Auntie Banality Writes a Boring Family-Oriented Post

I had a nice weekend with my family, including my siblings and their kids. My brother's daughters are awesome:

• The 14-year-old is crafty. We gave her The Big-Ass Book of Crafts for Christmas, and she spent the rest of the evening reading it. She and Mr. Banality bonded over craft-related discussions. Then she made everyone make a bookmark and praised the merits of each one (even the not-so-great ones).
• The sophomore in college is majoring in exercise science, and she did an assessment on Mr. Banality's knee. It was cool to see her do her thing, and it was cool that Mr. Banality trusted her enough to do it. Who knew that observing knee palpation could make me teary-eyed? This niece is also dealing with a difficult roommate situation, and it sounds like she's making one good decision after another.
• The 22-year-old niece recently graduated with a degree in music education. She plays the French horn, and she's somewhat snarky, so I have always had a special appreciation for her. One highlight was that she brought her boyfriend to the gathering so he could meet the family. He's a delightful young man: polite, unassuming, smart, and personable. Also, HE'S A JAZZ PIANIST. In addition to playing a great mini-concert for us, he let my sister and me warble behind him while he played, and he was incredibly gracious and enthusiastic about the whole thing. The next morning, he was curled up on the couch reading Kenny Werner's Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician Within, an obscure book that I HAD JUST FINISHED READING, and we had a lovely conversation about mindfulness and improvisation. He is adorable, and if he and my niece break things off, I will be incredibly disappointed. But supportive. Because I'm like that.