The thing is, no one in my family is normal. Annemarie, the oldest at 24, is currently in the Australian bush, doing lord knows what before she jets off to Japan next month to teach at a lingual school there. My crazy sister, who left home when I was ten, graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and promptly got a teaching degree and left to teach in a Peruvian elementary school. She’s been jetting around the world ever since, teaching during the year and partying in the summer. I see her for holidays and for a week each summer before she’s gone again.

Christian is a conservative, ultra-preppy, insane anti-thesis of my mother. Born during her devout Christian days, he was raised in a constantly changing household until my dad came along. Maybe that’s why he worships the man- he’s never left home, even though he’s 21, and is now moving with us to finish college at the University of Chicago and intern at Dad’s architecture firm for more “learning time” or, more accurately, “Charlie time”.