(What’s a “Maddie-ism”? Little bits of humour and sideways truths from my 3 year old daughter.)
Maddie (watching me cook supper): What are we having for dessert?
Me: Why are you worried about dessert before we’ve even had supper?
Maddie: The whole WORLD was made for dessert, Mom!
Winter made a dramatic entrance in our part of the world this week. On Sunday, it was a beautiful Fall day. On Monday, winter came. On Tuesday, we could barely leave our homes.
You have two choices around here when it comes to winter – you can whine and complain about it for months, or you can embrace it. I do a little bit of both. By the end of 4 or 5 long cold months, I get a little whiny. But at the beginning, when a blanket of fresh sparkly snow turns this place into a winter wonderland, I love it. Yesterday, as I trudged through a foot of snow in my heavy duty winter boots, down sidewalks that had yet to be cleared, I couldn’t help but marvel at the beauty all around me – drooping branches tipped with white, fire hydrants with fluffy white hats, bundled children – showing nothing but their eyes – tossing snowballs at each other and laughing – it was all good. The girls and I spent about an hour outside last night, having a snowball fight, clearing snow off ccap’s car (it’s parked in our driveway), playing, and taking pictures. Julie tried to make a snowman, but it’s not really the right kind of snow (yes, for those uninitiated southerners, there ARE different KINDS of snow).
Yes, we have 4 distinct seasons here – aren’t we lucky? 
I’m home. Home is good. Yesterday was one of the longest and most painful days I’ve had in a long time. But it’s over now and I’m home. At the end of the day, though faced with challenges, confrontation, and downright awkward moments, I went to sleep knowing that I had, as much as possible, acted with integrity and grace, and that’s the best I can do.
And now I will spend the evening loving my family, hearing my children’s stories, holding my niece, and life will be good again.
Back in Calgary.
Road trip is over.
I survived enemy territory.
There were several awkward moments, like when the person-who-shall-remain-nameless introduced herself to the person next to me (who had travelled here from Kenya) as “the person who used to work for XXX until HEATHER fired me.”
People were friendly, though guarded.
There was a giant “elephant” in the room that everyone saw and no-one mentioned.
The road trip was fun – I love miles and miles of open road with nothing and no-one in the car but me and my thoughts.
Found a great radio station – alternative/indie with lots of fun music and no commercials.
Called a good friend for moral support as I sat in the car trying to mentally prepare myself – she came through for me. Thank God for friends.
I’m only in Calgary for a few moments and then I rush out to pick up my boss at the airport and head to Red Deer – next leg of the road trip.
Thanks for joining me on my road trip 🙂 Your presence gave me strength.
Tonight I leave for Alberta – a trip I’m not looking forward to. Not only do I NOT want to leave my kids and husband and my new niece, I feel a little like I’m heading into enemy territory. As I’ve mentioned before, for reasons I won’t go into, we had to fire our Alberta coordinator, and because she managed to convince at least some of our many supporters and volunteers in Alberta that we are the bad guys, out to destroy her life, the thought of coming face to face with some of these people (not to mention the person we fired) does not leave me jumping for joy.
So I’m thinking… it sure would be nice to bring along some friendly reinforcement as I head out into the “war zone”. Doesn’t every soldier face the battlefront with reinforcements? Who wants to come along? It could make for an interesting trip. Tomorrow, after staying with my brother and sister-in-law and hanging out with my other brother and sister-in-law and all the kids (thank GOD for family), I have to drive 4 hours into the war zone. Just imagine the trip, if we rented a bus and you all came along to “shore me up”.
Cuppa would make us all thermoses of tea to keep us warm and cozy on the ride. Anvilcloud would take pictures of each of us, and switch our heads or edit out our blemishes. We’d upload pictures of the “enemy” and he’d photoshop them until they were unrecognizable and worthy of a good laugh. The Wikkerink sisters would bring baskets of delicious food and we’d stop to picnic at a roadside park. Linda would help me remember I’m stronger than I think I am, and Michele would make jokes about the-person-who-shall-remain-nameless. Yvonne would help us keep our minds off our troubles by engaging us all in some creative activity. Accidental Poet would keep us entertained with stories about carved candles we found in the glove compartment. CCAP (with whom I’ve taken more roadtrips than anyone) would bring great snacks and take a awesome group photo while we stopped for lunch. She’d sit by me without saying much, but she’d help me remember I could handle anything. We’d all take turns cuddling with little Abigail. Stephanie would tell us about her play and pass around a few good books to keep us entertained as we drove. We’d trust Dale behind the wheel of the bus, because of his many hours driving a train. He’d remind me to “step out of the boat” with courage. Colleen would bring her puppy and we’d all take turns playing with him. Eric and Micah would entertain us with some Mandolin and Fiddle pickin’. Others, like Mel and Suzanne would tell stories that would keep us on the edges of our seats.
Imagine – the blog bus out on the open road. By the time I reached my destination, I’d be invincible.
That is what I will think about those four hours in a car all alone tomorrow.