When coming home doesn't mean resting...

Well, I arrived home from my week in the desert, and I haven't had time to myself since.

Mom picked me up at the airport, in the company of my best friend Mari. We got home just before midnight Friday night, and in the morning, yesterday, I was informed that the Buchanan Center for the Arts was asking for local artists to offer up works for sale, for the Christmas season, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the Buchanan. I didn't have anything handy, so I had to go digging, then make the delivery. I spent a little time talking about the future of the BCA (and other nonsense, but then, I'm a Chatty Cathy doll with an endless string pulled) with one of the staffers, then headed out homeward.

When I returned home, I was asked to help out with (and, naturally, to attend) a reception for MC's Stacy Cordery, in celebration of the success of her new book. She's one of the most successful authors to be connected to my alma mater, and my mom's best friend and her husband were hosting the reception, so we raced over to help with setting up and such. I'll do my best to get a few pix posted as soon as I can.

Anyway, my week-long absence was arranged by my seester and her husband, in order that I might have the opportunity to meet the daughter I had given up for adoption upon her birth nearly 30 years ago. I had never directly seen her -- not even on the day she was born, because I knew even then that, had I looked at her or held her, I'd never have been able to surrender her to the more capable adults who I hoped would raise her. So, this was a momentous occasion for all of us, I suppose... I was in terror that I would say something or do something to completely botch things and leave the young woman hating me (or worse, finding me less than nothing) for the rest of her days.

Instead, we had a very nice dinner at a restaurant convenient to her home -- very important, since less than a week days prior to this dinner, she had given birth to her second child. Technically and biologically, that makes me twice a grandmother. Still, my daughter's parents offered a HUGE kindness, as well: they had been watching over the firstborn for the past couple of weeks, a few hundred miles away, and brought the five-year-old daughter up to The Meadow so she could meet me, my sister, her husband, my daughter's biological father, his high-school buddy who lived in that city and had made the arrangements, and his wife (or significant other). So, we had my daughter, her husband, their daughter and newborn son (seriously newborn!) arrive a little bit later than we did (the baby had expressed his hunger just as they were ready to go out the door. Imagine that! ;-) ).

I had a chance to shake hands with the bright little girl who was my granddaughter, and held my sleepy little grandson in my arms for what seemed a lightning flash and an eternity. I suppose there are better feelings in the world, but I have not yet experienced them.

Still, I've been so busy since Monday evening, I haven't really had a chance to sit and sift through my senses. I hope in the next few days to post a few thoughts and a buzillion photos... none of them from the dinner, because I was too nervous to remember to bring my camera in for the occasion... But my seester and her husband and I did quite a few other things while we were in LV, and some of those pix are pretty cool.

Updates after I've had at least 8 hrs of shuteye.