Jody

How does this blog tie into Mindfulness...not sure you be the judge. I guess it is more on the quality of the relationships you keep and being perhaps mindful that all our relationships take work. How much do we want to put in and what truly are the rewards?

This past week I went on an a little odessey of my own. Walked out of my life for a week and went up to NY to attend an intense weekend at The School of Integrative Nutrition where I am taking a course load. Generally it is distance learning, but this was an intense weekend of live lectures. On Sunday night when the weekend was over my friend Jody, her husband and their daughter picked me up in the city and we drove out to their hometown on the Island. This is the same town we grew up in. I left when I was 11 Jody has lived there all of her life. We met I guess you could say in utero, if that is possible. Our parents were and still are close friends, by now on their journey, family...It felt like I was losing a little touch with Jod the phone calls were becoming less frequent, it just seemed like a big deal to pick up the phone when there was so much to catch up on. I knew, know and understand though this relationship is one that I will never let go. It was time for a visit. She is my history and I hers. She looked at one of my kids when they were 2 and announced OMG its your face and could tell me what picture to relate back to. She is the one that remembers all my childhood ways and I am her keeper. We are now mothers with kids starting to build their own separate life and think of their own futures. We are woman scared and anxious about the next steps, but both of us dynamic and wanting to emerge with new interests, drive and dreams. We check each others faces to see if the year that passed between visits has shown a mark. We are each others marker, both of us athletic (she is now doing the 30 day bikram challenge 2 classes a day, and a survivor of a boot camp the likes of which I never heard before). She is family, she is friend, she is my sister. She is the only one I would put side my phobias and sleep downstairs in her basement, in the guest room that seems very far from everyone else. Ties that bind, these is a gift, one that I will never take for granted. We have decided for us the best way to communicate is now texting. Technology has given us a way to reformat our communication. I am grateful we have been so busy chatting away. I love it and I love her. Thanks Jod for always being in my life.

I will continue the unfolding of the trip tomorrow as I share more of what I learned.

xo ginny