-
Boys, boys, boys!
I think my neighbours may be whispering about me behind my back. It’s a bit scandalous. Last week, a man and his two sons moved into my house…. My own boys are off to their university lives. The younger is safely ensconced in his university dorm, making new friends and grabbing life by the tail, experiencing the joy being on his own for the first time. The older has moved into a new apartment with old friends, probably feeling like he’s back home as he enters his third year of post-secondary education. So this fall was going to be a… Read more…
-
A second son starts his second season
I thought it might be easier the second time around. But just as each child is different, the experience of seeing a second son off to university was different. Different, not easier. This week has been a whirlwind. The boys came back from their summer camp jobs on Wednesday brown and exhausted from a summer of sun. The washing machine has been on continuously since then trying to get laundry clean. Son number one headed back to school on Friday – it’s become quite routine, unlike the first time three years ago, and he is anxious now to get back to… Read more…
-
I know where the other sock went: tales of a handywoman by necessity
You know those pesky socks – the singles ones (never a pair) that disappear when you’re doing the laundry? I now proof that the washing machine really does eat them! One fateful laundry day recently, my washing machine made a horrible noise and stopped, mid-cycle. Now, unfortunately, I’m no stranger to fixing this oh-so-important fixture in my weekly routine. A couple of years ago, I had to replace the boot seal of my front loader when my daughter’s very pointy Mockingjay pin (from the hit book and movie The Hunger Games) ripped a nice long rent in it. YouTube was my saviour… Read more…
-
I just don’t understand
I just don’t understand. In the last two weeks, the world has seen a bombing at a major European airport, a suicide attack in Bagdad as Eid celebrations were underway, a mass shooting in Orlando, individuals gunned down by police in at least two American cities and just yesterday, police shot in an apparently orchestrated manoeuvre in Dallas. I just don’t understand. People of spiritual persuasion, Christian, Muslim, Jewish and others I’m sure, espouse values of taking care of others. Of helping those less fortunate. Of sharing our wealth. And yet we close our borders, our pocketbooks and our minds. I just… Read more…
-
Losing number two
Two years ago, I wrote about getting ready for my first-born to leave the nest. Now it’s time to start thinking about the same mix of pride, sadness, excitement and melancholy again. Son number two has always been his own person. He’s never cared what other people thought and has forged his own way – right from the get go. There were many times in his early years when I muttered this mantra over and over again: “Strong-willed toddlers become strong adults” just to stay sane. It’s no secret in our family that he and I have had our share of… Read more…
-
Some things I didn’t know before I became a (single) Mum
For Mother’s Day, and in no particular order, some of the things I’ve learned in the last decade or so: Crispy brownish two-day-old roses from a teenager are really, really pretty. Telling a 10 year old you like chocolate means a chocolate bar from the corner store for your birthday. If you tell a 5 year old it’s not going to rain today and then it does, you’ve “lied”. It really is possible to be in more than one place at the same time – as long as you have good friends and neighbours. Teenage boys don’t understand that not… Read more…
-
What might have been…
Do you ever wonder what might have been? If you’d turned left instead of right? If you’d chosen this instead of that? If you’d said yes instead of no? Would your life have turned out very differently? Or would you have eventually ended up in the same place, by a different route? One of my favourite movies is Sliding Doors. Quite apart from the fact that I could listen to John Hannah’s Scottish brogue for hours, I am forever intrigued by the two parallel lives shown in the film. It shows two versions of the main character’s life – one as… Read more…
-
Spring has sprung!
I love spring. I love just about everything about this season. Spring is full of promise and of new life. You can’t help but be more cheerful and cast off the pall of winter. The days get longer, the rain clears away the last of the snow and washes away all of the previous season’s dirt and mess. The birds begin to sing again and the long branches of the weeping willows start to turn a glorious shade of yellow. Eventually, the ground starts to warm up and the first hardy souls begin to show signs of life. Slowly, little… Read more…
