9-11 Forever Changed

It has been 10 years.

Like millions of others I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news. I was in a Junior Kindergarten classroom the entire morning. Like the children in my charge, I was totally oblivious to the events which would change the world, oblivious until about 11:30 a.m. when the first parent arrived to pick up their child. I remember exactly the look on her face when she asked me if I had heard the news. She looked like she had exciting news to tell but not sure how to tell it. I laughed and so said “no, what’s up? Are you pregnant?” She didn’t laugh.

She went on to tell me planes were missing all over the US and some were crashing into buildings. She told me things I could not understand. I thought she must have the story all confused. As she left with her young daughter she said “the world as we know it has changed forever.” I was left speechless standing in a room of four years totally confused. I was not clear exactly what she was talking about but I was sure she was over reacting. What she was saying was just not possible. I was wrong.

A half hour later when all of the children had been picked up and hugged a little tighter by their parents I was finally able to go to the staff room where CNN had been playing all morning. At the time I was upset no one on staff had taken the time to come to my isolated kindergarten room to tell me this news prior to lunch time. Ten years later, I realize it was just as well. I had a few hours longer than the rest of the world to live in my bubble where innocent people are protected and safe from the fear of terrorists.

While I admire the spirit of the Americans who have valiantly carried on with their lives I do wonder if Bin Laden has actually won. He may have been taken out by Navy Seals, al qaeda may be in disarray, but his goal to destroy the United States economy and ultimately their way of life may be closer to reality. Along with the economic concerns facing the United States, it is becoming Un-United. With the growth of “The Tea Party”, the aim of politicians to win, over the need for the country to win, might ultimately be a greater blow to the country than any crazy terrorist could ever accomplish.

While the horror of 9-11 is something I never wish to witness again, can we ever get back those days following the attack when Americans, regardless of race, faith or political stripe, held and supported each other, strong in the belief they are the lucky ones to live in a free country?

Where were you before the world we as we knew it changed forever?

Deep ......Dark........Secret!

I have a deep, dark secret.

I don’t floss regularly.

Oh, after an evening of popcorn at the movies or a big juicy steak at dinner I might dig out the container of floss at the back of the medicine cabinet, but flossing has not been part of my regular routine.

Each time I go to the dentist I must go through the painful process of the hygienist’s unspoken disgust with me as she painstakingly cleans my teeth. Each visit seems to take longer and is more uncomfortable than the visit before. I don’t even know what the hygienist looks like since she never takes her mask off during my visit. Yet, she knows my secret, I am a floss failure. Each dentist visit ends with a new tooth brush and a lecture about the benefits of flossing.

My last visit to the dentist was in July. As I left I had a flash back to the dental visits of my youth. When I was a kid there was no hygienist, no fancy equipment, just the actual dentist looking in my mouth with this tiny little mirror at the end of his silver pick. Every visit ended with Dr. Thurston saying “Keep up the brushing. You’re doing a great job!” Dr. Thurston built up my self-esteem.

Now my dental visits only remind me of my built up plaque!

I decided after the visit in July I was going to become a flosser. With very few exceptions, I have flossed my teeth every night. I have become much more adept with the floss and the routine has become faster and has in fact become routine.

I have to wonder……am I the only one out there not a regular flosser? Is it really going to make a difference? More importantly, at my next dental visit am I going to wipe the look of disgust off the hygienist face? Will I be able to tell under her mask? So many questions created by one piece of waxy string!

What are your dark hidden secrets????

Psychic…..psycho????

We held our annual Fun Fair at my school the other night. It is so much work on the part of so few volunteers but the entire community really enjoys it.

There is one part of it I enjoy as well…..I think.

We have our community “Fortune Tellers”. While I know the identity of these women, I am sworn to secrecy to tell. They dress themselves up in scarves etc and really look the part. They tell all of the children exciting things about their future. They are going to be the mother of twins and be an astronaut and other exciting things. It is made very clear it is only for fun. However….maybe not.

The first time I met these ladies I was in the middle of trying to sell our house and I was getting frustrated by the length of time it was taking. I desperately wanted them to tell me it was going to sell soon. But no, they said it was not going to sell until September and then we would move in October. I was disappointed in what they had to say but at least it relieved stress because I knew our house would sell eventually. Yes, as you can probably guess, they were exactly right!

Last year they told me I had better set some money aside because we were going to have some major household expenses. Wouldn’t you know it that summer we ended up having to spend twice as much as planned on our little reno project.

This year I asked specifically about Kaitlin. Is she going back to school? They said yes but not until second term. I asked where and they said University of Toronto. While I am pretty sure they got the second term part right (much to my disappointment…I was hoping for September but Kaitlin wants to wait until February), it is the location I am sure they got totally wrong. Kaitlin is hoping to go to law school in Australia. University of Toronto law school (Osgoode Hall) is out of her academic reach. So, these so called psychics really don’t know anything.

Kaitlin and I are heading off today to an information session about law schools in Australia. It is being held in Toronto - University of Toronto to be exact! Hmmmmmmmmmm…………………….

