Early Xmas in Indianapolis: Day 1

December 22, 2021

After a long absence (we skipped visiting family in Indianapolis last year due to Covid)… tonight was our first time seeing one another in a long, long while.

My sister and Shane’s family have since moved into our childhood home, and they’ve been very busy doing a lot of renovations and updates. Not only was it great to see everyone again, it was a mixture of nostalgia… as I entered a house that I recognized, and also entered a house that was in the progress of transforming into a newer home.

Liz, meeting one of the new members of the family: Kaya.

Jahnu took over my old room (and there are no longer any heavy metal posters, adoring the walls). Which is sad for me, but probably good for Jahnu.

I got to check out Jahnu’s computer setup.

Like Jackson, he also has some custom keyboards. And seems to know all about switches and key caps.

The living room, updated. It’s a mixture of things, as some of the furniture is from the old house (and the piano in the background is from our grandmother’s house). But the floors and walls are all brand new.

We were talking about old videos that we used to watch as kids, and I shared my discovery of that weird Japanese version of Jack and the Beanstalk from 1974.

My sister didn’t remember it at first, but she recognized this photo. She kept saying “Who is that?” but couldn’t quite place where she recognized him from.

As I played the video, she started to remember bits and pieces. And it was hilarious, watching her remember all the various characters from this film.

Hanging out, catching up, talking a lot about work and work/life balance. And also about how crazy things have been, since Covid. All the while, Jahnu was in the kitchen, updating his spider-man t-shirt.

Jasmine hung out with us for a little bit, but she had gotten a fever yesterday… and was feeling under the weather. So outside of hanging out with us over dinner, she mostly kept to her own room.