Thank you for the love

This evening I was struck by a wave of feeling down.  So I went to talk to John and Matt as they played pong-ping (where every hit is a serve).  John spoke in his usual very soothing voice and told me to take up painting; and Matt made jokes like Matt usually makes jokes, cracking me up. And I felt immensely better after the seeing the pair of them. And then I talked to Alice and Alice, being the rational wonderful Alice she is, said very many right things. Right, not in the sense of being accurate, but right in the sense of being things I needed to hear. And at swing dance I saw Gretchen, who always asks me how I am, and passes on words of wisdom, and Gaby, who always greets you with such enthusiasm you can't help but smile  The next stop was trivia at Silky Jones, and sitting there reliably as always was the calm stoic Nicole who had just saved a panicked girl from the fire alarm in Uris.  And Alisa who promised to go to the Ukelele club with me some Sunday. And the rest of the trivia team who somehow, collectively, know everything in the universe, and allow me to sit idly by sipping wine listening to all they know about American culture and world history and foreign languages and plants/fruits/vegetables.

And on the way home I was reminded that every once in awhile I feel compelled to write a "thank you note" to all the wonderful people in my life for being wonderful people in my life.  Even if they might not happen to read it, I just want to go ahead and send these thoughts out to the blogosphere.

To my darling Shayna, who always has an open mind and sees the best in people no matter what, and introduces me to events of the hippie -yoga-vegan scene of Ithaca (which I often fail to attend).  And Yvonne who always remembers to get everyone together for food and gossip. The stubborn and adorable Yao for always complimenting me on my outfit and wanting to punch anybody who has upset me.  Flip for being an ear whenever I need one.  I'm grateful for the yoga practices and heart to heart's with Colwyn, one of the few friends who have been a consistent presence from my physics cohort. And Chloe, who I'm glad is back from Hong Kong, who is sharp and witty and makes me laugh without intending to.  My lovely sister, Jesse, who needs to move to New York to be with me, because I say so.  All the colleagues who smile and say hi and joke around, and sometimes try to challenge you with a physics problem (by this last bit I mean Alex). And my advisor, for being his enthusiastic self and coaching me through all the little setbacks and trials that happen in research
 
Lastly, I never have said this in such a post before, but I'm grateful for myself.  This stubborn, slightly willful, creature has recently learned some valuable lessons about taking care of herself -- not just the physical being with exercise and nourishment and rest -- but also the emotional being with honesty and respect and gentleness. And so tonight, I'm proud of me, and I'm delighted to be me.

Thank you for the love.