Birthdays.  This is a good place to start.  During Holly’s freshman year – after we all felt terrible about her first birthday away from all family – we came up with an idea that proved most agreeable.  We sent a cake to my daughter, and an identical cake to each of her grandparents’ homes, to her favorite aunt, and to our home.  We synchronized our watches.  At exactly the same time – 8 p.m. pacific standard time – everybody cut into their cake and toasted Holly’s special day.  (Not to be advertising, but we found that cakes from Dancing Deer – easily found on the internet – ship well).  Hey!  That was fun!  We felt connected.  It has become a tradition.

For my next mini-blog (Tip #2), I think I’ll tell you what we’ve done about storing stuff over the summer.  We’ve done it the wrong way and we’ve done it the right way.