The morning after Thanksgiving, fingers tapping out a flowing rhythm on the keyboard, I am basking in the glow of a clean house that continues to reverberate with the laughter and love that filled it yesterday. Family of choice crossed the threshold, bearing goodies to savor and their open hearts to share….quite a pot luck feast on all counts. I made sure I got to the gym in the morning to pre-emptively burn off calories and it felt really good to say thank you to my healthy, strong and vibrant body for doing its job every day. On the way back, I listened to what has come to be a holiday classic:  Arlo Guthrie’s  Alice’s Restaurant. Coming home to find Adam and his girlfriend Rochelle in the kitchen, doing food prep. Adam is a self taught cook, who relishes creatively putting together amazingly delicious and colorful dishes, including his signature key lime pie for dessert. Like the Russian great grandmother he never met since she died when I was 14, he ‘cooks by ear’ much of the time, only occasionally relying on written recipes. In the meantime, Rochelle’s adorable 2 year old son Collin is dancing around the living room watching a show called Bubble Guppies. His laughter is contagious. A few hours later, table set, components of dinner in various stages of readiness, guests begin to arrive. Collin runs to the door each time, curious to see who is coming to play with him. Coloring with me and with our friend Janet, he delights in scribble scrabbling designs and then telling us what colors he is using.

Around the table are 12 of us, including Phil and Janet (Phil has been my son Adam’s unofficial Big Brother and surrogate father since Adam was 14, a few year after my husband died in 1998), Ruth and Jason (I have known Ruth since she herself was 14 and when she and Jason got married, I had the honor of officiating), Ondreah who is one of a group of women I call ‘Goddess Sistahs’, new friend Monica and her son Ryan. After Phil offered a prayer taught to him through his spiritual teacher Yogananda, we went around the table and shared what it was for which we felt gratitude. To a person, there was expression of appreciation for our connection like so many woven threads in a beautiful tapestry. I sometimes forget about the awesomeness of my life and throw myself  the occasional pity party and yet I am acutely aware how blessed I am to attract kindred souls into my circles. One of my extreme blessings is that Adam is stepping into his maturity, really holding space as a supportive partner to Rochelle in the brief time they have been together and surrogate father to this little one as Phil has been for him.

Afrer dinner, we sprawled on the floor and furniture and watched Avatar which I hadn’t seen since it came out a few years ago. On the big screen, the images were overwhelming and I had experienced motion sickness and had to look away during some of the fast paced action scenes. On the considerably smaller tv screen, I was able to watch with no side effects…grateful for THAT!   The theme wrapped around my experience with my friends…how interconnected is all of life and what impacts on one, touches us all. We are part of the Tree Of Souls that is our link to the Divine. We are all at shared purpose with healing our world; since everyone around the table is devoted to making a difference. We cheered as the forces of destruction found themselves inevitably succumbing to the forces of love.

When it was time to leave, Collin climbed onto my lap and said goodbye to this (oh my goodness, hard to imagine) woman delighted to be called Mom Mom.

I am truly blessed bigtime.

www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DRHuKI7L47L8 Thank You For Being A Friend-Andrew Gold