80's Video Tribute

Thank you Reactive Candy for putting this great video on facebook! It was a 10 minute flashback of my life. As the video started, with each snippet of song I was transported back to some place in my past. Each song reminded me of some part of my youth. The memories are very specific about a certain party, a particular person, a perfect moment in time.

Until 1986.

I remember all of the songs but after 1986 I don't have a memory of an event to match up. 1986 was also the year when I became a mother. Is there a correlation?

Was motherhood the cause of this stoppage of song-related memories? Too busy with children to have a social life? I really do believe pregnancy zaps your memory (otherwise who would have more than one child?) Was I just growing up and my interests changed from music to other more cerebral things? What is the explanation?

Maybe the music in the late 80's was just too bad to enjoy with a memorable event. Whose idea was the whole big hair thing?


wake me up before you go go......

http://www.livestream.com/reactivecandytv/video?clipId=pla_f8290939-8180-45bd-8291-cc478210b2df


Let me know your thoughts of this video...thanks Candy!

My Happiness

I came across an article in the Globe and Mail regarding "Happiness". One thing led to another and I ended up getting in touch with someone compiling a book of essays about what makes people happy. She invited me to submit my own essay. I'm not sure what will come of it but in case the book doesn't become a best seller I thought I would share my essay here.

My happiness depends upon my cycle. No, not THAT cycle….. my happiness cycle.

After much reflection I have determined what really makes me happy. I had the AHA moment. I realized nothing makes me happy. I realized everything makes me happy. What makes me happy today will not make me happy next week. My happiness cycle is a gentle ebb and flow of thoughts, feelings and reactions to life’s events determining the degree of my happiness.

My family makes me happy. My children have grown to be independent, successful young adults. I believe my biggest achievement was the day they all moved out to be on their own. Yet I miss them. I miss the days of phones ringing and being needed for rides and food and mom advice. Now I look forward to their texts, their phone calls and their visits. Their arrival back home makes me happy. I bask in their energy and their youthfulness. But then I begin to feel the shift. I start to tire of being the responsible one, the one who is expected to know the answers to their life questions, especially when they choose to do what they were going to do anyway. When the door shuts behind them as they leave, there is peace and quiet and I am happy again. But a few days go by and I yearn for their return.

My job makes me happy. My job makes me feel successful and respected. It is a reason to get out of bed in the morning. I have a purpose in life and a pay cheque to almost pay for my lifestyle. But after too many days in a row of everyone needing me and having to crawl out of bed with too little sleep, I yearn for retirement. The stress starts to wear at my body and mind. The holidays always seem to arrive just as I think I am about to break. Much needed time off allows me to unwind and relax, but before long I feel once again the pendulum begin to sway and I long to be back to work, back to being needed.

Our cottage makes me happy. The first time we arrive in the spring we are welcomed by smells of nature and the view of the overflowing lake. The broken pipes and mice droppings don’t dampen my happiness at all. Nothing is as perfect as the first trip to the cottage in spring. Our time there in the spring is short, snippets of time we grab on week-ends between long weeks of work. Then summer finally arrives and I spend endless weeks at our lakeside retreat. As two weeks becomes three and four, my love affair starts to wane. The slowness of the lake begins to bore and I yearn for the return of work and routines of the city. The pendulum begins to swing back, marking my happiness cycle.

So what makes me happy?

Everything, until it doesn’t.

Until it does again.

King Tut

Several weeks ago Jennifer called me to make arrangements to pick her up in Toronto for a visit home during Reading Week. She also mentioned she had an assignment to finish for one of her Art History courses which meant a visit to an art gallery of some repute. Apparently in previous years the professor took the class to the art gallery in Ottawa but budget cutbacks meant the students were on their own to visit a suitable art gallery. Jen and I decided the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) qualified for her assignment and we made a date to attend today. I even put the event in my calendar in pen which meant there was no way we could change our plans…… even if Jennifer did get invited to Melissa’s birthday party in Kingston.

Jen took the bus from Kingston to Toronto; I drove from St. Catharines to Toronto. We met at exactly the same time. The wonders of texting each other along the way made it so easy to meet up without any stress. We then walked a few blocks to a great Thai restaurant and then headed to the AGO.

Jen’s assignment had to do with comparing three pieces of modern art. As we headed to the contemporary art section and looked around with lost faces, a docent approached Jen and asked if she needed help. She looked at her assignment sheet and said she had already helped three people today with the same assignment. Who knew so many students from Queens were actually going to go to Toronto to finish this assignment instead of a gallery in Mexico or some other country with warm weather? The docent told us exactly where to go (4th floor) and to come back if we needed any help. I wanted to ask her to just write the assignment for Jen but Jen said I was embarrassing her (once again)

Jen found the appropriate art work and took notes while I found the washroom and took pictures of the CN tower and other scenery through the window of the stairwell. (Photos in the art gallery were not allowed, but check my facebook page for the pics)

Jen said she had all of the info required so we got in the line for the King Tut exhibit. We waited and waited and after about 40 minutes finally got admitted to the exhibit…. which allowed no photography. It was a great exhibit in spite of the fact it was so crowded including crying babies.

