Oof.

You know, it's exciting being home. (It's also weird blogging while knowing that half the people who read it are right downstairs.) But it's a little considerably different from being at school. You're with people who knew you before you left and haven't really seen you since. Every time you see them, you learn how they've changed and they notice differences in you - when you talk and when you stay silent, what's funny to you and what's not, when you socialize and when you stay in your room.

Some scrutinize how you make ice cream, questioning whether you curdled the egg yolks or not. Some wonder exactly how non-traditional the food for this year's Thanksgiving meal will be. And some, you just have to remember that they're in eighth grade and you really aren't sure what they're interested in at the moment other than Angry Birds.

But in any case, I'm here for the week, and I'd bet that by week's end I won't be quite ready to go back. Here's to figuring out how this whole family works together all over again.

Update 11/27: I was right. I'm not ready to go back.