Professor J's Place

I know this seems an odd video for Valentine's day, but hear me out. I was driving along the other day and listening to this song on my ipod. And I was thinking about my friends--the women who are on the other side of a phone or an email--the women who make it possible for me to reach out and touch faith. I'm really lucky, I think, although most of my dearest friends live a long distance from me. And so, today, I am going to introduce my blog friends to my BFF's. I think the BFF I've known the longest (and someone who is familiar to many of you) is Michelle (aka Sojourner). Michelle and I have known each other since 1982, I think. 1981? While she lives in frigid Omaha, and it's been more than ten years since I've seen her, she and I still talk and instant message fairly frequently. This friend has the distinct honor of being the only friend I have who is actually shorter than me. The next BFF disappeared from my life for a couple of years, but she recently email...

Biggest Loser is one of my not so guilty pleasures. When it first came out, I couldn't imagine why fat people would allow themselves to be humiliated on television for a few measly bucks. And then I started watching. Seriously. It has nothing to do with the money. These people are transforming their lives! Indeed, as I was telling Susan last night, I wish I could watch this show every night because it inspires me so. But that's not what I want to write about. The beautiful woman pictured above is named Joelle. She had a lot of trouble on the show. She wasn't always sure she wanted to be there. She didn't really connect with any of the other participants; she rarely--if ever--gave it her all. At first it was a little irritating. After all, she had a wonderful opportunity and she was blowing it! But then I started to watch her face and her body as other people were chastising her. I saw her when her weight loss was low. I saw her when she swore she was pushing herself, ...

Soon I will be posting a thoughtful post about self sabotage. At least that's what I'm thinking about today. . . But in the meantime, please enjoy this lovely video:

Dinah and Bess playing dinosaur (a favorite game).

Hello, my darlings! First, I want to thank all of you for your sweet messages of concern and interest in my absence. It has been an eventful month! As most (all?) of you know, I moved out of Susan's house at the beginning of November. When people would ask me why, I had several answers, but it took me awhile to know why, myself. I think I needed to get away to realize that Susan was not my problem. My problem was me. Within a week of leaving I had stopped some of my most self destructive behavior and I started some big work on me. In the mean time, Susan and I started talking. And talking. I realized that if I wanted to learn how to love someone, it might be a good idea to work with the person I already loved. And, though I don't want to speak for her, I think Susan decided that life with me was better than life without me. So, we are together again, and I'm very happy. We are still living in our separate houses, and that may be the way it works for us. It's working now...