An Interesting Kind of Week

This week began in an unsettling kind of way (read previous post for a small slice of insight), and ended very differently.

I taught at SWC (at State) for the first time and just loved it. I was incredibly nervous to start, but was so blessed with 10 hardworking, dynamic students and it just got better from there. Pure joy was ever-present in our little group! My kids were from Clare and Williamston and Korea and Taiwan, Ionia, Grand Ledge, and more. We traveled all over campus, discovered much about bugs and flowers and ourselves, fed ducks, ate ice cream at the Dairy Store, and had so much fun! Oh, and we wrote and wrote and wrote and published ourselves. I really cherish that experience. It is my element.

When I got home from the last day of this week's camp, my sister and her family were at my house. I was expecting this, but I didn't expect was the total recalibration of me that occurred during this long weekend. We did nothing dramatic--chatted a whole lot, roasted marshmallows, made good food, and had a couple of small family/friend reunions. Yet, as I sit here tonight I have made a revelation. Through talking to my female relatives--grandmas, sister, nieces, etc.--I am owned. I live approx. 642 miles from my mother and sister and nieces. Much of that distance is closed through phone, facebook, and email, but physical proximity matters. You can't replace the energy created when two people are in a room, except when they are together.
Sitting, cooking, and chatting over "nothing at all" with so many relatives who have been there my whole life was COMFORT. I didn't worry about saying the right thing or being a role model or acceptance for four straight days. I like that. Very settling, indeed. I am going to take this weekend as a birthday present. It is of the very best kind!