I am One With Nature

This past weekend the weather was PHENOM.  (that’s short for phenomenal in case you were wondering).  We pretty much spent the entire time outside.  And what made this weekend even more spectacular is that Rachel (Ben’s sister) graduated from Redeemer, and so his parents were down (up?) for a visit. 

Their visit was short, but we (as per usual) managed to cram quite a bit into our time together.   We didn’t take our camera to Rachel’s grad, but let me assure you it was very grad-esque.  Lots of people, many of them wearing long dark robes and hats, much celebrating, lots of words about looking into the future but not forgetting the past, Rachel walking across the stage and getting her diploma (woot! woot!) and CAKE.  Oh the cake.  Yes, I am proud of my sister-in-law graduating, yes, I revelled in all the family time, and sure, it was GREAT running into old friends and colleagues at Redeemer, but I have to bit a little bit honest when I say that I may or may not have elbowed my way out of the auditorium and pulled an “excuse me, pardon me” towards the cake table at the outdoor reception. (what? is that not socially acceptable behaviour?)

Here’s a picture that I blatantly stole off of Rachel’s facebook, because, that’s how I roll:

Anyway, the next day, we again took advantage of the great weather and spent the day at the Royal Botanical Gardens and took in the lilac festival.  It was SO nice outside.  These gardens span several km’s so we hiked for a bit to get from one site to the next.  It was so nice just to walk, talk, and soak up the sun.  We ended up at the gardens that held all of the lilacs and it was beautiful.  Hills and valleys FULL of lilacs.  See?

 We took several pictures…

 

 Sometimes Ben couldn’t resist the smell…

But isn’t he handsome?

We hiked a bit more and there were chipmunks and squirrels everywhere. 

Such as this little guy:

 I know right? I should probably just go ahead and let National Geographic hire me.  I mean, who else could grab such an intense action shot of an animal of this ferocity? (Or maybe it’s because these animals are SO used to people around, that this one couldn’t have given less of a rip that I was 2 feet away from him.  He was far more focused on the mounds of seeds left for him by other humans than me sticking my lense in his face.) 

All in all, it was a great weekend.  We LOVE having Mom and Dad B come to visit, even if they are far too short.  (the visits, not their height – just in case you needed that clarification)

Confessions

When I use public washrooms, if there is a stall with a broken lock, I’ll usually take it.  I figure way less people are willing to do their business in a stall that could swing open at any moment, so it’s probably the cleanest one.  For that kind of clean bum security, I’ll pee in an awkward position for 20 seconds while I hold the door closed with one hand.

Speaking of pee, if I have to go REALLY bad, and have had to hold it a long time, and then I finally get to go, I’ll usually time how long my pee lasts.  My current record is 53 seconds. 

I’m glad that Anaheim is out of the NHL playoffs, only because then I don’t have to hear the name “Chris Pronger” anymore.  I don’t have many regrets in my life, but one of them involves Chris Pronger.  A few years ago on a flight home from LA after a work trip, he was on my flight (right after they one the Cup – he was on his way back to Toronto for the NHL awards).  I didn’t go up and talk to him, and I’ve regretted it ever since.   When I was boarding the plane, I walked by him, and, you know where you do that move when you recognize someone but you just can’t place them, so you stare a little bit longer as your brain goes through it’s mental filing cabinet trying to figure it out?  Yeah, well I did that (obvi), BUT, the thing is…HE KEPT STARING AT ME TOO!!  The whole time I stared at him.  I’m pretty sure we were meant to be besties, and I’m ALSO pretty sure that if I’d have just gone up and said “hey, you’re Chris Pronger – congrats on winning the Cup!”  He would have replied with “Thanks!  Umm, I don’t usually do this, but I’m still kind of dateless for the NHL awards next week – do you think you could do me the honour of being my date?”  At which point I would have to reply “Chris, I’m honoured, but I’m married, so I don’t feel right going on a date with someone else – even if it IS just as b.f.f’s”  And then he would probably have said “Sure.  I totally understand that.  Man! Is your husband ever a lucky guy”.   So, needless to say, I’m just glad that Anaheim is out of the playoffs so I don’t have to keep re-living the brush with fame that should have been.

