Well I’m back after a lengthy absence. I’ve been involved with family stuff. In the last 2 months we’ve had a grad school, a college and a high school graduation. Add the baby shower and that’s a lot of family time. I don’t know about yours but my family drains my physic energy. I was going to talk about graduations as ritual and I still might but the important thing is that I was really present at those events in a way I’ve never been before. I sat through all the odd stuff and through my practice I was able to concentrate on how much familial love there was at each. I love my family very much but when I’m with them I do revert to learned dysfunctional responses to family stressors instead of responding as the person I’ve come to be. But I realized that, despite that, the love is what’s important. And from talking to other folks I discovered that lots of us try to bridge the divide between the extremes in what we feel for the people we’re related to. I’d love to hear your stories.

I’m grateful that my daughter shared the text her fellow graduate sent to her five minutes after their ceremony. “I’m so over my family. They’re nuts!!”