Is Not That Strange?

Throughout the pandemic, Inch’s mom ringing a bell at 7:30pm on the front porch.  Every night.  Through the time in the basement, engagement, wedding, Misty Valentine’s, TRV, pregnancy tests, IWK, Zambia return, Christmas, Hamilton, Whistlestop Fairmount Tour, and the purchase and sale of the new home for the next decade (we hope).

Days grow shorter, as Braxton and Higgs make their appearance known, we try to sort out the Internet and TV, the taxes, the breastfeeding classes, the moving of furniture, the final emptying of the condo, the all-nighters. the filling of the hours.  Will everyone be right about sleep and the busyness, or will the moments of zen and sense of accomplishment arrive?  Time will show, Ozan, time will show.

But it all seems to fit, first SDA visitor last night, look forward (that expression again) to many more, and the writing of the stories yet to come.

Life is (Very) Good

Busy.  Feels good to be so, crossing off lists and spending with abandon, in hopes of building a sanctuary on Bissett Lake.  Even the name brings you back.  Bedford Avenue and a scowling face now gone, but repeated in the condo driving by the parked car at elevator.  Maplewood a reminder of suburbia, the life you always fled, now coming home to the familiar.  The magic of the clearance deals, the fun in what fits, the calm in the confidence of good construction.  Someday it falls apart, but when you buy, nice if it is not a large plot of land that what is on it seems top-scale and built to last.

Many people I’m hoping to have around this table as the baby is born and the writing begins anew.  How to remember these moments before THE moment, other than in pictures and emails… the CIB miron madness, GHG reserve, incremental replacement ADC, hydrogen, E1, GRA, etc.

I just made a wish and my agents made it happen, she says.  Nice one.  

I never thought I would date a 34 year old who wears wigs.  I never thought I would agonize about the purchase of a kid yet to be born, and opt for the more expensive option.  Two bottles of wine extra in the hopes the return is at least that in the hours of sleep with the koalas.

“Hang out with him,” as the best advice.  Sounds good.

Rugs and Honest Opinions

It is a balancing act.  Always, among two, it must be so.  How to avoid the tipping points.  Communication. Freedom of expression.  Ability to let go.  But the rug is so good (surprisingly)!  And yet…

Made easier by the unknown.  The unborn movement.  Willing himself out, willing an opinion.  Heh.  Just willing. 

Risks and rewards.  Is that the last of the Revena’s?  The movement of the Quentin and the Away We Go is done.   The bed in place, tonight the first 

9137.  Fascinated, an old friend says.  Good Friday, say I.

A nice one.

Column of Bertin?

Alas the Triglycerides remain high, the wallsit and pulse and body fat % were weak, but you at least escaped without any major scares, and some motivation for the future.  Avoidance of long term medication seems key, so some exercise must begin to start the trajectory moving back in the right direction. The column in the kidney that forms the title is not an issue, nor the minor fatty liver that continues to do its job. Check back next April to see about the progress.

Delivery class tonight as well, picking blueberries with nunu (or squeezing to make things faster) and what was the other line not to forget?  The contraction counter pressure techniques, the “sweep” and the curb walking and pineapple as inducements to begin.  

Meanwhile the first coat of paint is on, and the MacD rug is approved for drop-off, after last night’s mistaken attempt to share the good news results in a forever story.  “Bassinet, yes…” from the reveries.  “Ma?”  Everything proceeding, day-by-day.  As you told the stories today about the pregnancy and the backstory.  Soon those words will be the focus in earnest.  Remember the details.  The farting.  The family comments that spark feeling of neglect in focusing on the mama.  Her bus trips and charitable nature toward J Mahone.  What a beauty that has found you.  

April’s Final Preparations

M’s breath rises and falls beside you on this Sabbath morn, after a busy week of work and shopping and labour classes and escape to a family get-together and Webb’s bookstore and Ashley.  Our fiddler extraordinaire delivers once more, 2 hours from his head, of jigs and reels and tunes and laments and stories amidst the destruction of ever more bows.  Cape Breton stories and the driving beat that penetrates to the soul and yields a warm and soaring feeling.  MacDougall’s Pride, Hector the Hero, King George, and best of all the lament for one of Neil Gow’s wives.  Dan R. and Buddy on a Good Friday in Judique, muddy cleats on fresh linoleum and plumbing problems as the day dragged on.  Writing tunes as compensation for all.

The creativity, even as the visit is one that inspires nostalgia, for prior shows at Ignatieff’s, the Carleton, and with the Symphony.  Time lingers.  Aunt J falling asleep three times to Dr. Zhivago in the same venue 60 years ago.  Crazily.  Obviously.  And so it is that this reminds of the necessity and welcomeness of this turning point inward, the marking of a new responsibility for the coming years, the charge of raising this soon-to-arrive miracle in preparation to take on the world and all its obstacles and wonders.

Still a few weeks to prepare the space and the mind.  Every day brings with it new progress, and so today as well, and so tomorrow.  A mattress for the next ten years.  Painting of the bedroom walls by a guy named Fenton.  The fixing of the garage door opener and installation of the music and security systems.  Planting of vegetables and powerful plants.  All to come and before May flowers usher in the birthing day.  

Much thanks to Buyer Ring for closing the loop on the condo sale, to mover Darnell for getting the table in and marveling at the view of both the lake and the pregnant wife on the island.  Do not forget that reaction.  “Doctor?  Doctor?  Lawyer.  This view is dope.”

Let’s go.  How nice it shall be to settled in.  And marvel at the gift of life.