When Ben is fast asleep and I am still lying there awake.  I’ll usually do 1 of 2 things:  Either steal his body heat by sticking my ice cold feet in the pockets behind his knees (my usual move), or I try and get him to talk in his sleep by waking him up slightly.  (ok, ok, I only do this like, once every month.  I’m not THAT mean)

Sometimes I let my imagination get the best of me, and the other day when I was walking to work, I all of the sudden got worried that Ben would be in a car accident.  I ended up imagining him dying, and having to plan his funeral, and by the time I got to work, I was crying my brown little eyes out.  (Sheesh, I’m ridiculous)

I think that’s all I got for now.  I’ll let you know if I all of the sudden become burdened by a deep, dark secret.

And before you know it a whole week goes by

wow.  I guess perhaps I write something eh?  I’m going to use the fact that it was a loooooooong weekend as my excuse.  And a wonderful long weekend it was. 

We started with nothing really on the agenda, and that was great.  We ended up actually being quite busy, but mostly with stuff that came together at the last minute.  Card games with friends, a dinner with my family, a spontaneous late night trip to Niagara Falls with my cousin Max (who’s visiting from Sask), a BBQ with great friends from our old church – that may or may not have lasted until 3:30 am, subsequently followed by a 1:00 pm sleep in the next day, and a birthday celebration for Max.

It was nice to live life on the fly again.  I feel like so much of my life is scheduled, planned and coordinated weeks in advance, and if I want to meet up with a friend, it usually involves several emails, phone calls, and coordinating schedules.

It reminded me of back in the day, when I was a kid and would walk my butt over to a neighbour’s house, ring the doorbell and see if my friend could come out and play.  If they couldn’t, no biggie, we would get together later, but it was usually worth the 2 minute walk.  And let’s be honest, my chubby little gut probably could have used a few more of those walks.  (But thankfully, dimply rolls were SO in, in 1987)

And to cap it all off, we had our first ultimate frisbee game tonight.  (I know, I know, technically, Tuesdays are not part of any long weekend, but just work with me here).  Ben and I are playing ultimate again this summer, and we’ve got a great team.  Some of the players are from our team last year (*cough* undefeated *cough*), and there are some good friends there.  The one difference from this year and last is that I actually have some semblance of what the heck I’m doing.  (You may recall this.)  We won our first game, and it felt so great to be outside, throwing a disc, having great laughs with our team.  I think it’s shaping up to be a great season.

And finally, you’ll notice I changed the banner at the top of this blog.  It’s ugly.  I know it is.  I’m ok with that.  It probably won’t be there for too long.  I am fully aware that it screams “newbie getting a little too excited about the different fonts available on photoshop”.  I just wasn’t totally happy about how the blog was looking and wanted to change it up, but really only had a few minutes to work with.  So I whipped something up and put it in.  When I have a few more minutes, I’ll keep working, but for now, I guess you’ll have to deal with the mediocrity that is this blog.   (Speaking of which, I happen to think “the ongoings of our life” is a really lame title…I kind of just threw that in when I made this thing and it sort of stuck.  Any way cooler ideas out there?)

Randoms

(That’s what I like to title posts that actually go nowhere.   Then it seems like I did that on purpose, like a creative style of blog writing, rather than just giving you a lame excuse for a coherent blog post)

We sold my car this weekend.  If you’ve been reading this blog for any period of time, you’ll know that my car has given us quite a bit of grief the past few months.  (Ummm, have I mentioned yet that my WHEEL FLEW OFF WHILE I WAS DRIVING?).  Yeah.  Since the wheel incident, we’ve had that car into the mechanics 4  times in 4 weeks.  It was getting sicker and sicker, and we just needed to get rid of it, instead of pouring more money into it.  We got rid of it this weekend, and we are now officially a 1-car family.  (There may or may not be an open letter to my car coming later this week..)

