Lessons

This morning when the alarm went off, I thought it was Saturday. Not because it felt like Saturday but because I heard a different voice on the radio than I'm normally used to waking up to. It's quite inconvenient for a radio d.j. to take vacation, really. It's also a little scary that I've become so used to a certain voice in the morning, the voice of someone I don't even know. The lesson in this: ask for one of those nifty iHome alarm clocks for Christmas. But we won't go there today and talk about the voiceless house, oh no, because there are other things to talk about.

Like knees. My little knee has been upset a little all week- I know, I didn't even whine and cry about it. Much. Just be glad I don't know your phone number, or you would probably be ready to cut the thing off for me by now. It's decided to swell up and was at it's worst point yesterday. The weird thing about it is, unlike a couple weeks ago, there's no pain. I ran on Wednesday with no pain but I couldn't help but feel as though I was being "bad" because, oh my heck, the swelling! Today it appears as though it's going back to normal, which only leads me to believe that the knee issue is work related. Lesson learned: offices cause me injury, I am certain. If I had the option to go and move all day, I would likely have no knee problems and also, a better caboose. But alas, I can't stop buying cute baby clothes (for my nephew) and the dog has become accustomed to food so, I have to sit in this chair.

Other than knees, life is looking quite bright right now. It has everything, okay 99%, to do with my upcoming trip. I am flying, on Thanksgiving nonetheless, East to see my nephew (and, oh yeah, his parents) and duh, of course it's all I can think about. Hence the fact that, I kid you not, I have an entire suitcase of unwrapped Christmas presents already packed. That little kid is a drooling, screaming gift magnet.

Sometimes, it's really tough to be away from him. But it's also incredibly beneficial. Rather than the comfort in having family just up the street like my childhood, our family is now forced to make every moment count. It's not something we grew up doing and it's not something I think our society is accustomed to. We have to learn to deduce what's really important and what really matters to us. Because we're far away and because my brother-in-law's career will continue on that path, we have learned to adapt. I'm thankful to have been stretched in this capacity. I'm thankful to know that distance does not make relationships impossible and that it can, in fact, make them better.

Looking back ten or even five years, I had such a different perspective on adult family life. A life where people separate and generations make more generations. I thought then that it was not my life. I thought that families that came together, gathered around a fire and laughed on holidays were only in LL Bean catalogs. They were there because they had to be, because it looked good. Now, I know different. I know that my family comes together, gathers around whatever they can and laughs (usually about ourselves and how we're utterly shocked that we turned out even half-way normal at all) because we want to.

At the risk of sounding completely ridiculous, nothing feels better than that. Nothing feels better than knowing that the person I am, the person I'm still striving to be, knows that she has finally come far enough to appreciate her place in the world and in her family, equally.

Lesson learned: Be thankful.