The Century Club!!

This is it...my 100th post!!  I know, it's about time.  You were probably wondering if I was ever going to write again.  I am a serious blogger if not a frequent one.  Whether through writing, acting or bedtime stories I love telling stories.  I always have.  Sometimes we get caught up thinking we are what we do for a living and that's not always the case.  I have a great job.  My degree says I am a librarian and/or information scientist and my job title says that I'm a consultant - in that role I've worked as an information analyst, information and records management specialist and a business transformation architect - but I have always known that I am a storyteller.

The other night I had a dream, I was in a public library reading Stanislavski's An Actor Prepares when in walked some of my classmates from Queen's - where I studied film and drama.  We struck up a conversation and were generally catching up when they asked what book I was reading.  They were surprised with my selection of reading material and asked if I was still trying to act.  I replied, "I'm an actor - an actor has to act."

That's how I feel about my storytelling.  I am compelled to share by any means I have available.  I'd love to act, thought that takes quite a bit of time and commitment and as you can tell my the infrequency of my writing, I don't have either of those in abundance - at this time in my life.

This blog has served a number of purposes for me.  It provides me a chance to hone my writing skills and find my style of writing.  More importantly it enables to put my writing out there for anyone to read - which is a big step for me.   I have written quite a bit in the past few years including two feature screenplays, a script for a short film, a one act play, a couple of kids' picture books and a book (all first drafts except the book which is on its fourth iteration).  The problem is I've kept them to myself and I haven't actively sought out opportunities to share for a myriad of reasons that I haven't fully explored.  Part of it is fear and nerves - like the moments right before taking the stage for performance.  With a performance if you don't take that first step onstage the anxiously waiting audience tends to notice whereas with something written, no one is the wiser if you don't take a breath and go for it.  The truth is that I'm a shy, self-conscious writer - much like I used to be in person before acting empowered me and allowed me to find my voice and presence.  This blog has enabled me to take a few small steps towards centre stage.

I still censor myself quite a bit, often due to notion that I haven't given something enough thought or reflection to put out there for everyone to read.  There's a lot that I'd like to write about such as the sorry state of this world and my thoughts on the horror stories that are the recent current events.   However these are topics that I want to give appropriate time and effort to and to be honest at the end of the day I often don't have the steam or mental stamina to fully articulate my thoughts on these heady topics.  And rather than giving it a half effort I just don't write - which is why I haven't written much in the past couple of weeks.

Anyway - here's to my first one hundred blogs and to hundreds more to come!!

Love You Forever - Happy Mothers' Day

Here's a little treat from master storyteller Robert Munsch.  A favourite of my mom and I, and one that I have enjoyed passing down to my girls.

Mom's do so much and deserve this day of recognition for their effort, sacrifice, guidance and love that they give to us.  It is a joy watching the wonderful job my wife does with our girls and knowing how much of herself she gives (and gives up) to do so is inspiring and my appreciation and love for her deepens everyday.

My girls are surrounded by such excellent examples of strong women and mothers (from my Mom and Mother-in-law) to my wife that I can't help but feel blessed on this day - even though it's a day to bless moms.

Here's to all you moms!!  Happy Mothers' Day!!

Busy Busy Busy Sleep

Well its been a while. The last few weeks our family seems to have been on constant overdrive with lessons, meetings, virus bugs, and spring fun.  I hope to post some pictures in a day or so but for now Im just too darn lazy to set up the camera and download the pics. I may rename this blog the Lazy Daddy Blog, or perhaps Sleep Deprived Daddy Blog, Covered in Puke Daddy Blog, Receding Hairline Daddy Blog, the possibilities are endless (unlike my energy level).

I can update you with some exciting developments of our house. Evie has learnt to ride a two wheeler, and Noli has graduated to Evie's old "big kid" bike. Miriam is just starting to use the potty albeit vary randomly and with minimal aim. Chiefy, our dog, turned 4 last week, which unfortunately was not celebrated with much fanfare (we just sort of noted it during a coffee break).

Meanwhile me and the wife are trying to keep up with it all, convincing ourselves to enjoy it even when were so tired we think we might die. After all it goes by so fast (I know I know, but geeze do I want to go to the bathroom for once with out someone barging in with lego, or a booboo, or whatever).