Speaking of being a 1-car family, it’s been an interesting process getting us to this point.  Ben and I started our marriage each owning a car, so by default we’ve always had 2 cars.  Because of the jobs we’ve held, it was somewhat of a necessity to have 2.  We had a few discussions about how we could potentially move down to 1, but it never seemed like it could/would work.  (Although, if I’m being honest, I’m not sure how much sacrifice each of us would have been willing to make).  Well, we’re trying it out now.  For a bunch of reasons.  We don’t think it will be that easy.  Ben has a half hour commute to work each day, and although I can work from home (or walk to my office), a lot of my job doesn’t take place in an office.  And there’s something a little bit lame about having this conversation with one of the students I’m trying to invest in:

K – Hey, we should get together this week.  I’ve been wanting to connect with you and make sure life is going ok for you.  Let’s grab a Tim’s after school one day this week.  (Coffee, for my American friends who haven’t experienced the glory that is Tim Horton’s)

Student – Yeah! That would be cool.  I don’t have a lot of homework this week, I could probably do Tuesday after school.  Oh, and have I mentioned how much I respect and look up to you?  (Ok, I might have made that second part up)

K – Great! ummm, how would you feel if I biked to your house and you can ride doubles on the back of my bike.  You do own a bike helmet right?

But despite the rearranging it might take, we feel good about this choice for now.  We really don’t have several thousand dollars kicking around for another car, and although yes, we could borrow the money, and do have people in our life who could help us out, Ben and I have realized that we live in a culture that has convinced us that we can have whatever we want, whenever we want, even if the reality of our situation says something different. So, I guess in a way, we’re trying to fight against that.  We’ll get there eventually, and we’re willing to be inconvenienced for a few months while we do.  Because heck, we are still exponentially richer than 95% of the world, and for them, being inconvenienced might mean going a few weeks without eating, or walking 4 miles to get drinkable water.   We’re still blessed beyond measure, and we know that.

This weekend Ben and I took part in a murder mystery dinner put on by some people in our church as a fundraiser for a missions trip happening this summer. (which I’m going on – more on that later).  It was a Western Theme and was a lot of fun. Everyone got really into their character, and it was a great time.  Ben was Gambling Jack, a professional poker player, and I was his wife, Anna Belle, a southern belle, and his biggest fan.   We had fun hitting up Value Village to find our costumes, although I would have to say the best part about our outfits was Ben’s hair.  I’m thinking he should consider making this his everyday hairstyle no?

Mother’s Day was yesterday.  Have you hugged your mom yet?  Ben and I went to Whitby and spent the day with my mom.  Dad was away for work, and Dustin was also away for work and Dallas lives in Montreal, so it was just the three of us, but we had a great day.  We took her out for lunch at the Mongolian Grill (which is an all you can eat-make your own dishes and watch them grill it for you type of place).  I tried my darndest to get my money’s worth, and then spent the rest of the afternoon regretting that I’d tried my darndest to get my money’s worth.  (ok, not really, but I was just really full).  We had a good visit, played games and in general had a relaxing day.  Just the way a Sunday should be I think.  We called Ben’s mom on our drive home, and had a good conversation, which I guess is a good second best for not being able to be with her in person.  (Ok, technically, Ben had a good conversation.  I drove.  But I also eavesdropped like you wouldn’t believe, so it’s like I was part of the conversation.  That’s how I roll).   

Well, I think that’s all I got for now.   Oh, except can we discus the ridiculously good weather we’ve had this spring?  I am loving the 18-30 degree weather we’ve been experiencing.  I talked to my grandma yesterday.  She lives in Saskatoon, and they still have snow.  That’s a big BOOOO if you ask me.  For all you peeps out in Sask, I am sorry.    That’s all.  Just sorry.

Have a great week!

