Wanna hear a great pick-up line?

It was totally smooth. And when I told my little brother Sam about it, he said, "Hey I should use that!" So I'm standing outside of the airport terminal in Houston (Oh, I made it, by the way! I'm home, I'm home!) waiting to see the blue Ford Expedition that holds my family. I hear someone to my right say "Excuse me, do you have any gum?" I turn and there is a boy about my height and age with light brown skin (probably partially black) and with four or six inches of that awesome hair only black kids can pull off (halfway between dreads and braids) staring expectantly at me. I was startled by his initiative to make contact with a stranger but encouraged by his friendly demeanor. I told him I did have gum and pulled my backpack off to get it. After handing him a piece of 5 Solstice, I planned to say "you're welcome, Merry Christmas, goodbye, etc." But he didn't leave! Not that I'm complaining, of course. That makes me sound like a hermit-y, anti-social Scrooge. But I expected it to be a very impersonal favor and then The End. But instead, he asked if I was coming home from school and it sort of took off from there. Travis and I chatted about school mostly — what we're studying and why, where we go and why, etc. I forgot how friendly people are in Houston!! Maybe he was just trying to get my number or something, but I had fun waiting for my family to pick me up :) It's nice to have random interactions to practice my people skills.

Also, my family is freaking hilarious! After dinner, we stayed at the table to eat dessert and that's when the stories came rolling in. We have a knack for laughing and I love it. One person will laugh at the actual story or scenario and that gets everyone else going. I usually end up gasping for air or accidentally letting a shrill squeal spill from my lips. It would be pointless for me to try to describe any of the banter that went on. But suffice it say that my family is quite a laugh and I love them :) TTFN