Energy Release

Last sunday we had Aman's friend Ethan over after children's class. We were bored so we asked if the across-the-street neighbors Jodi and Sol wanted to go see if we could sneak into "the cage" with us at Umass. It is the old gymnasium that only gets used for basketball practice and dances and such. It was open as students use the running track and there were 4 women practicing a dance routine but otherwise it was ours... the kids played a bunch of games that mainly involved running on the running track while Sarah (Sol and Jodi's Mom) and I chatted. Then the kids found two mats that they were jumping on. At this point I got involved and we played some "daddy's a monster and if he catches us we're in jail". Then we found more mats and the launch-fest took off. These guys must have climbed those bleachers and launched themselves on to the mats below 75 times or more! It was a lot of fun and we were thoroughly tired and happy at the end of the 3 hours. Britt enjoyed it also as she had the chance to get some coffee and hang with Jill, Ethan's mom. All is well here. We are all gearing up for the Alschuler family reunion that starts this weekend. Off to a sunny, warm part of the world for a week. I will write about it when we get back

Winter Thunder

I think the storm system that caused all those tornados in Tennessee rolled through here last night… with less fury though but still intense. We had some major lighting and thunder and hard rain which put us to sleep last night. We were all missing spring. We were so blessed to have Mom here for a visit. She flew back yesterday after a 3.5 week visit after her pilgrimage with David, Gianni and Ela. She was very weak and tired due to bad flu that she got while in the Holy Land. She stayed a week with us and the rest with James, Aria and Sasha in West Roxbury. It was super nice especially since we got to see Aria and James and Sasha every weekend. They made the drive out and we hung, romped and ate some amazing meals that James cooked for us. Anyway, we had some museum, pool and other assorted romps included are an assortment of images of Mom’s stay, the Pyburn visits and other. I also include some recent drawings and my head xrays from when I got that surf board in my eye 2 years ago (just in case you were curious... I find them fascinating)

Nature? Nurture?

We have always thought that everything we are is written in the code found in our DNA in the form of genes. I just recently read an article talking about epigenetics and the epigenome. The epigenome refers to the complex system of chemical switches and markers that live on the outside of our DNA and whose sole purpose is to turn genes on or off (through a process called methylation) at specific times depending on what instructions are needed (do we need to make a liver cell, brain cell, eye cell etc.). So it looks like DNA can’t do its thing without the epigenome. And scientists, as it turns out, are finding that the epigenetic structure can be handed down from generation to generation! So what does this mean? It means that not only do each of us have “say” over what genes turn on (or off) and when based on our diet, stress levels, environmental conditions etc BUT we can hand that on/off structure to our offspring. As Britt put it, “there is no longer a conflict of nature vs nurture…. It is BOTH.” !!!!!

Plodding Along

The trip home from Costa Rica on Dec 24th was uneventful. If anything it was extremely relaxed and exciting due to the fact that I flew back with Aria. I can't ever remember flying anywhere with her. We chatted about life and slept. I made it back at 3 am just in time to wrap a few gifts I had bought for our christmas exchange, get a few hour's sleep and wake up at 730 am for the exchange. The Alschulers were here plus Lise and Anne came in from Chicago. There was a lot of sledding, eating, giggling and some coughing with the colds running around. Yummy ham dinner yummmmm. Aria, James and Sasha came later on in the week. Sasha is unbelievably cute. We were able to spend quality time with her after she woke up from her nap and James and Aria were at the movies and the coffee shop on a date. Everyone benefited greatly from the afternoon. That weekend we went to NY to visit with Uncle Doug, Grandma, Husayn, Shamsi, Jamal, Janet and Dad. We were also blessed with seeing Heidi too. We hung, ate, laughed, annoyed Grandma with all the loud noise and frequent wrestling on the floor... I love you guys all soooooo much. Thanks for being there for us. The rest of the story is basically that the whole house got sick. One by one we each succumbed to a horrible stomach-focused influenza type bug followed by fluy achy, snotty basura for days. I had to take Wed and Thurs off last week and probably should not have gone on Friday. Aman succumbed to it finally this morning early at around 430 am. Our friend from Costa Rica Renee and a her two kids Aleta (9) and Bo (7) have been visiting since friday morning. We had a lot to catch up on and the kids didn't miss a beat playing as if they had seen each other last week. Pics to follow

Well ok, there it is... I think I have everyone up to date with MassRuhe happenings.