Road trip!

千里之行始於足下。

Or, a journey of 1,000 li begins with a single step. Or, for those of you who want a different standard, a journey of 25,000 chains begins with a single step.

And so a bunch of folks are on the road, or will be. Grandpa John just made it back home safely after spending a week playing bachelor with dad -- we're pretty sure the blood stains will come out of the carpet, but only time will tell.

Uncle Rodrigo should be on his way back to Aunt Melissa, who's been happy while other family members visit her.

That gives mom a slight chance to breathe from Uncle Rodrigo as she gets ready for her own trip with Lil' Genghis. The lady folk are sickly but doing somewhat better; here's to hoping they've got the strength to stick it out. They should be getting comforted by dad around lunchtime Tuesday ... Not too early for a pina colada to help mom rest!

That original proverb came from Lao Ze's Tao Te Ching, who offers some advice to folks on taking things a little easy as the world's in transition. Here's to hoping mom doesn't rush to the vacuum cleaner or anything!

Rushing into action, you fail.
Trying to grasp things, you lose them.
Forcing a project to completion,
you ruin what was almost ripe.

Therefore the Master takes action
by letting things take their course.
He remains as calm
at the end as at the beginning.
He has nothing,
thus has nothing to lose.
What he desires is non-desire;
what he learns is to unlearn.
He simply reminds people
of who they have always been.
He cares about nothing but the Tao.
Thus he can care for all things.

Yeah. Pina colada.

We're supposed to be getting some photos from Uncle Rodrigo soon -- as well as, perhaps, pictures from Uncle Ed and Aunt Donna's wedding.