Ahhhh, family! August 17, 2009

What a spectacular weekend!

FRIDAY
Morning ferry to Nanaimo with Harry as my companion.

Taking the scenic route to Courtney to meet up with my cousin Caitlin and Auntie Cheryl.

Meeting Uncle Brent back at theirs and making homemade sushi.

Unplanned visit to Auntie Doris and Uncle Mike (it’s been so long!).

SATURDAY
The Big Time Out. Need I say more?

In bed by 2am.

SUNDAY
Up at 4.30am and on the road by 5.

Early morning ferry back to the Mainland. Doze and have exhaustion-induced dreams.

Drive like a maniac to Abbotsford. Have been traveling for 6 hours by the time I arrive.

Celebrate my Great Aunt Traude who jumps out of a plane to celebrate her 65th birthday! For reals!

She has no fear–I hope I’m like her when I hit 65!

Update on my sister July 6, 2009

It’s been over a month since Kell’s car accident, and every Saturday since her operation I’ve promised myself, “this will be Correspondence Saturday! Today I’ll sit down and respond to the many phone calls, emails, texts, and Facebook messages.’ And then each Saturday comes to an end and I haven’t written a single word of thanks.

Part of it is that I feel like I used all my words up during her two-week hospital stay. Koodo says my airtime for that two weeks was over 800 minutes (with per-second billing), and over 1000 text messages were sent and received. It’s just one indication of what I think is the greater ‘problem’: there are just so many of you!

My gosh, there has been such an outpouring of love and support, it would take forever to thank you enough. So, I’m humbled to know that it’s okay that I’ve been a bit incommunicado lately.

Kelly is doing… well. I hesitate to say that simply because she still has a long journey ahead, but at the same time, she WILL make a full recovery, which is more than any of us had expected during the first few hours when we didn’t even know if she was alive or not.

I look at the footage of her being airlifted, I see the car, and I think how is my sister sill alive? It’s nothing short of a miracle in my mind.

Not sure how I managed to drive to the hospital, but I do remember calling a couple friends asking them to get people praying. As I found out later, Kell made it onto the church prayer list, as well as several Canada-wide prayer chains.

I believe so strongly in the power of prayer; I’ve seen people healed in profound ways as a result of prayer before, and I am honoured to know that so many people went to Him on Kell’s behalf… and on my own behalf, too, I know.

So many of you have asked me what you could do. Well, you did exactly what you needed to do. Gandhi puts it beautifully:

Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.

Yes, prayer is a powerful instrument of action. Prayer is the act of worshipping and appealing to the only Being who has any control in a situation that seems so out of control. I believe that as humans we have been given free will, and with that comes choice. I also believe that God honours our choices–which results in a lot of bad, but also a lot of good.

So, when we choose to pray to Him, He honours that choice and that prayer. Whether He says yes or no is up to His perfect wisdom and discernment regarding a world that once was perfect and will again be perfect but for now is not perfect. Nonetheless, I attribute much of my sister’s healing to the prayers that you chose to pray for her, and I am so grateful to those of you who said ‘yes’ to a call to powerful action.

You’re the best!

Hot drinks always! July 5, 2009

Girlie finger sandwiches, delicious tea, real china, splendid company.

Mmm hmm, afternoon tea is exactly what I was looking for today!

Bubba is dead! July 3, 2009

Not to make light of the deaths of the King of Pop and the Queen of the Pinup, but did you know that Thursday, June 25 was also the day the King of Dangerous Driving finally went to that junkyard in the sky?

That’s right. Bubba, my “zero to sixty in two minutes”, kind of sort of sometimes but not really ever reliable ‘94 Mercury Topaz kicked the bucket.

We’ve been through a lot together in our six years together:

- A couple of road trips what we certainly should NOT have taken together if safety were a concern

- Power steering failing on a busy Burnaby street

- Alternator going and all power failing while trying to merge onto Highway 99

- Countless overheating and stalls, often in dangerous situations

- Being broken into (HAHA! FOOLS!!!)

- Being rear-ended by a T-Bird

- Using up every single BCCA call we are allotted per year… EVERY year (not even joking)

- Rusting, leaking, moulding trunk

- 1 speeding ticket (I had thought that Speeding Bubba was an oxymoron, but apparently the cop disagreed)

- Brakes failing on Oak Street

Wow. I gotta admit, it’s nice to feel SAFE when I drive now, but looking back at all of this, I wonder if I’ll miss the thrill of putting my life in actual danger every time I get behind the wheel.

So, here’s to you, Bubba. We had a love/hate relationship but I will look back fondly at the times when you got me from Point A to Point B, and the many, many times you didn’t. I know you did the best you could, old buddy.

PS – Still trying to come up with a name for the new car. Suggestions welcome.

Quite Frankly a Scrumtrillescent Thanksgiving October 13, 2008

Although last year’s thanksgiving at Jessica’s was pretty much the best thing ever, this year’s has now tied it for first place:

Family and close family friends, balancing overflowing plates on our knees around the campfire, followed by cherry-tipped Dominican cigars and peach pie.

Pretty much le top, best of.

Mama Bear March 27, 2008

An encounter with the cashier at London Drugs this evening. 

“You have beautiful writing,” she commented as I scrawled my name across the credit card receipt (ran out of contact solution).

“Thanks!” I said, “I’m just trying to hold the pen; my hands are so cold.”

“Here, give them to me,” she grabbed my hands and began warming them with her own.  I couldn’t help but beam at her. 

“I can tell you’re a Mom.”

Her face broke out into a grin.  “You betcha!”