A brief reflection

So y'all might remember all the way back to early June, when I promised you pictures from my cousin's graduation. Here, finally, is a picture. That's Steph, the lucky grad, in the middle, and her sister Amy on the left. I spoke to Amy today, in light of some drama that was going on in her world, and it made me really appreciate my college experience. Amy is in her senior year at Radford, in Virginia, and Steph just started her freshman year at Penn State. While there are many, many, MANY days when I wish that I was back at Tulane, or just in New Orleans, I also have an amazing collection of memories from those four years. Granted, I went to college in the most stupendously wonderful city on the planet, and had the opportunity to live for a year abroad, which probably helped. (In fact, Amy & Stephie's sister Laura was absent this particular weekend because she hadn't returned from her study abroad in Germany.)

Why am I boring you with all of this? Well, perhaps because, for once, I am actually feeling a spirit of gratitude for the experiences I was fortunate enough to have, rather than a spirit of jealousy that I'm not getting to do what my sweet cousins are doing.

Lately, I've been whining (A LOT) about wanting my Subaru wagon NOW, and Lindsey keeps patiently reminding me that I have a perfectly functional car, and that with the world going to hell in a handbasket, that just maybe my having a Subaru wagon NOW is not that important. Especially compared to say, what's happening in Darfur (good news on that front today, though), or our continued embroiled state in Iraq, or even some folks here in our neighborhood who lead pretty difficult lives. I'm really trying to jump on this gratitude bandwagon, I promise.


On that note, I'd like to include this picture, as well. Those, dear friends, are gluten-free chocolate chip muffins. They taste like cardboard, except for the chocolate chips. And sweet Caroline was kind enough to make us feel like they tasted good, since we were trying to give her a treat. Lindsey, bless his heart, made them himself, complete with unflavored gelatin resulting from an Internet search for substitutes for some ridiculous ingredient we would never use again. That, people, is something to be grateful for.