Wednesday was pretty busy at work, but I still had time to get my car aligned and cleaned. I knew Mom wouldn't be able to resist getting our pictures done, since it was the first time all four of her kids have been in town together in five years, so I had my brows waxed and shaped on my lunch break.

I flirted with the idea of leaving Wednesday evening, since I prefer night driving, but the traffic reports for the Turnpike were very discouraging. So instead I went home and did all the laundry, then packed the car up. I took some night time sinus medicine, knowing it was the only way I would get any sleep. It was still 11:30 before I was satisfied that everything was packed and the house was tidy enough. I set the alarm for 4 A.M. When the sun woke me up at 7:30, I could see that the alarm had been shut off, but I didn't know if Big D had turned it off or if I did it myself in a drugged haze. It was for the best, since even that late I was still feeling groggy from the sinus medicine.

There were cops all over the interstates, so I set the cruise control six miles over the speed limit and pulled into a rest stop every time a CD ended. My travelling style exasperates a lot of people, because I like to stop about once an hour to walk around, rest my eyes, use the bathroom, whatever. I get carsick. Sick of riding in a car. And I can't stand driving when the sun is out. Gives me a headache. The drive was pleasant, though, since I got to set my own pace. The roads were crowded, but since I was driving so slow, most of the traffic passed me by.

With the time change, I made it to Mom's house at 1:30 in the afternoon. Stepdad was puttering around on his boat, as usual. After he bought this house, he reshaped the steep driveway into a gently rising curve, then shored up the corner and built a boat dock, designed to look as if you were at a marina. The boat is a 25-footer with a tiny cabin, and he takes it fishing almost every weekend when the weather is nice. The other weekends he spends cleaning and fixing it, or just sitting on the deck listening to the radio.

He came out to my car to help carry some of my stuff in. I gave him half a hug, since my arms were loaded. It prevented him from pressing me too hard against him. Inside, Amber and Andrew were watching television and they got up to give me hugs. I could hear Mom's shower running. After lugging all my things from the car to the guest room, I got myself into the hall shower, did my hair and makeup and felt human again. Mom was in the kitchen by then and I finally hugged her hello. The whole house smelled like roasting turkey. She was pouring pineapple sauce over a ham, which she then shoved in the oven next to the turkey. Dinner was planned for early in the evening, so that Alice could make it.

Andrew had disappeared by that time, gone to his girlfriend's house to fix her radio was the excuse I heard. Amber was reading the paper and completely ignoring all my conversational forays. Mom could sense my feeling were hurt, so she came over to talk to me for a while, probing me with all the same questions she had asked in our last four phone conversations. How was Big D, how was his job, how was my job, was I saving money, how was the house, when was I getting a new house, when was I going back to school, and on and on. I joked that she should have been a reporter or a cop, master of interrogation that she is. She laughed and agreed.

Amber went into the guest room, where the computer is kept, and Mom had to get on with cooking dinner, so I pulled out my book and found a well-lit chair. I made the mistake of bringing a really good book with me, and for the rest of the weekend I was almost more concerned with reading it than with visiting my family and friends.

Shortly before dinner was ready, Alice showed up with her boyfriend in tow. They had already eaten with his family, but were ready for more. Stepdad's youngest son Shawn also came over, after eating with his mother. I was amazed at the changes in him. A year ago you would have guessed Shawn was 12 rather than 18. Now he's nearly 6 feet tall, with a man's face and frame. I don't know if I would have recognized him if I hadn't been expecting him. He acts different, too, expressing an interest in other people and not trying to be the center of attention. He has a decent job and a good truck and seems content.