It did strike me this morning though that our worries and struggles are so very minor compared to so many. The world is a very dark place for some people. And struggle is very relative. Our family is truly blessed.

God give us strength and patience, and maybe a good nights rest would be good.

Amen

Green Thumb Season

 I've heard it said that it takes three years of working on a garden before it flourishes.  If that is the case then this summer is our summer.  After much work over the past three years including cutting trees down, clearing brush and debris, planting, weeding and landscaping (I mean really minor landscaping) I think we are ahead the curve this Spring for the first time.  We really have the bones of the garden in place and can spend our time and effort this summer in tweaking, refining and adding to it.

We started a couple of weeks ago by planting some seeds in planters indoors.  Those seedlings have sprouted and we moved them outdoors last weekend.  We also built a raised garden bed, filled it with some topsoil and therein planted carrots, onions and lettuce. 

Now the challenge will be trying to keep the pesky squirrels away from our bounty.  I've got a couple of ideas and have spoken to other gardeners about the little rascals and I'm confident we can deter them enough to give our food a fighting chance.

I've never considered myself a green thumb and if you would have told me that I'd be getting excited about gardening a few years ago I would have thought you were off your rocker.  But here we are and I am excited to watch our garden grow this year and take it to the next level.  It's incredibly gratifying to put your hand to your own land and see the results. 

Happy Birthday Evie!!

Well the little lady that started it all turned seven today.  Evie our first born, our first baby is now a big ol' seven year old.  I know it's cliche to mention how fast time goes, but it's so true.  It doesn't seem like that long ago that I was preparing myself to become a father.  I was terrified.  I remember asking Lex, "What if she doesn't like me?  What if I'm just no good at being a dad?"

I remember spending quite a bit of time beside Lex, talking to her bump, telling Evie all about life on the outside.  When Evie was born, the nurses took Evie and almost immediately started doing their assessment while Lex was being tended to.  Evie was crying as they put her under the heating lamp.  I went to her, leaned down close to her, slipped my finger into her hand which she gripped, and spoke gently to her, "It's me, Daddy, the voice.  I'm here..."  She stopped crying.  I don't think I'll ever forget that moment nor how I felt.

Evie's getting big now and truly growing into her own person.  But she still needs me, from time to time, to give her a cuddle and remind her that I'm here for her.  That's something that I hope she never forgets.

Happy Birthday Sweetie Pie!

What a wonderful weekend...BARF!!

What a week this has been!

My parents, two nephews and niece were here on the weekend.  We had Evie's Birthday party on Saturday at the Humane Society - I know, at first you're probably like, "You did what?!"  But guess what, it was awesome!!  In fact it seemed like a perfect day until about 5 o'clock or so.

That's when we had all the kids bathed and upstairs, settled in to watch Star Wars before bedtime.  The adults were chillin' in the livin' room having some tea when my nephew and niece appeared in the doorway.  Slightly puzzled at their presence I asked, "Don't you want to watch Star Wars?"  Their reply was simple and direct.

"Evie's puking."

Was she ever.  I got upstairs to find a puddle of puke nicely marinating the mattress through the sheets on the bed.  And she was just getting warmed up. She woke up pretty much every hour through the long dark night.  I grateful to see the break of dawn.  The physical manifestations of the flu subsided the next day but the illness took its toll on her.  I'd say she only started to seem her healthy self again yesterday night.

Sunday was a great day despite the previous night's drama.  My dad and I took the kids (minus Evie and Mimi who was/is teething and didn't really sleep either) to church.  Then after church Lex, my Dad and me took Mimi, my nephews and niece to Mud Lake where we met my in-laws and their kids to embark on a nature walk.  It was wonderful.

Then on Monday the flu advanced to claim my wife and I - albeit not as badly as Evie.  Nevertheless it is incredibly draining.  I missed work yesterday but went in today despite feeling like a sack of garbage.    Lex is feeling like a sack of something worse than garbage as well so it really has been quite the trying week.  I think we're on the mend but could use a decent night's sleep or two (or a month of sleep).

Oh, and our phone and internet were once again on the fritz, completely gone!!  AGAIN!!

I know our complaints are minor in the grand scheme of things.  We're pretty fortunate that our biggest issues are a nagging minor malady and sleep deprivation.  This too will pass - we'll get through it and eventually be healthy and rested again.   Perspective is important, however even with the proper perspective, we're still dog-gone tired!

