by Heather Plett | Feb 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
After losing two teeth in fairly quick succession, Maddie proclaimed, with great delight “I’m gonna get some BLING from the tooth fairy!”
Before I arrived home from work, she’d told her sister “I’m gonna fool mom and see if the tooth fairy is real. I’ll keep my mouth closed all evening so she won’t see that I’ve lost a tooth, and if there’s money under my pillow in the morning, I’ll KNOW it’s not mom and the tooth fairy is real!” Yeah, whatever – she didn’t last 2 seconds from the time I walked in the door. 🙂
Photo compliments of her big sister Julie, one of the budding photographers in this house.
by Heather Plett | Feb 16, 2009 | Uncategorized
I sat at the back of the church at a little table reserved for the charity of his choice. I didn’t know him well. My only contact had been a few shared meals and his annual visits when he’d picked up brochures for his Christmas charity drive. Oh how he loved to collect donations for people living with hunger! Every year, he’d sit at a table in the mall, and thousands of dollars would roll in because everyone knew that if this was an organization Randall believed in, it was worth supporting.
I didn’t even think to bring kleenex, and mostly, I didn’t need one. I listened to the obituary and the tributes, and was deeply moved by his children’s and grandchildren’s memories of him, but it made me smile more than cry. He loved sports, he knew everyone in the community, and over the span of his life, he’d volunteered for approximately 100 organizations (ours being particularly close to his heart). He was instrumental in starting a water co-op and a sugarbeet museum, and he’d served on the town council. He was well loved.
I didn’t need a kleenex until they wheeled the casket to the church foyer where I was sitting and the family filed out on the way to the graveyard. I didn’t need it until the moment – just before they closed the casket – when I saw his wife of 60 years nearly crumble to the floor as she leaned in to press her face against his just one more time. After 60 years of living with his enthusiasm, his vibrant energy, and his commitment to life and a myriad of worthy causes, she will wake up in a bed tomorrow morning all alone.
I left the church feeling sad and a little lonely. It seemed only fitting that the snow had begun to blow and the stark prairies were made even more stark by their melancholy lack of colour or sunlight. The tears began to flow again as I sat and gazed at the breathtaking yet painful and lonely beauty of the prairies that I love.
(If you want to see a few more of my prairie winter pictures, check out the slideshow here.)
by Heather Plett | Feb 14, 2009 | random
I got tagged by a couple of people on Facebook to come up with a list of 25 things about me, so I’m cross-posting here. You can decide whether a.) I’m an over-achiever, or b.) I was bored last night.
1. This Spring will be the 25th anniversary of my high school grad. I’m a little freaked out about that.
2. I do NOT feel old enough to have been out of high school that long.
3. I have three daughters, but have given birth four times. My son was born still. But don’t feel sorry for me – I’m still a very lucky person.
4. I have a job that, most days, feels like it could not be more perfect for me. Lots of opportunity for writing and other creative things, travel to interesting places, a chance to make a difference in the world – what’s not to like?
5. My husband is one of the funniest people I know.
6. I love frozen blueberries with milk. The milk turns all purple and slushy and my daughters turn up their noses at it. But I just laugh and enjoy the cold purple goodness. Mmmm.
7. I love getting published. I have another article coming out in the Globe and Mail next month.
8. My business trips have taken me to Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, India, Bangladesh, Rome, Dallas, and almost every province in Canada. How cool is that?
9. I suffered from a severe case of bedbugs in a rather sleazy guest house in Bangladesh.
10. The photo of my bedbug-bitten legs is my most viewed photo on Flickr. Apparently, alot of people are searching for photos of bedbug bites. My sympathies go out to them.
11. My favourite phrase out of my youngest daughter’s mouth is “can you imagine if…” She has a delightful imagination.
12. On the right hand side of my screen (while on Facebook) is a distracting ad for organic wrinkle reducer. I’m starting to get wrinkles, but so far, I have no desire to reduce them. I think there is beauty in aging gracefully. (I’m wondering if the ad is targeted for me because my profile puts me at over 40?)
