Saturday, September 5, 2009

Maple Syrup Day

Look at me go! I haven't posted for months and now all of a sudden I'm stacking up two in the same week. Don't get used to it. Just two more sleeps and I'll be in the Big Apple for a week so there will be, "No more posts for you! Come back one week!" Ahhh... how I wish I could actually "do" funny.

Anyway, today will be another random thought entry. Some days I need inspiration to beat me over the head with an idea and other days, they just flow like golden maple syrup. Today is a maple syrup day.

Toddlers With Chainsaws
Now that the kids are back to school the doggies have had the house to themselves during the day. The first few days weren't too bad. Unfortunately, Mr. B left his Rush hat out somewhere before he left for 'la Belle Province' and it was mistakenly identified as a chew toy. The next day I think perhaps their allergies were acting up because they used ALL of the Kleenex but were not polite enough to put them in the garbage when they were done. I see that we'll have to have a refresher course on proper etiquette. The day after that we were very careful to remember that dogs have the capacity of a toddler. A toddler with a chainsaw. That day was incident free. Yes! We're on to something here. (insert big sigh here) But alas, all good things do come to an end eventually. Although we didn't get a picture of the actual presentation they chose for their masterpiece, I did manage to grab a shot or two of the gathered disaster. This is what they did:


Quality Over Quantity
Has something bad ever happened to you that you were actually thankful for afterwards? One of the books in there was a special little book given to me by a dear friend. A dear friend who loves me as I am and who probably knows me better than I know myself sometimes. She shares my passion for photography, particularly black and white, and she shares my view of quality over quantity when it comes to friends. We're the kind of girlies that stand the test of time. All that being said, it was quite fitting that she gave me this book. She gave it to me many years ago for no other reason than she knew I would like it. Those are the best kind of presents, aren't they? It's been proudly displayed on my bookshelf since she gave it to me but I shamefully admit that I've only looked at it two or three times.

I was very sad to see that my goggies had chosen that particular book to chew but I'm not angry that it happened. When I found it, I sat down and looked through every page to assess the damage and it occurred to me that they had actually chosen the perfect book to destroy.

You see, I needed a reminder of sorts. I didn't need a reminder of how much I love Shannon or that I should spend more time with her or any of the typical things that would go through one's head at such a time. We have extremely busy lives but we use every resource we have to communicate and get together when we can, stress free. We both appreciate every minute no matter how frequent or far apart they are. In fact, the NYC trip is a sort of celebration of the friendship that she, her beau, Mr. B, and I all share. So, I didn't need a reminder of what a good friend she is, I'm well aware of and thankful for that. I did however need a reminder of just how rare our friendship is and how amazing we are together, as well as individually. I needed a reminder to remember those things in me which she loves. I needed a reminder to stop using my camera just to take pictures and start capturing moments and telling stories again. ;)
My Life in Coffee Cups
I won't go into my rant about how difficult it is to be a Gemini again, you've heard that enough but it's necessary to touch on it to explain the dilemma I faced this morning.

A huge part of me loves order, balance, and coordination. Another huge part of me hates performing the work necessary to obtain order, balance, and coordination as is evident by the photo of my drink ware cupboard.


If you look closely you can see that I have a rather large collection of just plain white cups and just clear tumblers... somewhere in behind the beer glasses of the world and the mish-mash of coffee cups.

When I open this cupboard I usually feel this overwhelming sense to straighten it and hide the monstrosities that do not match but then my desire to actually use one of them dominates and I leave it for another day. A day that comes only two or three times a year when the control freak in me can no longer take the disorder.

I saw things differently this morning. The need to match, tidy, and organize lasted only a second and then I had trouble deciding from which story of my life to drink my morning courage. I placed them all on the bar top so that I could examine each one individually, remember where each of them came from and why my love for each is stronger than my compulsion and make a well deserved choice.
It was not an easy choice.

I had my RadarSat-2 cup which is important to me because Mr. B and I were part of the team that built that satellite and other cool stuff including the OBSS that allowed NASA to "Return to Flight" and reignite the shuttle program. Although we were just small drops in the bucket of effort to make both of those missions happen, we contributed and are therefore entitled to a little piece of the pride. We met astronauts and had lunch with NASA execs. That's a huge deal to two little Canadian kids who started their life together far too young and who never thought they'd amount to very much. To you it might look like just a cup, to us it's a symbol of how far we've come and how far we can still go. (and how yummy the spacecraft factory breakfasts were)

Then there was my Gemini cup from the Disney Store with Stitch on it. I love Hawaii, I am a Gemini, and I love Lilo and Stitch (Mr. B's folks call me Lilo, I love them) so this mug represents a whole lot of happy to me. However, I just whitened my teeth and so I really shouldn't drink quite that much coffee today, so I decided to pass.

That left me with my hibiscus mug that I bought at the ABC store in Hawaii, my Wicked! cup that I bought when I went to the musical last year, a beautiful Starbucks cup and saucer given to me for my b'day by my pal Marianne (because we always meet there), and my Wicked Witch of the West cup that Mr. B bought for me because it says, "I'm a wicked witch. What's your excuse?" and well, it suits me. All very important to me for various important reasons. I usually always use the wicked witch cup so I gave it the day off.

It was a tough decision but I chose the Wicked! cup because in just four more sleeps I'll be sitting in 4th row at the Gershwin Theatre in New York City with my dear friend and our darlings watching my most favourite musical. I'll try to remember to capture the moment but I have to admit that I'll be more concerned with just living it.

2 comments:

  1. A) How was NYC?

    B) I have never heard anyone measure time by "sleeps". That's awesome. :)

    C) I have befriended Mr. B on Facebook, so now I have access to the full scope and wonder of your adorable back-and-forth status update witticisms and general FB loveyness. You two are so cute! <3

    D) Come back and muse some more, dammit! :D

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