We left a snowstorm in Calgary this morning and landed in a somewhat rainy but very green Victoria. It’s been 13 years since I’ve been here and it’s one of my favourite places in the world.
So fun to share my memories with my kids and to make new ones. I’ve realized how badly we needed to just let go, be, and have fun. It’s happiness
The boy and I went to a service today that celebrated the Buddha’s birthday (while all the other Christians were at Palm Sunday), so I can now add that to the list of interesting things I’ve done. And it was quite interesting, and enjoyable, and very peaceful. I like the quiet meditation and the sensei is really very funny. The kids brought a (chocolate, this was very important, the buddha likes chocolate apparently) cake in and as they walked we sang happy birthday. When we were done one of the smaller kids asked the sensei how old Buddha was. He answered: how old is Buddha? Buddha is one – because Buddha is one with everything. Hahahah – truth.
Afterwards they had a celebratory lunch which we were invited to, so we had this amazing (free) meal and got the chance to meet some pretty interesting people. It was fun to be part of their celebration and it was a happiness moment I got to share with my boy who seems to find a lot of peace in this.
I had a moment of personal happiness later in the day after having conversations with two different friends. I chatted with them about somethings that have been weighing heavily on my mind and in my heart and came away feeling so much better – not only about the issues, but about the fact that I have such supportive, loving friends. This tribe I have is amazing and I am grateful for them always. That is life happiness.
The kids and I went with a dear family friend to the zoo today. It was the first time in ages we had gone and seen the animals – I haven’t been since before the flood. It was kind of chilly but it actually made it perfect as there were barely any other people there.
When the boy was little I used to take him a few times a week to the zoo – it was our thing and it has lots of good memories. I was kind of surprised at how much the kids still enjoyed it now.
It was just simple happiness – together with our friend enjoying the day. One of the small happiness moments that make up the big happiness memories.
Today we took a trip back to Calgary 1988 and watched Eddie the Eagle soar once again.
I sat at the hill years ago with my sister and my dad and watched as he jumped, and now almost 30 years later watched again with my daughter (and he jumped in his Olympic ski suit which was pretty damn impressive).
It was a happiness moment for many reasons. It brought back great memories of the 88 Olympics – we were very fortunate and got to watch many events. We still tell stories of how we were mortified by our dad (he probably felt the same way about us), and it was fun to revisit those memories.
It was special to share the event with my daughter. We watched the movie together and both of us found his story really inspiring.
It was so heartwarming to see the reception he got from his Calgary fans. People yelling welcome back and we are so glad you are here. When he was getting ready to jump people were cheering his name. The fans were so excited to watch him jump, and he was grinning ear to ear, the happiness was contagious. In a culture where we seem so often to relish in watching one another fail, it was a delight to see a group of people who do earnestly wanted to see someone succeed.
As he was going up the chairlift above us, he shook his fist over his head and with a huge smile yelled stronger than ever!!! He inspires me to be braver, to keep trying things that scare me, to do things I may not be good at, to chase my dreams.
Not only was it happiness, but it was a lot of fun. Witnessing someone living their dharma with such joy is a gift.
Tonight the boy and I went to see the Globetrotters – first time for both of us.
They were awesome and the perfect way for him to celebrate the end of basketball season.
We smiled and laughed all evening long.
I’m sitting at a basketball game watching both sides play their best. Our boys have lots of heart, but struggle to compete against a lot of these other teams. I have been impressed with them all season – even when the score is obviously defeating, they never give up.
The opposing team was cheering for their players. One of the younger siblings for our school started yelling over them let’s go thunder over and over.
Something interesting happened. The stand remained silent, our team remained silent, the opposing team started to smile at this enthusiastic boy and started clapping along with his cheer. The opposing team!!!! And they weren’t making fun of him, they were genuinely enjoying it.
That’s what sportsmanship is. I am so impressed with those kids. That is happiness.