This weekend I'll post some pics from the Humane Society party and the nature walk too.

For now...good night.

Great Expectations (part deux)

The Americans - celebrating their well earned gold medal victory.

Earlier this week, my wife shared her excitement and subsequent disappointment over taking the girls to the World Women's Hockey Championship gold medal game.  Here is the other half of the story from my point of view.

As you know the plan was for my wife to take our two oldest girls to the game for an awesome Mommy-Daughters memory making extravaganza.  As you also know it didn't go exactly according to plan as Noli came down with a fever at the game and they had to leave.

So there I was at home spending time with Mimi our 15 month old.  It's not too often that I get time alone with Mimi and I was really looking forward to doing so throughout the day.  Plus I was especially beat this day from throwing around boxes of files all day.

Mimi and I started our Daddy-Daughter night with a nice walk during which Mimi fell asleep. While she was catching zees in the stroller never far from my reach, I tidied the driveway and then lounged on the porch and read a book until she woke up.  Upon which we went inside and played with some toys until it was bath time.  I was so reminded of the amount of time I used to spend with Evie doing similar things at the end of the day and I counted myself blessed to have this time.  We got out of the bath, got our jammies on and settled into bed with a couple of books.  I got through about half of one and that's when the difficulties started.

Mimi got cranky as she fought the slumber that so desperately wanted to overtake her.  So I tried giving her a bottle, then rocking her, then singing to her (if you were familiar with my singing voice you wouldn't be surprised that this only made her cry louder) and then finally all three at the same time.  Nothing doing.  So I got up and walked with her back and forth and still she wouldn't stop.  Finally she went and got her booties, stood at the back door, looked at me with those sad little eyes and cried.  And I got it!   I said, "Do you want to go for another walk?"  And she grunted affirmatively.  So out we went again.

After the second nice walk of the evening, I took her inside, put on a Baby Einstein video, laid on the couch with her on my chest and lo' and behold she settled in and was well on her way to dreamland.

That's when I hear someone or something at the door.  The doorknob starts to turn, I look up in horror thinking it was my in-laws stopping by to see how things were going.  Now that sounds bad I realise and I want to assure you that 99% of the time I am more than pleased to have them pop in - on this night however after spending about an hour just to get Mimi to settle down and thinking that maybe I would get to sleep early myself I was hoping ti was the wind.  But it wasn't.  So I raise index finger to my lips as the door opens and in rushes my wife...my wife?!  What?  But the game can't possible be over?  Not even half way?  What's going on?  What happened?  AHHHHH!!!!

Thankfully before I had a chance to ask even one of the many questions that were swirling around my groggy little brain in that moment, Alexis said, "Noli sick...she got a fever at the game.  Get up quick, you have to take Evie back right now!"

"Okay."  I get up, put a shirt on, shake the cobwebs from my head and run out the door to the still running car.  I look at Evie and say, "Ready babe?"  Evie anxiously nods her head and says, "Drive fast Daddy."  And did I ever...fast but safely.

We flew back to the arena ignoring the gas light that came on shortly before making it to the arena and all other nuisances.  I whip into a parking space at the far end of the lot and hop out of the car.  Evie gets out too and we start booking it to the game.  I grab Evie and throw her onto my shoulders and run as quickly as I can as Evie laughs and bounces all the way there.  We made it right at the 10 minute mark of the second period and got to watch the second half of the game.

What a game!  What a finish! And hats off to Team U.S.A. for coming onto our ice and taking that gold medal.  They deserve the win and all we can say is, "We'll get it next time...hopefully."  On the way out Evie said to me, "I had fun Daddy...but I'm a little disappointed [that Canada didn't win]."  I nodded in agreement and replied, "Me too...but we can't win 'em all.  You know, it's a good lesson.  Sometimes regardless of the effort we put in, no matter how much we want something or how hard we try for it, we don't always get the desired result. We don't always get what we want.  Doesn't mean we shouldn't do our best and try to win them all - but remember there will be times we are disappointed.  Learn from it and try again."

Evie looked at me and asked, "When's the next gold medal game?"  I told her that I thought it was next year and she replied, "Maybe we'll win that one...do you think we'll win it?"

"Maybe, I hope so," I reply.

"Me too."