Having just returned from AL over break, I was contemplating on the challenges of geographically displaced friends and family.  So I got to selfishly thinking, why couldn’t all those we care about live in the same town as us?  We could have our own little society, and never have to travel far to visit loved ones.  I acknowledged that to be fair, we would have to include friends of friends, and also include their friends and family, and their friends, and so on.

But then I realized that we already live there.  It’s called Earth.  Wasn’t it kind of God to place all of our friends and family on one planet?  It saves us the hassle of intergalactic travel, which I hear can be quite a pain.

Just imagine if your little one has an accident midway to Neptune.  Good luck changing that diaper in zero gravity.  Oh, and since restroom stops are few and far between, you’ll probably have to bring some semblance of a container to…well…you know.  Also, I’m not sure that Mapquest or Google Maps has adequate galaxy coverage, and there are very few landmarks (Daddy, that asteroid looks familiar…), so the chances of getting lost, ending up too close to the sun, and going from Original Recipe to Extra Crispy in about 0.003 seconds are rather significant.  On the flip sides, if you don’t make like an intergalactic Eskimo and layer your clothing sufficiently, you’ll probably end up a human Popsicle (your choice of cherry or grape) before you reach your Saturn-dwelling relatives.  Major bummer.

So I have to agree that God knew what He was doing with His plan for the universe (except for required humanity classes in college, I still don’t get that…).  Anyway, back to planet Earth…

As I’ve previously mentioned, I spent my Thanksgiving break with the fam up in AL visiting the Radcliffe family.  If I had to sum up the trip in one word, it would have to be: super-awesome-incredible-wish-it-wasn’t-over-so-soon

(Hyphenation still counts as one word, right?)

(Hmm, should they be called hyphens or dashes?  Maybe both work, but I prefer “hyphen” due to the unique word construction, and because it almost rhymes with “python”, which is a programming language, so…yeah…hyphenation ftw…)

Anyway, I’ve listed some of the highlights from the trip below (Note: The following will contain several “you had to be there” or inside jokes, so if there’s something you don’t get or understand, don’t sweat it.   I do apologize for the exclusive humor).

With that in mind, here we go…

Collapsing in laughter as my 7-year-old brother returns an interception the length of the field for a touchdown (He had the crowd on their feet)

Watching YouTube videos while waiting for episodes of 24 to buffer (Hotpockets…)

Washing pink and purple paintball specks out of my hair after being on the wrong end of a headshot (How long until I respawn?)

Singing “The Hokey Pokey” while standing in a circle with our arms crisscrossed (Tom, you so failed)

Failing miserably at dancing, hula-hooping, and some random broomstick maneuver while onlookers laughed hysterically (Glad I could bring a little light into this dark and dismal world)

Continually refreshing the browser as I “watched” my Wolfpack become bowl eligible (Stupid ESPN, isn’t NCSU important enough to have on a major channel?  Come on…)

Scrambling frantically to recover from the changes made to my Facebook profile by a friend who obviously needs more redeeming ways to spend her time (I love you too Tab)

Flexing muscles and swooning chicks…  (Or should I say, “female specimens”?)

And finally, thank the Lord for unlimited texting (I have to say I probably quadrupled my monthly output in the past 4 days)

So underall (uh…I mean “overall”, sorry, I always get those two mixed up), I had a fantastical, splenderifous, and uber amazing time with some of my bestest and most awesomest friends.

(Boy, spell check had a field day with that last sentence.  I haven’t seen that many red marks since my last Computer Systems exam)

Thanks to everyone in AL for an unforgettable trip.  Y’all are the kind of friends that make Earth so incredible…