1st World Problems

What is one thing that oddly proud of? Maybe it's a skill you have or a talent.  Everyone has something that they do that they should be proud of.  Here's the gotcha, how long did it take you to think of something?  Now, what if I had asked you to tell me something you don't like about yourself. I bet that you could give me a list of 20 things before I was finished asking. Why are we like that? Why can't we celebrate ourselves? There are very few people with no redeeming qualities. I try to remind myself of that when I am angry or annoyed by someone. We are so willing to put ourselves down, but leave it to others to hype us back up.  And then when we are talking about how cool someone is, we rarely share that information with the person we are talking about. When we choose who we get to spend time with, it's usually because the person we chose makes us feel good about ourselves, or there is something about them that reminds us of themselves.  So if we can see th...

 When you ask someone to describe the average Canadian, what adjectives do you think they would use? I am thinking some things along the lines of a lumberjack, or a hockey player would be the average response. Or some might refer to the Indigenous people of our country. Internationally, we are seen as harmless and outdoorsy. And white. Very wonder bread.  We can't help our reputation, but we can certainly do more when it comes to acknowledging the contributions that people of colour have made to the country as a whole. Seeing as it is Black History month here are a few people I would like to introduce you to.  1.  Artis Lane  nee Shreve is a black, female sculptor. She was born just outside of Chatham, Ontario in 1927. Her birthplace, North Buxton is known for being a community that was a final destination for the Underground Railroad. Her work is well known and has been featured at the Smithsonian. She designed Rosa Park's Congressional Medal of Honour in 1999....

 I really wish that I could be positive every day.  I would rather write about stupid, funny things that don't really matter.  Instead, the hate just keeps coming.  I was not raised religiously. I don't think many of my generation were. Our parents were forced to attend church and all that came with it. By the time we came along religion was more nebulous. The almighty (if you believed in one) wasn't just an old guy who only listened when you were in a certain building. For the most part, I was given a basic tour of the highlights of this type of belief and left to figure out the rest for myself.  I was baptized into the Roman Catholic church, mostly because that was just what you did where I come from. Then, the church that I was baptized in burned down. Also, where I am from was one of the first places where survivors of sexual abuse by the church were officially recognized and reported on. So, there is less of a link to how great the church is, and more of a ...

We lost a friend yesterday. He was a grumpy old man, and I loved him. I can't remember when we met him and his forever patient wife, it's almost like he was just there the whole time. My husband belongs to the Shriners. The Shriners are a volunteer group that raises money for their group of hospitals. The percentage of young guys is much smaller than the group of old guys, so my husband wound up with a best friend almost 35 years older than he is. It's not all that surprising, from all accounts my husband has been 80 since he was born. We met our friend through the Shrine. Our friend was a vocal supporter and an even more vocal critic. He didn't suffer fools and never hid an opinion. Politically we stood very far apart, but ultimately we just wanted what was best for our country and province, and had different ideas on what and who that meant.  We spent a lot of time together at Shrine functions. Dinners, dances, BBQs, parades. We traveled together to conventions and go...

 I am finding it hard to get anything done today.  Not for the usual reasons though, this time it's my dog. She was spayed on Monday and her usual highly independent personality has taken a turn. Currently, she is laying under my desk right at my feet. I am having to type with my arms pretty much all the way extended because she is a large dog and my desk is rather small.  I must say I kind of like the extra time and attention she is requiring. I don't like the idea that she is needing it because she's in pain. I hope she's not. Or maybe it's the painkillers. Perhaps she feels like she needs more protection when she isn't 100% so being next to me at all the time is her way of coping.  We had to put our lab down in July. He was the first dog I ever had. I grew up with cats and I must say I was not expecting the vast difference in living with cats versus dogs. Our lab was the best dog ever. Other than the initial chewing incidents (I lost many shoes and my massage...

 I am sure that you all have seen the devastation due to flooding in BC. The impact of this unprecedented natural disaster will take years to really be understood. Aside from the severing of commerce routes, there is also the loss of personal connection. Sure, people can fly. Most people though find it more cost-effective to drive. Especially during the holidays. Flying is expensive enough, let alone paying the extra fees to bring luggage and gifts.  While the land is currently lost and it will take years to repair the roads that have been washed away, there is farmland there that will be forever changed. Insurance rates will rise and corporate farms will win again. Produce costs will soar and buying local may become cost-prohibitive.  There is going to be a lot of talk about the costs of rebuilding the infrastructure (roads and bridges), but not a lot about the mental health aspect of what just happened. Calgary flooded eight years ago, and people still get nervous when ...

For the first time since the pandemic hit my husband and I went to a casino as patrons, not to volunteer.   It was my stepmother's birthday this weekend and we joined her and my dad for dinner at the buffet, after eating we thought it would be fun to go lose some money. And it was for the ten minutes it took me to get bored.  The point of this story is coming, I promise.  To get into the casino, I showed the guys at the door my QR code, and for the first time, they asked to see my ID with it. Then on my way in the door once I had been cleared I noticed that they were doing free onsite covid testing for those with their shots, or maybe didn't have their vaccination records on them.  Not only did I feel protected knowing that everyone had been screened but I was super impressed by the way the business was handling an otherwise messy situation. There has been a lot of chatter about personal freedoms and "police states", I think a lot of those people have probably n...

 When is the last time you checked in with your male friends? Or your husband (if you have one)? This one is about the men in our lives.  Let's be honest. No one is ok right now. We are all tired of living in historic times. The isolation that we would normally stave off by being together stays. We are slogging through existence like Artax and Atreyu in The Neverending Story. Our swamp of sadness seems to be never-ending and the short bursts of happiness are coming in shorter intervals.  Now I am going to get around to the question I asked at the outset comes in. As a woman, it is societally acceptable to feel, talk about, and show my emotions. Generations of men have been told that "men don't cry", to suck it up and be the strong male archetype. They have been shown by movies and TV that men only cry silently in the garage, or in the truck on the way to their father's funeral, or when they have to shoot their dog that somehow got rabies. Most men have never felt ...

One of my favorite things is driving around with the windows down, music on loud, and singing my heart out. Thanks to having the summer mostly off I have discovered that my daughter enjoys that same ritual. She even made a playlist so all the songs would be in one place. No more searching. As we were coming home from practice last night, indulging in what could be one of the last warm nights of the year I wondered to myself if she was going to remember our sing-alongs. When I was young (I know, I know. I have a bend towards nostalgia) summers were mostly spent with either my aunt and her family or with my grandmother. When I was with my aunt, uncle, and two cousins, we usually were camping or visiting some of their friends somewhere. Or just causing trouble in the backyard, which included at least one trip to the ER).  It was pretty standard summer vacation fun. With my grandmother though it was different.  My Grandmother (Nannie is what I actually call her) lived with me and ...

Today, in Canada it is the Day for Truth and Reconciliation .  The government has put aside this day as a way to honour the lost children and survivors of residential schools. Members of churches and the RCMP would tear these children away from their parents and homes and place them in "schools" where the hope was to assimilate these children into society. Instead, these places became torture chambers. Abuse of all kinds was perpetrated on these kids.  Many ran away from the schools trying to get home. Sadly most of these schools were hundreds of miles away from their homes and most of the children never made it home. These schools were all over the country and the finding of lost children has just begun. With every discovery the wound is reopened, the child and family are lost again. The last school was closed in 1996. The first official apology was not issued until 2008.  Before September 30th became the Day for Truth and Reconciliation it was known as Orange Shirt Day....