Taking it Back

I quit my job.

This was a big thing for me.  I’ve been with my employer for over eight years.  There has been so much that is positive that has happened over that time for me there: I’ve learned a lot and built confidence; I’ve explored leadership, which was an unexpected treat; I’ve developed relationships with so many wonderful and talented people; and I’ve spent the past five years under a great mentor and role model of a boss whose lessons and example I will always remember.

Sometimes I really love humans

Yesterday I was supposed to go to a meet-up thing at a park. Of the 30-something people who were supposed to be there, I only knew two, so I was expecting to get there and not know anyone.

When I got there, there were two girls sitting on the grass, so I introduced myself and sat down with them. We had been chatting for about twenty minutes when I said, “Wow, everyone else is really late, hey?”

They didn’t know what I was talking about. It turned out they weren’t with the group I was meeting. They were just really nice people who let me crash their picnic.

All in the Fullness of Time

When I was almost half way through grade 12, I was informed that despite stellar grades and an unnecessary number of academic credits, I was not going to graduate because I had misinterpreted what counted as an “applied skill.”  So in the second semester, I dropped whatever I’d been planning to take (History, maybe?) and registered for Foods and Nutrition.

At the time, I was pissed off about it, because I took school very seriously, but it ended up great.  It was a super easy class, I got a Food Safe certificate for taking it (necessary if you want any kind of food services job in my hometown), I learned possibly the only practical things I learned in all of high school, and on double-block Wednesdays, I’d have banana bread or whatever to share with my friends at lunch.

I promise not to turn into a Mommy blog, but this happened and it was kind of intense, so I’m going to tell you about it.

So, as those of you who have both read my last few posts and can do basic math may have realized – I had a kid.  And I survived.

The Passing of Time Makes Me a Liar

There are things I thought I’d never do.  I thought I’d never like avocados.  And then one day I did.  I thought I’d never get a “real job” that lasted more than a year or two, but I’m an accountant and next week is my sixth anniversary with my employer.  I thought I’d never own furniture or live in any one city for more than a couple of years, but then I bought real estate.  I thought I’d never get married (not because of any fundamental opposition to the idea, but because my list of criteria of what would make an acceptable life partner sounded shockingly unrealistic), but then I met a guy who ticked all my boxes.

This is what time does.  It takes your ideas of how your life is going to go and it laughs.  I’ve always known that.  My life plans have never been solid.  If something doesn’t work out, I’m ok to move on and if an unexpected opportunity arises, I’m happy to go for it.  Or if my whims take me somewhere I didn’t know I wanted to go, I trust myself and see how it works out.  As a rule, this has gone well for me.

But we’re talking here about vague plans.  Things I thought I’d do.  Things I thought I’d never do.

But then there are the things I swore I’d never do.  The things so based on my understanding of myself that I never questioned that I might change my mind on them.

Solo travel and confirming that not everyone on the internet is a serial killer

I went traveling again, chickens.  And I went alone.

One of many gorgeous buildings in Charleston

I haven’t traveled alone in quite a while, to be honest.  My husband is my usual travel partner and I intersperse that with occasional short trips with a friend or my mother.  A ten-day trip by myself though, it’s been a while.  And it’s a whole other kettle of fish.  But there’s something to be said for that kettle.

When you are alone, there is no one to consider but yourself.  You don’t have to make any compromises whatsoever.  You can make plans for the day and then break them for no other reason than that you just don’t feel like it anymore.  And you don’t have to feel bad that someone is going to be disappointed about that.  You can unilaterally decide where and when to eat, what side of the street to walk on, and when to have naps.  (I love my naps.)  It’s kind of wonderful.

When you are in a long-term relationship, there is also the side benefit of having a chance to miss your partner.  I don’t think the loveliness of a reunion after a week or two apart can be overstated.

In case you’re wondering, I went to Charleston and Savannah.  I understand that these are major tourist destinations for Americans, but here on the West coast of Canada, when I told people where I was going, they all said something along the perplexed lines of, “Huh.  I don’t know anything about those places.  Do you have family there?  No?  How did you pick that?”  And I can’t say I even had a satisfactory answer.  The truth is that I thought Charleston sounded like an interesting name and when I looked it up on the internet, it looked pretty.  And I figured that while I was in that neck of the woods, I might as well go to Savannah too, because it was close and I had also heard of it.

Boating With the Dragons

So.  I got it into my head that my husband and I should learn something new together – that it would be good for us to have a new activity to do.  So when I saw Groupon had a 4-week intro class for two in dragon boating, I jumped on it.

We started the Friday before last.

Now, let me first say some things about Vancouver.

I made pretty cookies!

I took my macaron class last weekend.  It was good fun.  And instead of building up to it, I’m going to put my photo right here:

I put them with the tulips because I was feeling arty.  Aren’t I clever?  Don’t they look good?  Well guess what?  They taste even better.

What happens when I’m cooped up at home for a week and a half on medical leave

So, my evil gallbladder has been annihilated, and good riddance.  I survived the terror that was surgery and learned that being stabbed by a doctor does not change the fact that you have been stabbed.  It still hurts and your body still has new holes.   (I did not ask to keep the gallstone.  For some reason, this is a question that I have been asked several times.  Only by guys though.  Odd.)

I’m pretty sure these guys don’t have gallbladders either.

Another surprise was that when they told me I’d be able to go back to work after a week and a half, I somehow took that to mean that I would be completely healed and better after a week and a half, but I was wrong (which, in retrospect, I should have known, considering I’ve had paper cuts that took more than ten days to heal.)  It just means I am well enough to go back to my desk job.  I am going back to work tomorrow, but I am still being held together with tape, which is a disturbing thing for me to look at in the mirror.  I am also still very slow-moving and if I bend to the floor to pick something up, my belly button feels like someone stabbed me again, which is irritating.  But I improve every day, so I’ll not complain about that any more.

I really thought I would be writing a lot of blog posts for you while I was on leave.  All that extra time without anything else to do – my expectations were high, I tell you.  But the thing is, I was on pain killers.  I was napping a lot.  Also, when you aren’t doing anything, it’s awfully hard to think of things to write about.  For me anyway, since my blog is mostly just show and tell.  And being confined to a small apartment meant I didn’t have much to show or tell.

Also, laziness begets laziness. 

Why Can’t I Just See Things Simply?

It’s very frustrating.  I know some people who see the world in black and white, and while I almost never agree with them, I am also a little jealous.  Because I think sometimes it must be nice to not have a little voice in your head constantly saying, “But what about grey?  What about looking at it like this?  Or this?  Or this?”

So I went to Disney on Ice the other night and saw the “Dare to Dream” show.  As you know, I was very excited.  And it was great.  They had condensed stories from The Princess and the Frog, Cinderella, and Tangled, with Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy introducing.  There was also a procession at the end giving face time to all the other famous human characters.  The skating was good; the music was fun and familiar; the energy was high.  Also, the little kids (a lot of them dressed up) there were SO thrilled, and that was pretty cute to watch.

But.