Thanksgiving!

And so begins the holidays.

I was in Los Angeles this last week, joining my mom, brother, and sister-in-law for some turkey and football. We also got very lucky -- my cousin Jill Boxberger, and her boyfriend Haven, performed at a venue called Room 5 on La Brea Avenue. Jill is a gorgeous girl, vivacious, kind, and loaded with talent. But her voice just gets better and better each time I hear her. My aunt and cousins were there too, as was Andrew Kupersmith (my honorary brother), so the whole weekend was filled with family and good cheer.

And bad football. Oh KU. To raise our hopes so high, only to dash them. And Missouri. Detest Missouri. Now my Hawks just have to reign in Allen Fieldhouse this season to exact vengeance upon them. This will make me happy! Rock chalk jayhawk. ku.

Mom and I read an article in the New York Times about keeping a gratitude journal. It seems that those who count their blessings really do have more positive outlooks, and feel more content. So we decided to give it a go.

Here's a very abbreviated version of what I am thankful for today:
I am eternally grateful for the family I have, especially the times when we act up around each other. I mean, who other than family will put up with your shenanigans, and then call you out when necessary?

Every day I count the blessings of my friendships. This year has been about a rededication to my relationships, and my lovely girlfriends in particular. Some of my greatest friendships have been with the girls I used to hang out with back in 1976, at the swimming pool, when our moms dropped us off in the summertime. So, that's now (yikes) 31 years! I love the fact that we've all watched each other grow, change, succeed, struggle, and still turn to each other.

My new friendships, the ones I have made in the past few years, open me to new worlds of understanding and grace daily. I never knew I could be so accepted, or challenged, or gratified in my life. I cherish these friends so very much.

Books, and psychology, and dreams. These create the foundation I stand upon today, and I must be thankful for all the gifts of my education. Because of these gifts, and my loved ones, I can bring the best parts of myself into the world and be a good therapist and writer.

Never could have done it without you. I carry love with me in every step I take.

Amor vincit om,
Steph

Stay close, we'll look for a welcome shore

Oh BOY. Spent all day today in myth and fairy tale, with Dr. Lionel Corbett at the helm of our Jung class. He has a wonderfully British sensibility and is terribly funny. I took fifteen pages of notes, and have so much more I feel like I need to find and read! I love this PhD program more than the Master's already, and this is session number two. It's going to be quite a journey, I can tell.

On that note, I will briefly speak about water, an element that keeps coming up in my dreams, and my thoughts of dolphins.

Something in the stars lately must be acting up, because I there has been much too much pain lately. Some has been the pain of transition, and transformation. Remember being a kid and feeling your body growing, your bones aching as your body readjusted to its new shapes and sizes? Growing pains, we call them. So what do we call them later, when it is our soul, our capacity to endure, our capacity to love or forgive, that find themselves stretched?

There have been tragedies amongst my community of friends, and I witness one of the phenomena that makes me feel the most alive, the most grateful.

I call it "dolphining", because to me, it's a noun we can just go ahead and make a verb. When one of the pod is sick or mourning, the rest of the group circles, protects, lifts, and serves to hold and care for. When I witness or participate in this kind of loving, it humbles me, and reminds me of human vitality, and my utter, naked thankfulness for being alive.

If not for this community, this love, we may just drown when life drags us out into the rough water. I am reminded to turn to my friends in my joys and in my disappointments, my tears and my laughter.

And to remember the many qualities of water. And the many qualities of dry land.
Thankful and exhausted,
Steph