It is the choices we make afterall

I spent the weekend in Phoenix, AZ at nephew's wedding. It was a lovely event and I had the chance to be with my family which was great. Of course Phoenix doesn't really have the sort of winters that Albuquerque has so, it was really wonderful to be in the warmth too.

My nephew and his bride are in their 20's and they are radiant and in love. Just watching the two of them looking lovingly at each other brought tears to my eyes. My other nephew, the groom's brother, toasted the couple by saying he has never met any two people in his life that wanted to spend as much time together as they do. I am hopeful for them that their marriage will last a lifetime and they experience more positives than negatives. Marriage ceremonies are like that - bringing folks together to hope and to wish the best for the couple about their future together.

It doesn't seem so long ago that I was at my brother's wedding, my sister's wedding and my own wedding. All three of us are now middle-aged parents with kids who are grown and getting married or nearly grown. I think of the choices we made, each of us, to be where we are right now. I am wonder if any of us ever really knows if what we are doing is the right choice or are we always just hoping for the best possible outcome for the future. Making that commitment to at least try and create something better for ourselves.

I want something better and more fulfilling than what I have had in the past. Kinda like marriage, which is bigger than the individual, I made a choice to commit to something bigger than myself - graduate school. It feels that big to me - like a marriage and just as challenging.

Mischief on Fall Break

I had a wonderful time doing a lot of nothing. I played for 4 days and didn't open a single anatomy book. Delicious.

I created my Halloween costume - I decided to manifest my inner invertebrate and made a Jellyfish costume with a hot glue gun, lots of garlands and some googlie eyes under the artistic direction of my friend Bob Maestres (aka NeoBoy).

I also spent two days in Santa Fe with my yoga teacher John Friend (www.anusara.com). It was great fun to be in the presence of a masterful teacher of yoga and tantric philosophy. John

effortlessly weaves philosophical teaches as he gets an entire room of about 150 yogis to go up into handstands. I appreciate his interpretations of a philosophy that would otherwise be innaccessable to me.On Monday I could barely get out of bed because my hamstrings were taut wire cables - luckily I know a little bit of yoga (hair of the dog!).

My good friend, Janet Frisella, was also in Santa Fe at the John Friend workshop and we got to spend some quality time together. We have known each other over 35 years! She and I did a girl scout backpacking trip to Philmont Scout Ranch in Northern New Mexico. Janet was the one who introduced me to yoga when I was about 16. She and I, by coincidence, are studying Anusara Yoga with the same teacher.

I am beyond it - study, study and study some more

My life for the last 2 weeks has been about preparing for my first round of testing - midterm exams. Life is studying, sleeping, studying, brush teeth, studying, eating, study, study and study until bed time. It is a solitary existence being a graduate student. Not that I am complaining, I wanted this life, but all this studying and early to bed, early to rise is just shit on my social life.

I took my last exam for the midterm today. Relieved is a good descriptor. So, I am going out tonight with Stephen, my son. Gonna have a beer together at the local Chama micro-brewery. A little weird to me still that I am old enough to have a 21 year old kid. But, I do like having a kid old enough to share a beer with me as well as commiserate on too much studying. Emily, the baby, is still too young to kick up her heels in a public bar.

Social life alert! - I am spending the weekend in Santa Fe and doing a weekend yoga workshop given by my teacher, John Friend. There is even an open-to-all dance party at the local Anusara Studio. This is exactly the sort of high jinx I need to be doing before I get slammed again next week with the CORE courses of DPT - anatomy and orthopedics.

Maybe I can (& will?) post a blog about something besides school...... might be interesting.

Test Prep

It is that time of the year - midterm exams. Last year at this time I studied for my Anatomy midterms on the beach in St. Croix. Too bad I didn't arrange my schedule to do that this year.

Yup, no classes next week just preparation and studying for tests. Quite civilized really, just let me really absorb the stuff I learned over the last 6 weeks and don't drop any more stuff on my plate - ooh until after midterms when the rubber really meets the road for the second half of the semester. I didn't think I was going to be getting test anxiety again but, damn if it isn't back.

