Oops, I forgot to publish this…last summer. So here it is. Yesterday was a very gloomy, rainy day and I basically spent the day thinking. While seating at my kitchen table I was reading an article in the latest issue of More magazine on the evolution of friendships through one’s life. It’s a subject that keeps creeping up in my thoughts again and again. As we “finish” raising our children and they move out, how do we walk the path and explore this new territory? Some are in the process of sending their next child to college and feeling another bird is flying away from the nest wanting to take in every precious moment to help them get settled into their new environment before heading back home and feeling the void on one side and the pride of having done the very best to bring the child to this time. The next big separation first pre-school and then college. Today is the beginning of February and we just survived one of the biggest winter storms and we are all reaching our breaking point. Snow, snow and more snow, then sleet and ice and more snow….As I awoke this morning to go teach my very early yoga class after dropping my son and his friend at work, I find that the biggest challenge in those uncertain times is to accept what we cannot control, be present, be kind to ourselves and others. Being on the mat forces us to do just that for that slice of time. While my students were in savasana (corpse/rest pose), I was seating in sukhasana or easy pose, calmer but the thoughts kept coming. Being in my mid-life along with many of my friends, we’re faced with new challenges and decisions. For those of us who came to this country for love, for exploring new horizons and stayed adding to the fabric of this country, for career opportunities, for the love of travel, we are now re-assessing and thinking what’s next? Children are leaving or left the coop, spreading their wings and navigating adulthood while still needing us, we think of our aging parents far away, of our siblings who are also in that next stage and the tug we feel in our hearts and souls to be closer. What to do? Is it easy to pick-up and go back after 15 or 20 years to one’s birth country? Can we feel at home again? Does one have to “relearn” how to live in the country where one was born? Though technologies such as Skype, Facebook etc… have reduced distances, it’s difficult to stop by for dinner or to go to a movie or to land a hand when thousands of miles away. America is far, very big and it can be overwhelming even after many-a-year here. So to all my friends who like me built their life here, I salute you, cherish your friendship and am amazed by your strength and resiliency in the face of adversity. We’ve been through highs and lows, and lows and highs again and again, have weathered many storms, have laughed and cried, have retreated into ourselves to regroup in order to come out stronger. 2011 began and seems to be for many a soul searching one.
Until my next post, stay well and very belatedly to all: HAPPY & HEALTHY & SOULFUL NEW YEAR!
Friendship out-of-step February 3, 2011
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