I was the only one to hug Shawn when he came in. Alice, Amber, and Andrew were friendly enough, but they don't consider him a brother because our parents never officially got married. Mom has never liked Shawn and she makes no secret of it. She rails that he is spoiled, selfish, and stupid, and she hounds him at every visit so that he always leaves early. It puzzles me, because while he isn't the brightest boy ever, he's always been quiet and polite. To my eyes, he is far less spoiled, selfish, and likely to get arrested than Andrew, but maybe Mom can't stand for her boyfriend's plain, dull son to do better in life than her own brilliant, handsome, lazy son. I think she might even be jealous that Shawn has a better father and wealthier stepfather than Andrew.

There were still vegetables to cook, so Mom shooed everyone out of the kitchen. The guys went out to the boat and I followed my sisters into the guest room to finally discover the reason for Amber's moodiness. She was composing a lengthy e-mail to Rob, who is Stepdad's older son. Earlier she had called his cell phone to wish him a Happy Thanksgiving. He was very terse with her, saying only that he was at his fiance's house in Virginia and could not talk.

Amber had already drafted a couple of pages to e-mail Rob, and asked our opinion about what she had to say. It was all about their history together and how she wishes they could put certain things behind them and go back to being friends. Let me fill you in:

Rob and his father moved in with us almost ten years ago. Alice was 16, Robert 15, and Amber 13. Very soon after that, Alice and Rob started dating. They were together for about a year, then Alice broke up with him to get back together with the boy she eventually married. Rob took a long time to stop pining for her, but eventually they became very good friends. But his best friend was Amber. They were almost inseparable, and before he left for the Navy basic training, they became romantically involved.

Their relationship carried on through all his training and his assignment to Italy. He bought a diamond ring and proposed, she bought a wedding dress and started making guest lists and planning the reception. Then she called off the engagement and broke up with him, deciding at the last minute that she just didn't love him enough to spend the rest of her life with him. Once again, he was devastated. Every time we spoke to him, he was dead drunk, and all of his stories were about how drunk he had been the night before and how drunk he was going to get the next night.

Things got kind of ugly between Amber and Rob, and even uglier between Amber and Stepdad, who was having a hard time living with the girl who broke his son's heart. It took a long while for things to settle and everone decided to be mature, since they were all still in the same family. Rob was stationed in San Diego and he and Amber became tentative friends again, meeting in Vegas sometimes to hang out. His visits home got less and less tense, and he started dating other girls in California.

When Rob started dating a girl in the Navy named Samantha, the problems came back. Three months into their relationship she got pregnant. They had already been talking about moving in together, so they decided to go ahead and get engaged. Rob brought his fiance' home to meet the family. At that time Alice, newly divorced, was living with Mom and Stepdad, along with Amber and Andrew.

For the entire week of their visit, Samantha refused to speak to either of my sisters, and tried to restrict Rob from associating with them, on the grounds that they are his ex-girlfriends. She doesn't believe in maintaining relationships with exes, even if they are your almost step-sisters. He resisted her at first, but as the wedding and her due date draw nearer, he talks to Alice and Amber less and less. During all of his phone calls to them, and even to me, she stands over him to hear every word and sharply question him at every turn of the conversation.

Amber's Thanksgiving e-mail to him was about regaining their friendship, or at least being civil enough to keep peace in the family. She seemed to feel better once it was sent.

We were called to dinner soon after that, and it was a good dinner. Alice and I riffed off eachother and kept Mom laughing, Stepdad brought Shawn out of his shell to tell us about his new job, Andrew was in a good mood. I didn't let myself get too grossed out by Alice drooling all over her boyfriend. The food was the same Thanksgiving dinner we have every year, and everyone ate a ton.

Just as our plates were emptying, Andrew got a call from work asking him to go and turn off some lights, since he lived closest to the place. I went with him on the 10-minute errand, trying to enjoy the blasting Lords of Acid CD he put on for me. Asking him to turn the volume down makes me feel so old. When we got back I helped Mom clean up and Amber, Alice, and the new boyfriend went back to the house they share.

I read my really good book until my eyes wouldn't stay open any longer, then turned off the light and tried to get some sleep in Mom's guest room.