13. There are many, many days when I long for just one more conversation with my father.
14. I just took Maddie to see Madagascar 2. It was fun, but at 6, she still hasn’t learned to sit still in a theatre.
15. I have spurts of creative energy – like sometimes I’ll sew for days on end, and then I won’t do it for a year. Same goes for writing.
16. I’m going on a date to a French restaurant with my husband for Valentine’s Day tomorrow. We don’t usually make a big deal about Valentine’s Day, but we’ve been wanting to check out his cousin’s restaurant, and now seemed to be a good time to do it. (You can tell we’ve been married a long time when we plan to stop at Home Depot on the way to check out toilets!)
17. I have a fairly restless personality. If I don’t have some change or adventure to look forward to, I get bored and listless.
18. I started yoga last month and I love it.
19. When I turned 40, I got my nose pierced and then jumped out of an airplane (with a parachute attached, thank goodness). Midlife crisis perhaps?
20. My oldest two daughters play alot of soccer and I love being a soccer mom. I’m really bummed when I have to miss a game.
21. I don’t feel like a very interesting person, but sometimes when I look at a list of things about my life, I think “hmm… she sounds like an interesting person. I bet I’d like her.”
22. I love to read. I have about 30+ books piled up on my nightstand and the floor surrounding it. It makes me feel sloppy and disorganized, but it also makes me feel cozy to be cocooned by books.
23. I’m a fairly messy and disorganized person, and sometimes I think that if people would see the inside of my fridge or my laundry room on a bad day, they’d never want to come back to my house and would probably try to come up with polite reasons why they couldn’t be friends with me anymore.
24. I’m just a tiny bit obsessive. Like now, for example. I don’t think I can stop this list before I get to 25.
25. I love riding bike and I can hardly wait to start riding again in the Spring. I have a beautiful green and silver Trek mountain bike.
26. I think people are often surprised when they find out how much an overweight over-40-year-old like me loves to ride bike. I usually ride about 22 kilometres a day, and yet, I will never have one of those sleek biker’s bodies.
27. When my dad died in a tractor accident, I became a tiny bit obsessed with knowing every little detail of how he died. I’m not sure why – it just seemed important to know what his last minutes were like. My siblings and I went to the ditch where it happened and tried to recreate the details of the scene to figure out how and why.
28. I’ve just been nominated for a “Manitoba Communicator of the Year” award. I’m flattered, and, well… “Gosh, it’s just an honour to be nominated…” (Just working on my rejection speech for when the hordes of media show up to ask me how it felt to lose out to somebody who helped cure cancer by their tireless efforts.)
29. I am slightly addicted to Nutella.
30. I love taking hot baths, but I only take time for them on the weekends because they cannot be rushed. Showers are for days when I have to rush off to work.
31. I don’t have many regrets in my life. Either I have a bad memory, or I’m okay with living with my choices whether they turn out well or not. I think it’s a little bit of both.
32. I worked for the federal government for 13 years, and though there was lots about it that I didn’t love, I met some amazing people, learned alot, and got some great opportunities along the way. No regrets.
33. I should finish this list and go to bed.
34. But 34 doesn’t seem like a very clean number to end at, so I need to think of one or six more.
35. I wish Cheryl Tiegs would stop staring at me and telling me I need her secret for looking young at the age of 61. Didn’t I already tell you that I don’t WANT organic wrinkle reducer?!?
36. I had too many Sour Patch Kids and Coke at the movie tonight. Didn’t my hand and mouth and brain KNOW that I’m trying to lose weight? Sheesh.
37. My favourite body feature has always been my feet. I was more than a little disappointed when they started letting me down and I had to invest in orthotic footwear.
38. I just finished reading “A Long Way Gone”, the memoir of a boy soldier in Sierra Leone. It is an amazing story that you really should read.
39. My kids like to make chocolate chip cookie dough just to eat the dough. I let them. Does that make me a good mom or a bad one?
40. I made it to 40. I’m going to bed.
After losing two teeth in fairly quick succession, Maddie proclaimed, with great delight “I’m gonna get some BLING from the tooth fairy!”
