Rice, Beans and Sangha

I've prepared my West African black-eyed peas and plantain and I'm getting ready to go to visit my "family." They are the best kind of family because they are the family of my heart. I expect we'll have our regular wonderful time, but we share something even more special, I think. We all appreciate how blessed we are to get together. I think all of us are orphans of one type or another and I find great satisfaction and joy with being with people who are with me for me. I'm often concerned we I see people who so strongly eschew the need for deep connection with other people. I was one of those people who was so intoxicated by my own strength and youth that I obtained a sense of power from being "independent." I look back on that younger self with love and pity. I have only become stronger since I've opened my heart and mind to others.