Time Marches On

Yesterday was my first day back at school. Aside from the anxiety I experienced at being called in for jury duty in Santa Barbara on the very same morning of my first day of classes in Pasadena, I was not nervous about the first day of school as I always have been in school years past. Once the Jury Duty situation was straightened out...and by straightened out I mean: Once I agreed to "fulfill my duty" by coming in during the kindly suggested week of my winter break to avoid the woman's promise/threat of "sheriffs at my front door."

*note: I wrote a paragraph of significant length expressing my frustration with the jury duty system on many levels, but a) I did not want to appear on this blog as an unhappy, unhelpful, bitter citizen unwilling to fulfill my duty or do my part to support everyones right to a fair trial and b) what if these said "enforcers of the (oppressive) system that is jury duty" read my blog? I can only imagine the repercussions...Alas, I was satisfied to vent my frustrations and then delete them.

Moving on. Once the situation was handled, I was able to settle into my fall routine, which I think is going to be fabulous. The drive down to Fuller only took an hour and a half, leaving me time to stop by Whole Foods before heading to the bookstore to pick up the books I wasn't able to get on Half.com. I settled in for two hours of Research Methods and listened to my professor try to convince me that I don't hate statistics- I just think I do. Well, I know that I stink at math (ask Hilary how long it takes me to add up simple scrabble scores), but I do like interesting research and am actually really looking forward to this class. It will be incredibly helpful in the inevitable loads of research that are in my future, and I think that with practice I will not be bad at it and might actually enjoy it.

Tuesday afternoons are going to be wonderful once classes are actually underway. I have a five hour break in the afternoon during which I will have plenty of time to read for class and work on assignments, which means less work at home and on weekends (woot). Yesterday, however, I had five hours to kill and no money to shop with so I took myself to a movie. I know a lot of people think I am strange for loving going to movies alone, but I think I actually prefer it to going with others. Especially when I see movies like Nights In Rodanthe, the choice for yesterday's matinee. It was my favorite kind of movie, full of breathtaking scenery, an incredibly dramatic, passionate, beautiful love story (in true Nocholas Sparks form), a romantic storm, love letters, an east coast clam bake, slow dancing on the pier under the stars... I mean, come on. If that's not a recipe for a great Tuesday-afternoon-movie-alone, I don't know what is. I cried (not just teared up, but cried) at least three times. Thankfully I had an hour and a half to drink a cup of coffee and recover from the emotional rollercoaster that was this movie and to daydream about the kind of love that filled my head and heart for the past two hours before heading to my evening class.

Oh, my evening class. Family Systems Dynamics. Maybe I am a total nerd, but I think really I just know that I am so lucky to be studying something I am so interested in and excited about. Three hours of lecture flew by, I even enjoyed reading through the syllabus! I'm going to get to do this stuff! Read this stuff! Learn this stuff! When I first studied systems theory in Interpersonal Communication my junior year at Westmont I remember thinking "gosh, I could read about this all day and not get bored." This was the beginning of my interest in finding a discipline that would provide me with a reason to study the complexities of human relationships and to find a career that would celebrate the depth and uniqueness, the beauty and the struggles that come with loving deeply and weaving your life together with another. Family Systems Dynamics is foundational to the study of Marriage and Family Therapy, and is a framework for viewing, studying, and working with other theories-just as I believe our relational systems are foundational to all we are and do.

Of course, being the first day of class, a history and overview of the devlopment of a systems approach to psychotherapy was given. While I'm tempted to like copy my notes onto this page every week because I think everyone should get the priviledge of hearing this stuff, I will spare you that and just share my favorite little nugget from last night's class. Human systems are dynamic, open systems. External factors are constantly coming into play. You cannot predict what will happen to you, what will change you. I cannot predict what I will hear or read that will change my perspective, alter my course. I cannot predict who will touch my life, move my soul, and stir my passion. I have no idea now what or who will challenge me, encourage me, love me, hire me, fire me, call me wife or mother or boss or loser. This life is full of surprises and twists and turns and road blocks and blessed detours bringing us to the very place that God created us for every single day.