Today was my friend Georgia’s birthday, and to celebrate Georgia’s mom Karin had us (my wonderful group of girlfriends) over to her house for dinner. We had a great time, the food was terrific and lots of stories were told about our respective pets (I think that Una’s cat win’s the prize for most unique behavior, he gets in the shower with her every morning). But for all the fun I had tonight, it leaves me a little sad. Sad, because I’ve chosen to live 3000 miles away from my mommy. She can’t have all my friends over for dinner for my birthday or be part of my social life at all. I have other friends who’s parents live in the area, and I love meeting them, knowing and interacting with them. It’s really fascinating to see a good friend with their parents, because you get an opportunity to see where their quirks and unique characteristics come from. These are the people who shaped my people, my family away from my family, and it’s nice to see from whence they sprung (that last statement sounds like something my dad would say, but most of your {all five of my regular readers} wouldn’t know that)! But on the other side of this same note, I have to admit that I had to move from Portland to Philadelphia. Not because my family is mean or dysfunctional or in anyway troubled. I love them more than just about anything (including my baby blanket) and am very (VERY) close with them. I talk to my mom every day, sometimes as many as five times a day. But I needed space to become an independent person. I needed to establish my identity in the Unitarian church and the Subud group away from the personalities of my mom and dad. The problem has become that I’m established. I have a life here and my dreams and future plans typically involved a life that takes place in Philadelphia. My experiment worked a little too well, I think, I certainly created myself as a person who could exist on the other side of the country from my family. Now I have to find out if I can find away to someday create an identity for myself that includes them, instead of excludes. We shall see. But enough deep thoughts for the evening. I’m now going to sucumb to my food coma and crawl into my fluffy, feather-y, comfy bed.