Absence Note

To whom it may concern,

I have an excuse! I know, I know. I can feel disapproving, disappointed eyes burning into the back of my head through the interwebs, but you have to  understand why. "You were doing so well. You were being consistent too," I know, but I have a legitimate excuse and I hope you all understand.

So the last couple of week or so of my life have been a loud whirlwind of headaches, outings and unusual meetings. This also has an explanation - my mothers astoundingly large and loud family. Now to be expected to an extent, this large family took up a lot of the time that I had been permitted, due to the fact that I have been on vacation. I can say, however, that the last couple of weeks have provided a few of the most memorable days of my entire life.

Due to the fact that I have always been the youngest in my extended family, on both sides, I had always been somewhat restricted on what I could and couldn't be involved in. This always used to bother me because, as to be expected, I wanted to spend as much of the limited time I had with my cousins whenever I could. This time, however, it felt like I had finally matured to the stage of accepting the fact that there was always going to be that division, irrespective of whether it was in concern with my family, between me and older people, and that was something I was going to have to live with. This made my time spent with my family even that much more enjoyable.

My family has always been very close. We make an effort to all come together, from our various sides of the world, at least once in two or three years. Even my fathers side and my mothers side are very close, to the point where my aunt from my mothers side will visit a part of the world just to stay with my fathers mother. We're all entangled together and this was established to me last year during one of my cousins wedding. Every family member, from which ever side of which ever family, at least attempted to come together to celebrate the first legal, loving addition to our family. It's because of this bond that I consider family very important.

Of course, when everyone made the decision to come to Australia and spend time with our family acting as the host, my first thought was "How on earth are we going to fit that many people into our house?!" As it happens, however, as soon as everyone came and settled, sleeping and other positions soon became comfortably established, with minor conflict. With so many working, active and many young people, it was hard to set a time where everyone arrived and departed and so we had family coming and going as the weeks passed us by. The time I did spend with my family this year, I will never forget.

So yeah guys - call me lame - but I had to devote this time to my family. Not only because I love them very much, but because they mean a whole lot to me. I hope some of you share this relationship, and if not, you have someone which you can share this kind of relationship with. We also did a little bit of road tripping along the way, in which we stopped at many beautiful places (so expect a few things coming your way). I did miss talking to you guys, and you should expect me back soon.

Much love,

Duchess