All Together Now

So it has finally happened, the exciting news I've been mentioning for a while: my niece Rebecca is now a Philadelphia resident. My niece's mother and father moved here too, which is good. We were trying to figure it out the other day, how long has it been since the three Horn children have all lived in the same city? If you don't count a few summers during college then it was 1984 - probably about September '84 when older brother Alex went off to school. That's nearly 23 years ago- now that makes me feel old. Since 1984 Abby has lived in New York city, New Haven, Washington DC, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Cleveland (I'm sure she'll let me know a few places I forgot) So, as you can see we are very lucky to have her here. Alex and I have been back in Philadelphia for a while, so that's not so momentous.

Abby, Chip and Rebecca haven't quite totally moved into their new apartment yet. Some of their furniture is in limbo somewhere and they still have some business to take care of in Cleveland (they have a nice house to sell, if you're interested) It will take a few months for them to get into the rhythm and routine of Philadelphia. Abby will be rediscovering things she forgot about and noticing all the changes. Chip has a whole new city to explore and coffeehouses to discover. It will take a while to get used to having them around all the time now, in the past it has been a two or three times a year event.

My parents are probably the most excited to have all their children back together, back to the nest of Philadelphia. OK, so that's pushing it a bit. Of course they like to have us here, but they are most excited about having their grandchild around and they are anxiously awaiting a few more of them. People keep telling me that I'll probably be asked to babysit for my niece, personally I think it will be a while before her Grandparents get tired of the job.

One of the first things I told my sister do when she came back was to check out one of my favorite hoagie spots, Sarcones. It happens to be a few blocks from her new place. She got a turkey hoagie with spinach, peppers, and sharp provolone- I think that's the "Uncle Louie" She had planned to save some for her husband, but she ended up almost finishing it herself! Now that's my sister- getting back to her sandwich roots. It goes to show, you can take the girl out of Philadelphia.....