gar-ba-cue

The past two days I have taken a 'lunch break' to chat with my sister and nephew while they eat lunch together. Yesterday we skyped, and today we chatted on the phone. In past jobs, I often would call my sister when I needed a brain break or run to the parking lot to seriously vent to one of the few people (Em is one of these people!) who can handle my venting without judging me.

When I started working in Colorado at my desk job almost three years ago, the pace of my 8-5 picked up dramatically and I usually found myself calling her on my way home...talking to her voicemail because now she was on the clock doing her wonderful piano teaching gig.

Now that I werk from home, I can get in touch with her without worrying about finding a private place to have a private conversation.  My home office is about as private as it can get, and connecting with my sister is one of the best ways I know to have human interaction during the day without feeling overly self conscious about how much I talk about work or personal stuff...she cares about both!

The bonus to my lunch break the past two days: sneaking little glimpses and conversations with my favorite nephew. He's getting to be so smart that he remembers specific things he and I have talked about or joked about in the past. I taught him about the word 'barbecue' a few weeks ago (at least, he pretended it was a new word!), which he pronounced 'gar-ba-cue' at the time. Yesterday I was asking him what bacon smelled like, and he said..."Hey Beans, does bacon smell like barbecue?", with the cutest little twinkle in his eye. It made my day.