Back in The 'Ville

I missed my little condo. I even had it cleaned beforehand so that when I arrived, haggard and smelly on Sunday night; it maintained the quaint tidiness of my summer reminiscing.
I will post a substantive account of my journey (including a dog vomiting on me, being leered at by 38 tattooed goons in one day, and changing my entire outfit while on cruise control)...but until then you must read the words of my hero, Barbara Kingsolver:
"For most people everywhere, surely, food anchors holiday traditions. I probably spent some years denying the good in that, mostly subconsciously - devoutly refusing the Thanksgiving pie, accepting the stigma my culture has attached to celebrating food, especially for women my age. Because of the inscriptions written on our bodies by the children we've borne, the slowing of metabolisms and inevitable shape-shifting, we are supposed to pretend if we are strong-willed food is not all that important. Eat now and pay later, we're warned. Stand on the scale, roll your eyes, and on New Year's day resolve to become a moral person again.
But most of America's excess pounds were not gained on national holidays. After a certain age we can't make a habit of pie, certainly, but it's a soul-killing dogma that says we have to snub it even on Thanksgiving. Good people eat. So do bad people, skinny people, fat people, tall and short ones. Heaven help us, we will never master photosynthesis. Planning complex, beautiful meals and investing one's heart and time in their preparation is the opposite of self-indulgence. Kitchen-based family gatherings are process-oriented, cooperative, and in the best of worlds, nourishing and soulful. A lot of calories get used up before anyone sits down to consume. but more importantly, a lot of talk happens first, news exchanged, secrets revealed across generations, paths cleared with a touch on the arm. I have given and received some of my life's most important hugs with those big oven-mitt potholders on both hands."
Can I get an Amen?!