What I learned on my summer vacation: Epilogue

So we're back in NJ, mostly caught up on laundry, all caught up on Entourage, hanging out with a pizza and our puppy. Life is good. A few more things I learned this week:

-- I will never, ever get caught up on all of my New Yorkers, no matter how long my vacation.

-- I like the Outer Banks, but I think that the Jersey Shore will always be my first love, and I think if I'd spent my summers in beach houses as big as this one on the Outer Banks, I'd be even more spoiled than I am now.

-- Having a dog awaiting us at home makes it much less depressing to come back from vacation.

-- My dad will always be completely stressed out and obsessive-compulsive for the 12 or so hours before check-out, but he and my mom are also both smiling ear-to-ear because they feel so happy to have had quality time with their "ducklings."

-- My family is loud, and strange, and quirky, and stubborn, and I'm so glad all 19 of us don't live in the same house 365 days a year. But I wouldn't trade them for a thing, and I'm glad that we had this time together, and I'd even do it again, happily. Not immediately, but someday.