Thankfulness

Ok, so it's a common theme right now. Thankfulness.

Since moving I have thought a lot about the things and people I miss from back home. Many of you already know this because you've heard it from me over and over again- or at least read it a billion times on my facebook status and here in the blog. I've had some extremely sad and depressed spells due to my homesickness in the past three months.

Living out here, I've heard, can be an amazing life changing experience. I think that it can be that type of experience because of the remoteness of this place. I'm far away from a city/town the size of Raleigh or Richmond. I'm meeting people who don't know "college Beth" or "post divinity school left-ish Beth." I'm far away from just about everything that is familiar and comfortable. Everything out here, every experience is brand new.

So I'm trying to take notice of what I am learning and what may be changing.

What I want to write about tonight is pretty obvious, but I feel the need to share how meaningful the past few weeks have been for me and how thankful I am for the people in my life.

I have had some of the most amazing and most loving and uplifting "conversations" with my friends and family. Sometimes these conversations have been by phone, but the majority have been over email or chat. And some of the most meaningful interactions have been special acts of love and care like emails or text messages, etc.

It seems pretty simple, but I have realized how much I love my friends and family. And amazingly, that realization has made me LESS homesick than I was before. These interactions and conversations have made me more confident about the relationships in my life, old and new. This confidence has helped me to relax and enjoy the present. It has helped me to absolutely know that these relationships are strong and meaningful to me and to my friend. Relationships are so important to me. I feel part of my self-worth is tied up in my evaluation of the depth, openness, and strength of the relationships in my life. I want to be authentic with the people in my life and I am so thankful that I feel free to do that with you all (whoever you are reading this!).

I am so thankful. Thank you for your love and support. I can't express how much it means to me.