Good Souls, all.

Do you ever have moments where you are overwhelmed by the people in your life? This morning I feel a gratitude and a sense of awe towards the brilliance and kindness of my friends and family.

Tesla is in Koriyama, learning about Samurai culture and loneliness and what it means to be a truly urban, intellectual Canadian in the midst of rural Japan. Leigh graduated from John Hopkins, ran Barnstormers, touched hundreds of people's lives in a surprisingly personal way (Facebook whore!), and has a full scholarship/travel fund for her PhD at Princeton. David is an intern at an indie music label and lives with his two high school buddies in lower Manhattan - he often calls me from Battery Park where he writes or takes photographs. Miriam is in an inspiring marriage with a man who loves her deeply, she has been my saving grace and catalyst for contentment here in Portland, and she succeeds at one of the most difficult jobs I can imagine. Jeff is this soul who just popped into my life and yet somehow managed to bedazzle me

with his vivacious outlook on the world, his day-to-day lifestyle, and his ability to evaporate my naive understanding of relationships. Don and Dawn spend every day in Cottage Country, Ontario, working harder (in many ways) than they have before. Kathryn has accepted that she must go home after university to work off her debts, and has comes to terms with her reality with strength and determination. Doug and Li are eternal survivors, my Uncle Scott is an incredible risk taker, and my Grandma Moe and Grandpa Norm raised an entire clan of decent, loving human beings. Again, I am overwhelmed with gratitude and absolutely consumed with love for each and every one of these individuals. Good souls, all.