Sibling Summit

SHERYL AND I JUST GOT BACK from a great Hart Sibling Summit in Phoenix, or the great suburb of Chandler, to be more exact.

After my mom died in 2005, the four remaining kids decided to try and meet at least once a year, on Labor Day weekend if possible. I had to quit my job to make it this year. Just kidding. Sort of.

In Phoenix, you need two things to survive summer - air conditioning, and a pool. My brother has both. We spent a lot of time floating and playing pool volleyball while trying not to spill Stella Artois, and I spent much of Saturday watching college football. I hate Alabama, by the way.

The idea is to do a lot of nothing and enjoy the company. By 9 or 10 at night I'm usually wiped out. Fortunately my 20-year-old daughter, Emily, kept up and stayed up all night.

I even managed to sneak some golf in on a very warm Monday afternoon/early evening. About the only bad part was my fingers getting soft from the pool. We got back Tuesday afternoon and at lessons Tuesday night, my students were wondering why I was crying. Well, playing guitar for several hours after your fingers go soft is a good reason.

Life is too short to not hang out. I appreciate my family more and more as time goes by. And now we look forward to the Hart Sibling Summit 2013 in Denver.

And no more vacations, for a while.