

It was also a great visit because Shawn and his wife Misty were bringing their newborn son Christian back home for the first time. As you can see from the picture (not my favorite picture, but it will have to do), he's a pretty cute little guy. And he's got a personality to boot - not fussy and whiny (or doesn't seem to be at this point), but happy and content most of the time. Babies seem to have a disarming presence about them. In the midst of family squabbles and conflict, all the trouble doesn't seem quite as severe or important with a little bundle of joy around.

And of course, it was also sunny and in the upper 70s. I didn't realize how badly I missed the sun until I saw it again for a sustained amount of time. As our return flight descended upon the Seattle gloom-weather, it was hard not to reminisce about back-yard barbeques amongst Orange and Lemon trees with Richie Masadas cupping his hands and yelling (as only Richie can do), "Je-SUS!" to howls of joyful laughter. It was a good weekend.