I was very impressed with the exhibit but the most philosophic part was the reason why King Tut had become so famous. Because he died so young and so unexpectantly, tomb robbers did not know where his tomb was and therefore his tomb was left in tact until discovered by Howard Carter in 1922. Jen and I were also impressed it was Lord Carnarvon supporting Carter in his dig. (Carnarvon is a little town just south of where I cottage is located, named after Lord Carnarvon.) No matter where I go, there is always some connection to our cottage…………..

A pharaoh that was really insignificant during his time became the best known pharaoh 3000 years later. Hmmmmmmm…maybe there is hope for me to be important, if I am willing to wait 3000 years.

The Holiday is Over

Today I gathered up of the decorations and put them in a box ready for storage for another year. All of the Christmas tree ornaments are put away and the lights and garland are carefully stored so they won’t be a massive tangle next year. Although we all know no matter how I tried, somehow light bulbs will be missing and there will be snarls requiring the patience of Job to untangle.

The only thing left to do is to get rid of the tree.

Previously in order to get rid of our tree all that was required was to put it at the curb and wait for the garbage men (now called waste management workers). Things are different now we are living in a condo. I googled “Christmas tree pick-up” and found out the waste management team will be picking up trees on January 9th ……only for single family residences! That means we have no way of getting rid of the tree except to load it into the car somehow and take it to the dump (landfill site). At the rate our tree is now dropping needles I really don’t think that is a viable option unless I want to be vacuuming everywhere for the next six months.

I came up with a plan!

When it gets dark, we will just toss our tree over the balcony and then sneak down to the courtyard and hide it in the bushes until January 9th. Then on the appointed day when no one is watching we drag it to the house across the street! Perfect!

No. Terry would not go along with the plan because he thought we would be bothering the neighbours. I think he is just afraid of getting caught….although what’s the worst that could happen? Terry decided his own idea was much better and there was no changing his mind.

Terry took out a pair of side cutters and spent an hour cutting up our tree and putting into several garbage bags. Then he took the bags down to our garbage room and put them in the dumpster ready to be picked up Monday morning.

Somehow as I watched him cut our tree into a million pieces and meticulously putting every twig and needle into black garbage bags, I had flashbacks of the many episodes of Dexter I watched over the holidays.

Do I need to worry?

Real Americans

Today I returned from a two day trip to the United States. My girlfriend and I went to the Seneca Allegany Casino resort where we spent a bit of time in the casino and enjoyed a great “Tragically Hip” concert. Of course I also met quite a few Americans.

Everybody makes fun of me because I will talk to anyone and I ask too many questions. I think I am just constantly quenching my thirst for knowledge……and OK, I admit I am really nosy!

One gentleman I met while outside during a break in the concert happened to be a manager of a Wal-Mart outside of Buffalo. (Near the Military Road Outlet Mall) I mentioned to him the peopleofwalmart website I wrote about in a recent post. He said he had seen the site and confirmed there really are people like that in all of the Wal-Marts across the country. He said there are 20 million transactions a day in Wal-Marts in America and a small percentage of each transaction are going to be by people who have questionable taste.

In the quest for more answers I asked a couple I met from Pittsburgh if they had seen the peopleofwalmart site. It must be a very popular site because indeed they knew all about it. They confirmed there really were Americans like that ……but they were all in places like Florida!

So while we may not always agree on American politics or policies, I can say the majority of Americans I met on this last little jaunt were friendly and pleasant. I met a wide array of Americans I am sure you will find in any culture. Although the girl who kept doing belly shots at the bar is a one in a million. By the way……we didn’t win anything at the casino …..except great memories.

Now my question is, why are so many people convinced they are going to win at the casino when the odds are so stacked against them?

Will the Real American Please Stand Up?

As Canadians we are inundated with American media all of the time. The images on television make the American lifestyle seem glamorous and carefree. But does reality match what we see on TV?

My new blog friend Ed put me on to a very interesting website, www.peopleofwalmart.com I shared it with Terry. He was on the site for hours. He couldn’t take his eyes off of it in amazement. You really have to check it out yourself as no words can adequately describe.

On Thursday I am heading south of the border (I mean the United States not Mexico). We are staying at the Seneca Alleghany Casino. I thought I would research and check out the place a little before I went. I am so glad I did. It is License to Thrill week! If I bring my hunting or fishing license with me I will have a chance to win 100 Seneca Slot Dollars! I wonder if my driver’s license will do?

Such a dichotomy is the United States of America.

My favourite youngest daughter just returned from New York City where she visited the MoMA and the Guggenheim. She window shopped along Fifth Avenue and actually shopped Canal Street. She went to a Broadway show and almost made it to David Letterman (stand by ticket #7 but only six available seats)

So, which is the real America? The one we see on Entertainment Tonight? Or is Wal-Mart where real Americans are hiding? And if so, how do the America media hide such a dirty secret? I can see how MSNBC might not air such a thing but I was sure it would be something Geraldo on Fox News would surely leak out.

Hmmmmm