Last Week of First Year

Last year at this time I was on a plane headed for a month to Oaxaca, Mexico.

Man that sounds nice.

But I gotta admit that I'm glad to be where I am- sitting in a quiet office in the Psych Building on a beautiful spring Friday. It's the end of the week, next week is the last of the semester and year for classes, clients, and responsibilities until summer term (June 3rd).

When I was in Mexico last year, I wrote myself a letter. We made our students at Three Rivers in Montana write a "letter to yourself" as a therapeutic tool and ceremonial object. It occurred to me last year that I should do that myself. I found it the other day while I was sorting through odds and ends in the process of moving in.

Here are a few things I mentioned:
-Live in a place that feels good and I can share with others (I'm hosting the first year party tonight)
-Be ready for the ups and downs of Grad school (check and double check)- and have some clear idea of my dissertation topic (wish i could say check)
-Be doing yoga once a week (I've done it once- does that count?)
-Have a sense of balance in my life (beginning to feel more of this recently)
-Stay in touch with the people I love (this one was my favorite- and I'd like to think it's a check)

Anyhow- it was just fun to stumble across that letter and think about how much can happen in a year.

What will the next one bring?

Blessings of the Basics

I just had a great weekend with Phil. We didn't do anything spectacular. We ate good food. We listened to local music. We rode bikes. We listened to more music. We drank some good beer. We played frisbee golf. We had brunch this morning in Market Square and watched kids, families, and couples walk around and enjoy the sunny spring weather. We had nice chats. Just the basics.

It was/is such a blessing to have a cousin who is my good friend and who lives "just down the road" as Grandma would say. Hard to believe that the next time I see him will be in June-Gabriela will be 2 and I will be a 2nd year Doctoral Student!!!!

Spring Explosion

Spring has sprung. Actually, I think exploded may be the more accurate verb. It's sort of unbelievable how fast it went from sort of chilly to quite hot. I try to pay attention to the elemental messages our Mother Nature sends us. I'll use my counseling skills of reflective listening to see if I can't capture what I'm getting: "So I'm hearing that you are ready to move on- to start a new season." Something like that.

Anyhow, while I do appreciate a smoother, more savorable seasonal transition, I'm digging this abrupt explosion. The bare trees out the window of my office are brilliant pink. The daffodils are everywhere. The birds are so excited. I'm hoping to take a cue from Mother Nature and get out there and get this last month of stuff done.

One month from today and I'll be back in the Northwest.