The girl and I went to Bragg Creek and had lunch at Creeker’s Bistro for the first time – definitely a place we will go back to. We sat in the corner (as is our usual MO) and talked about little things and stole food off of each other’s plates. Normally I have a full on ban on people taking food from my plate – or my taking food off of their plate – but Jenna somehow has managed to make that rule not apply to her. She’s been happily stealing my food since she was born.
When we were done we each had a little sweet treat which was delicious, but we both decided was more than we had really needed (although we really enjoyed eating it). As we were driving home I lamented that with the dessert I had eaten too much and that I was going to regret it later. Jenna quipped back “I ate too much as well, but I’m not going to worry about it – that’s Future Jenna’s problem”. It was so unexpected and funny I laughed until tears were rolling. Then she found it so funny that I was laughing so hard she laughed until she was crying as well.
It’s these little moments that make up the big memories. This is the stuff we will remember. This is happiness.
For the first time in ages I took my Dotted Dog out for a walk along the ridge. It was still pretty windy, and a little muddy and icy, but it was certainly nice to get outside and spend some healing time in nature. It’s been a few months since I have done this particular walk and I forgot that as soon as I got to the spot where we had scattered some of Dad’s ashes I would have to stop and cry. It was blowing so hard that the wind took away my tears almost as soon as they were out of my eyes. I wonder how much longer it will be before those tears come without warning. Dad would have loved the walk along the ridge tonight.
I go on all the time about how happy I am that we are home and how much I love it here – but seriously… look at this place. I am grateful every moment of every day that God brought us back where we belong. We are home, we are safe, we are loved.
Today I met with an agency to discuss children who could participate with Celebrate Every Child. I had to give a little talk about myself and how it was that the idea, the dream, for this project came to be. It was pretty emotional as I had to put myself back where we were a year ago when we were in such a scary and uncertain place. I had just filed for divorce, our finances had been completely cut off, I was in the process of discovering so many painful things about the life I had been living. I had to go back even before that to the life we lived where there was so much pain and fear, so much hurt and sadness. And then I got to talk about how my tribe stepped in and helped me and my kids when we were at our bottom, when we had nothing. I got to talk about how the kids and I were now at the point where we wanted to pass on some of the blessings we had received.
They loved my idea of giving birthday parties to children who because of family circumstances would not get one, they agreed that every child deserves to be celebrated. I am one huge step closer to seeing this dream become a reality. This is such huge happiness I am at a loss for words to explain how grateful I feel. I think this is something that can make a big difference to children who really need some happiness in their lives.
After what feels like a long break the kids and I did our Friday night shopping trip at the Italian Centre. It’s one of my favourite parts of the week. The boy has his list of meats he orders to make his favourite sandwiches and there’s always lots of other yummy stuff to look at.
This week I got figs. I love figs and was kind of sad when I had to leave my beloved fig trees behind when we left Virginia.
The boy sat and had an espresso with an older Nono type gentleman and they discussed Italy and what constitutes a good coffee. That was happiness. It was cute to watch them together.
Tonight I watched my boy play basketball in the high school my best friend went to a bazillion years ago. Lots of other things may have changed over the last 30 years, but not in the halls of that school.
It was weird to take that walk down memory lane. We were best friends from birth until we hit the age where we got married and started having kids and then our friendship seemed to have run its course. A lifetime of things have happened since then and I hadn’t thought about her in a long time.
It was weird, fun, sad to sit in that gym where we had watched games, gone to dances, crushed on boys, and laughed with our friends. It was having a little memory movie run in my head.
That part of my life seems so long ago. At the time everything was so urgent and important and I’ve since forgotten so much of it. There were lots of good times though.
And to add more weirdness to the weird memory lane path, we passed the hospice dad went to right before he died on our way to the school. Another thing I’ve worked hard to banish from my mind. So there was an unexpected hit of emotion before I even walked into the school.
But there was happiness in there too. Bringing myself back to the present and being in the moment allowed me to watch my boy and his team run up and down the court. They have such great heart, and although they didn’t win they never quit. I drove my boy and his friend to and from the game and I loved listening to them discuss strategy and be so excited to play. It’s awesome.