I have this fantasy that I will be able to read some great fiction soon (ha.). The list of authors for the 2009 Man Booker Prize is published. Save that thought until winter break.

I really did forget how all consuming school can be. But a day a school still beats a day on the factory floor.

Induction Ceremony - warmly welcomed

Two really nice things happened last week: I got to know my fellow students a little better and I was inducted into the Physical Therapy profession.

In class last week all 26 PT students had to teach something for 10 minutes that was meaningful and not related to Physical Therapy. It felt like a "show and tell" session. I was taught: how to make fry bread and tortillas, how to replace break drums, how to draw an elephant and make an elephant noise, how to hold and take care of box turtles, how to fly fish, how to make beer (including samples!!! - and no worries it was after 10am), a lesson on the history of tea, how to DJ a radio show, how to use jujitsu, how to set up a river rafting trip, how to train a dog for search and rescue, how to swing dance, break dance and line dance, some useful tricks with the English language, the five throws in basketball; and me, I taught everyone how to find fossils in New Mexico. Specifically, I taught my class how to find dinosaur bones from the Jurassic Morrison formation and ammonites from the Cretaceous Mancos formation. I actually borrowed some spectacular specimens from the Geology Department.

Then, last Friday was my official welcome into the Physical Therapy profession. It was a lovely ceremony that was attended by the entire PT department including all the professors and all three classes and their families. Each class read an oath that promised to serve the PT profession competently and honestly and we were gifted with a tool of the profession - gait belts. My two sweeties, Stephen and Emily, and my best friend, Carla were at my induction and they got to meet my fellow students and teachers. I have never heard of an induction ceremony for students but, I think it is a terrific idea, welcoming beginners into a healing profession.

I sure like this softer and warmer side of science.

Grateful Habit

I completed the first month of school. It has been said that if you do something new for 30 days it can become a habit because it start to feel comfortable. Yes, school feels pretty comfortable to me now.

Being the class prez is still a little bit odd. But, I do know how to communicate, organize and motivate folks to circle the wagons. My main job (as it have been explained to me) will be to get the class to raise money to help the upper class with graduation fees, have fun, team build and outreach to the community. Luckily everyone in the class is "on board" to help me! Our first events are a Happy Hour and helping our fellow PT-student couple move into their new house.

My course work is considered review. I will be diving into the deep challenging work of learning anatomy and orthopedics in just a few weeks. But, my problem is that I haven't had a lot of these review courses such as: Pharmacology, Biomechanics, Kinesiology and Biochemistry. I am scrambling to get the gist of it all. Pharmacology is really interesting and I am having lots of ah-ha moments. I am wishing I had paid more attention 25 years ago in my physics courses for Biomechanics and Kinesiology (oh well). Biochemistry is rather mysterious with all those drawings of circular molecular structures that have rather limited elemental compounds - C, N, O, H and sometimes P.

I am feeling a little bit muddled with it all and hoping that somehow the patterns and connections will emerge before midterms in October, but it is still really wonderful to be in the classroom and at the university. I am so grateful for this experience and opportunity to just be in this life learning new habits.

A Group of Normal Folks

It is nice to be around like-minded people. It makes me feel normal, which of course is an illusion. I have come to understand that there is no such thing as "normal" - like normal childhood, normal job, normal lovership, normal family or normal life. But, it is nice to feel that way when I am amongst my peers in school.

All my classmates are good students (26 of us picked from about 300 applicants), we all have a strong sense of service to others and are geeky anatomy nerds who can't wait to get into the lab and start learning the body's structure and inner workings. But what I really am liking about my classmates is their genuine concern about feelings and everyone strives to let each other know that they are appreciated. In the three weeks I have been in school I have gotten little e-messages from my classmates like: "so glad you are in my class", "you are really great", "thank you for being here", "i really appreciate you" and "thanks for being part of our team".

We 26 students are going to be together as a unit until the end of our graduate program and everyone is getting to know each other and create a tight network of support. I find it be unique in my life but, it sure feels normal to me.

Oh and by-the-way, I was voted as class president.