53.

Neck Sensitivity

I just laughed harder than I’ve laughed in a long time. It’s a classic Myers family move to laugh ourselves to tears, which often means five adults in the kitchen doubled over laughing and crying our eyes out.

Tonight I went over to Katie and Matt’s house for dinner/study nest. We (Katie) made a Katie and Matt classic for dinner: avocado enchiladas. They were delightful—“flavor country” in fact—and then we all lined up on the couch, Macs on our laps, and got some work done. When Emily came home, she was disturbed by the sight of our laptop line up, but I’m thinking that she would have been more disturbed if we’d gone full-on nest.

Study nest was Katie’s idea and it definitely goes in my top ten, maybe top five, things that I love about her. If I’m remembering correctly, the first nest dates back to the 2nd St. house, almost five years ago. Katie invited me over and we dragged as many blankets as we could into the extra bedroom, piling and bunching them into two small nests (perhaps with mini nests for the dogs). We surrounded ourselves with our books, snugged into our nests, and got to work. It’s a manifestation of Katie’s comfort in books, another being the extra bag that she brings on trips full of nothing but books—just in case she needs them, like friends.

It’s difficult—maybe impossible—to describe what got us laughing so hard tonight. Emily used the word “psychotic” more than once. Turns out, both Katie and I have extreme neck sensitivity. I know for a fact that my sister is familiar with my neck issues, particularly the weird hissing sound that I spontaneously make whenever someone’s finger comes near my throat. Our psychotic fit involved trying to touch each other’s necks, hissing, twitching, and laughing ourselves to tears. It was weird. And perfect, in a Myers family laughing in the kitchen kind of way.