"Lessons learned from a trip back home" (Christmas/New Years trip; late, I know, but I owe it to Walter):

1) The freezing weather (8 degrees) reminded me of one major reason I left;
2) The freezing weather outside created insanely dry and overly warm heat indoors everywhere;
3) The dry heat created nose bleeds and chapping all over my lips and hands;
4) That reminded me of another reason I left;
5) Walter continues to be a great friend in my life (We met through the gay group I created at UMKC way back in 1990/1991 and have seen each other through many years of changes, travels, moves, bf's, semi-bf's, dates, and other crazy happenings);
6) My niece, Mariah, is the cutest, most wonderful Little Kid in the whole world;
7) Mariah also knows how to throw an incredible tantrum and reigns supreme as the Queen;
8) Caveat: When my sister, her mother, Wendy, is around, Wendy reigns supreme as the Queen and Mariah is the Princess;
9) Wendy is still so young (25; with a seven year old running around to take care of; can you imagine?) and she can drive you crazy just as well;
10) I am not Mariah's father, although many times people thought I was;
11) I'm old enough to be a father (yikes!);
12) My family is incredibly wonderful and definitely know how to make you feel at home;
13) Kansas City is getting more diverse;
14) The gay scene of Kansas City is getting better (what with the continued and popular presence of the gay coffee house downtown, and the greater diversity of people in the clubs);
15) Avoiding this "Lessons learned" for several weeks made it even harder to write.....