It had been close to two weeks since I’d seen Lydia, so I jumped at the chance when she suggested yesterday that we have lunch in town today. Tage joined us as well, but between Lydia and me I don’t think the poor guy got more than two words in the whole time. After we ate, we made a quick trip to the mall for some odds and ends, and also met up with Olof, who had a short work day due to tomorrow’s being a holiday. On our way back home, we dropped Lydia off at her place, then got back here just as the three littler girls were wrapping up their school days.

Over the course of the past few years, Lydia has been spending less and less time at home, but it’s still a strange adjustment having her not really show up here at all. She does still drop in from time to time, but it’s nearly always when I’m away in Uppsala, so I feel more disconnected from her than usual. Thank goodness for text messaging and Facebook; otherwise I’d have hardly any contact with her. She’s doing well, though, and it was fun to be able to catch up face to face. Once summer comes along in a few weeks, we should be able to see more of each other, and I’m looking forward to that.

Speaking of seeing more of each other, I’m very much enjoying being at home with my family (and my dogs and cats!) for an extended period. The last time I was home for this long at a stretch was at the end of March. Even better than just being home, this is a long weekend, with everybody home through Monday (which, coincidentally, is when I leave again for Uppsala). Olof does have to work on Monday, but he always works from home on Mondays, so we can all just sort of take it easy until next week.