It's weird how certain situations can bring your family back together again

And make you feel like, well, a family again, as opposed to two teenagers, a twenty-something, and a somewhat responsible for the rest of us woman who can't believe she's going so grey already at 41.

Two such incidents have happened in as many days. First: I went to the beach yesterday morning with my grandmother, my cousin, my mom, and my sister (my brother was volunteering at the high school for freshman orientation because evidently he's a mentor? my brother? my brother who failed a marking period of honors bio? *is confused but pleased*). I hadn't seen my grandmother in quite some time, since January in fact--she was out of town when I came home for two days of Spring Break, and I somehow didn't make it out to see her when I was home at the beginning of the summer. She pulled me into the tightest, longest hug and I was reminded that I am missed. Then I walked into her house to discover that my 13 year old cousin had grown quite a few inches, and his voice had changed, and I felt like I'd been gone for too long. Then I got into the water at the beach, and called out for my sister to join me, and she did. All the fussing and fighting that A and I do was eradicated. There was splashing and swimming and floating and piggy-back-riding. I remembered what it felt like to have a sister. 

And then right now, Greg is asleep upstairs in my mom's bed. He had barely opened the door when I ran down the stairs and spread my arms wide and we shared a hug just as tight as that between my grandmother and I yesterday. I'm pretty sure our hug was longer than my mom's. Then he put his hands in my hair and called me "Afro Thunder". And my brother and sister came downstairs from their rooms and spent nearly three hours with us, the whole family together in the living room talking and laughing and reminiscing about the good times the five of us have shared over the years. Disregarding all the "Wowwwwwww x-thing has changed in y-way" statements, it was like the last two years never happened. Him being here feels so right. My anxiety has been [temporarily] replaced by the simplest of joys--I am surrounded by people I love and who love me.