Here I am again, back from another long absence. I just had the pleasure of traveling back to Arizona for a few days with my bride-to-be to visit my family. The visit was certainly a success, despite my parents' busy schedule and lack of time to actually sit down and talk much. Perhaps it will be better next time. And at the least, we had the privilege of spending a lot of time with my various and sundry siblings.

At any rate, the visit proved once again that a highly developed sense of direction is for some reason naturally present in the Gugg genes, while woefully absent in the makeup of the lovely Elisabeth Dyess.

While home, you see, it happened that my sister Martha needed to be picked up from her ballet class. I was elected for the job, but was uncertain of the location of the ballet studio. Remembering that Elisabeth had attended a ballet class when we last visited a year and a half ago, I asked if she knew how to get there. Instead of answering, she just laughed at me for asking her, but her amusement was suddenly interrupted by a very small voice, informing us that one must simply "go into town until New Frontiers, turn right there and then turn left at the third driveway" to reach the desired location. It was my sister Abigail. Who is not quite four years old. Needless to say, Elisabeth was not a little shocked.

It is funny to note that she received equally competent directions from my sister Martha during that previous visit. Martha was, at the time, only 8. As I said, it must just be in the genes.

So, for the sake of our future children, we must simply hope that my directional genes are the dominant ones, while of course praying very hard that hers are dominant in those areas pertaining to beauty and intelligence and work ethic...actually, to everything EXCEPT sense of direction.