And thus, the train instead of a plane. An entire day on either side of the visit to sit together and play games and kiss and hold hands.\n\nAlso, less likely to result in being trapped in an airport with a cancelled flight and no way to get back [[home]].

They are not bad families, they just are the kind of families you move 1,000 [[miles]] away from.

Home is your and your spouse and your cat, so in a way the majority of your home is on this train, temporarily relocating. This may end up being the nicest part of the holiday...which is fine, as it's very nice.

It's a very strange feeling to have someone transform your life and then realize that they existed for such a long time before that. \n\nYou know this applies for you too -- you existed, you did a lot before you fell in love -- but it's still strange. It's so strange that what is obvious day-to-day has to be communicated and taught to the //loved ones//, the people we left behind and only [[visit]].

It was careful math -- enough days to sound substantial when we relayed the plan, but not so many that we ended up depressed and trapped before we could go home.\n\nDoes everyone feel this way? Don't people realize that they themselves are causing that feeling for someone else? Or did everyone love their extended [[family]] for all of history before, oh, 1978?

You're on a [[train]].

The train is taking you to a place you've never lived, only visited. When you arrive you will be someone else's accessory, an odd additional character in another family's narrative.\n\nThis isn't your first Christmas with your spouse's family, or even your first Christmas being married, but it's your first one visiting family "as" a [[married]] person.

December 22, 2012\n

Courtney Stanton

.passage { width: 600px !important}\na:link { color: #00A78D; }\n