In 1977, when I was almost 15 years old,
my parents sold our house in eastern Canada,
filled a U-Haul with our furniture,
and drove the five of us
across Canada to move to Calgary, Alberta.
We had moved before, several times -
but never this far (4,600 km)
and never to such an unknown place.
We left on May 17th
and I decided to keep a journal along the way.
I have 10 pages of handwritten notes,
detailing everything from the weather
to the cost of food and gas in each province.
Why a 14 year old girl
would be interested in the price of gas
is a mystery to me,
but i'm guessing I was doing it for dad.
I know one thing.
I LOVED writing, even then.
And i especially loved handwriting.
I still do.
When I found these notes the other day,
i typed them all up, printed the pages
and gave them to my dad,
for him to read.
When I called him later
to ask if he had read it,
he replied:
I read it 3 times.
He loved reading it
and remembered the trip in his own way.
We had taken something like
6 days to drive there.
He said he had forgotten
so many things about that trip
but that my words had reminded him. :)
That's the joy of stories and words, isn't it?
Whether it was created from imagination
or memory,
it's such a fabulous way
to transport us back to a specific time.
To a specific place.
To a specific feeling,
good or bad.
Sometimes, is allows us to see
how much we've changed.
How much we've grown.
I've kept so many things from my past,
i'm afraid if there ever was a fire in here
the whole place would go up in smoke in minutes
because of all the damn paper in here. ;)
I keep things like this.
Yes, i do.
Because you never know
when i'll feel like being hypnotized
by pink & blue & orange rectangles
with a tiny ladder in the center. ;)
I don't keep EVERYTHING though.
I'm not a hoarder.
I only keep the art stuff.
Which is basically everything.
(never mind). ;)
I got a bit of art done this week,
but more reading & watching movies than art.
Still, a few sketches that were fun to do.
I also spent some quality time with friends,
which is always worth so much to me.
Another little note i found,
from when i was doing some soul searching
a few years ago.
These were some of the things
I wanted to do in the coming years.
I've done or I AM doing most of them,
except attend Burning Man -
which is something i'd still like to do
at some point in my life. ;)
When I found this,
I was amazed at how many of these things
became reality for me.
I bought a kayak just last year
and used it regularly in the summer.
I've recently started yoga
and i love it.
It does the body & mind so much good...
I do it at home,
in the comfort of my living room,
because i'm not a gym kinda gal,
and there's a slim chance
exercise is gonna happen for me
if it means "going out" in the dead of winter.
I go for occasional walks outside
when the weather permits as well.
I still need to work on the "go on more excursions"
and the "become mindful of what i eat" one too.
I'm not sure i'm too mindful
when i'm stuffing my face with a bag of chips. ;)
Thanks for being here, folks.
ENJOY the weekend!
xox
