I have been accused from time to time of seeing the reality of situations and not the possibility.  Yet, I have taken many a sows ear and silk purses I have made.  It is the nature of what I do and it is the nature of who I am.  I am a big picture kind of gal.  I see things for what they could be-never mind what they are.  I also, fortunately, have the well earned ability of seeing things for what they never will be.  My grandma used to say, “if the horse is dead, get off”.  It took me a while to stop riding, but I did.  And this I know:  If the tree is rotten from whatever analogy one wants to use:  Lack of sun, air, water, elements essential for growth- then it is true, the fruit from that tree will fall to the ground, just as rotten.  Forget one bad apple not spoiling the whole bunch-thank-you Donny Osmond, but one bad apple can stink up the whole darn orchard.

I am obsessed with family dynamics and the pursuit of family.  So many of my friends, myself included found family-apart from the family of origin.  And often I am moved, pushed- to write about family and what makes families function.  If at all.  I can not quote books written on the topic and I can’t clinically diagnose the issues at hand- with the exception of clinically dealing with my own family-but I can try to stop the unraveling.  I can speak to watching how one tree, not grounded in anything substantial can bare the fruit of bitter taste.  And sadly, those trees go on to produce more bitter fruit.  I don’t buy the whole cycle can end theory.  The cycle can not end if the elements are not present to replace what has been learned.  The cycle is just repeated.  Poison tree, poison fruit.  And that is the reality.