Euchre, frisbee and everything in between

A long time ago, I was given a journal by my boss at Athletes in Action.  She made it for me, and throughout the pages were random quotes, scriptures and pictures.    There was one quote, that, although tacked to a far-too-cheesy picture of a little girl and boy holding hands in sepia-tone, has always stuck with me. 

                    “When a friends is in trouble, don’t ask if there is anything you can do.

                   Think up something appropriate and do it” (Unknown)

I think it struck me, because I am usually not that person.  I think I get so caught up in not wanting to impose, cause extra burdens, make the other person feel obligated to accept my help, etc, that too often I take the stance of “I’ll put my offer of help out there and if they need me, they’ll ask”.  

For 7 years that quote has hung on at the back of my brain, quietly challenging me to do just that.  Just do something (appropriate) to show your love.  So what if sometimes that means dropping off a meal for a sick friend and you interrupt a nap, or giving someone a hug when you’re not sure if they really just wanted personal space, or sitting through an awkward silence that makes you second guess whether or not you should have sat down with a hurting friend in the first place.  I think 9 times out of 10, the intention behind a gesture speaks ten times louder than the action itself, and that is what will be remembered.  

The week we were flooded out of our apartment, we had SO many people offer their help.  We were so humbled and overwhelemed by the offers of places to stay, meals, whatever really, and we heard over and over again “if there’s anything we can do, let us know.”   And we know that everyone truly meant it.  And that? That spoke volumes, and for those words, we were (are) so grateful.

But then there were these two. 

Frankly, I’m not sure why they haven’t come up on this blog before.  James and Christy.  2 of our best friends.  And yes, when they found out about our predicatment, they too offered ANYTHING we may need.  And as with everyone else, we answered “We’ll let you know.  We’re still trying to figure everything out”. 

And a few days after the flood had happened (Valentines Day to be exact), I was coming back to our hotel after a day of sifting through our stuff at our old place, telling the movers what to pack, what to claim.  Telling the laundry service people what to take, what to leave out.  Calling our insurance company what seemed like once every hour.  Still wading through water.  And just in general, feeling overwhelmed, sore, tired, and on the verge of tears.  (Read: GRUMPY).

As I headed back to our hotel (our temporary home), this was waiting for us outside our door, courtesy of James and Christy.

 

And yes, I’ll admit, I may or may not have had a little tear-fest right then and there.  It wasn’t much; some candy, flowers, knick knacks, fruit. But it spoke VOLUMES for Ben and I.   They knew we were in trouble.  And they offered whatever we needed.  But before waiting for us to respond, they chose to think of something, and do it. They picked a few of our favourite things, drove 20 minutes, found out our hotel room, and just left us a gift to share their love. 

These two exude friendship for us.  And we are so thankful for them.  Christy and I got to know each other our first year of University, and after a few months of trying not to be friends, we gave in, and soon were a package deal.  We’ve done many seasons of life together from school, work, church, boyfriends, fiancees, weddings (we were each others maid-of-honour), money, cars, debt, marriage.  Somewhere along the way we picked up James and Ben and our pair became a four-some.  We realized that having four of us makes for perfect euchre games, so we do lots of that too.   (and the teams are always Christy and I vs. James and Ben.  That’s just the way it is. And always will be.) 

We live busy lives, and so sometimes, we go a few months without seeing each other.  But there’s never guilt about not calling, or checking in.  We just pick up where we left off and make the time for each other again.  James and I can have great talks, and Ben and Christy get along great. James and Ben are trouble when they’re together, and Christy and I find that hilarious.   We recently formed our own completely unofficial frisbee golf foursome, which we have taken to playing Saturday mornings, before the day gets away on us.  (seriously, we aren’t any good, but we’re having a lot of fun) 

We’ve mourned losses together, acted silly together, dreamed futures together and listened and grown together. 

Ben and I know we have a great community surrounding us. And these two are a rich, rich part of that.  I hope you can experience community to the full, like we so often do.   I hope you have someone in your life who, when you’re in trouble, thinks of something to do and just does it.