CHEERS FROM ANDY GIRL

My smiling sister embracing
cottage life whilst enjoying
a drink with our dad.
TAKEN: AUGUST 9th,  

I'll start with the fact that she's a complete and total homebody. Therefore, I'm not quite sure when my sister and I first broached the subject of her coming to stay with me at the cottage for a week. 

But, if I were to bet on it, I am pretty sure it was in the days and nights I spent alone while my travel buddy hubby was in the trauma unit of St. Michael's hospital last May and June.

She would call me to regularly check in. She was the only one I felt comfortable talking to about the gravity of the situation at hand. Everyone else was kept at a distance. During that time she was unconditionally supportive, and always started our calls with the same four words... "How are you doing?"

Completely unprepared for the emotions swirling at what the many doctors were telling me, she kept me calm. She made me laugh. She helped me focus on the day to day, not on the possibility of what may ultimately transpire.

I don't know if anyone reading this can appreciate just how fragile one's mental health can be during such trying times, but I can confirm that the last few months have tested mine to its limit.

Even now, in a conscious effort to self preserve, I no longer want to be around people. I don't want to discuss what has happened and the journey we are on, as my eyes immediately fill with tears. 

It is like I am transitioning from a full blown extrovert, to a comfortable introvert, hanging out in the bathtub with a blanket over my head; sipping a warm bowl of gravy from a ladle.

That said, my sister visiting offered me a sense of calm and a true feeling of comfort better than any gravy ladle ever could. 

No pressure, zero bullshit. I worked upstairs in my office at the cottage, and she kept herself busy with whatever leftover internet bandwidth I didn't utilize.

I loved hearing the sound of her voice telling the dogs that she was 'NOT going to throw the football in the lake again', probably because it saved me the energy of saying it; about a hundred times a day.

When I dropped her off at home after our nine days together, we gave each other a big hug. As I headed to the door she hollered, "..love ya." To which I responded with "I love you too."

Then, I immediately said, "see you back at the cottage sooner than later." Her last visit was around the spring of 2008.

Which in my opinion, is solid statistical proof, why 4 out of 5 full blown homebody's never come to visit me. 

My sister being the one, that was simply pushed over the edge by a heat wave and the cottage country aromatic allure, of three wet dogs...trying to share her bed!

#yagottalaughaboutit

S Is For... SISTERS

Here I sit with my only sister.

She has always been my sounding board.

So sincere. So special. So sweet. 

Saturated in constant sarcasm we smile.

So much time has passed.

.

As we sit in the sun we still wonder. 

Where has the time gone?

It doesn't matter - we're here today.

We are sisters.

I love you Andrea... Very much.

April 22nd, 2013 - SISTERS
Taken: Today!

R Is For... ROADTRIP

Just spent two day on one. 

Tonight we relax!

April 20th, 2013 - ROADTRIP
Taken: April 20th, 2013

Q Is For...QUEST

April 19th, 2013 - Q is for... QUEST
Taken: December 2012 

I am dog tired and I am on a QUEST for some rest.

I need it. I crave it. I've earned it. Pleased to report I am close but not there yet. Let's just say I am sitting in a Super 8 (just shy of I95) that smells like dog and the WIFI sucks.

Puddin' looks like I feel. I can't believe how much she's changed since I snapped this pic the last time we took  traveled this route. That said, she and Dot are so much more relaxed than the last time around. Relaxed or not, our adventure has not been without some unexpected challenges.

Like I said, my quest is simple. I'm in search of what I consider to be a Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow. For me, it's complete and total relaxation. Glass half full? I know for a fact that I am officially over half the way to Leprechaunville!

Less than 24 hours 'til I take my sister's picture with Pedro and Staci officially pushes the grocery cart with a smile. Can't wait until we're unpacked, giddy, and soaking up the sun.

Cheers!

Only 53 More Sleeps & We'll Be There!

Yesterday I approved the final payment on the vacation home my sister and I rented (in South Carolina) for a much needed getaway. I know that she's always been an island hopper in the past, yet because of my commitments at work, I wasn't able to travel any sooner. In chatting last night, she offered to keep an open mind about our trip, which is pretty much all I can ask.

She came to town to celebrate my birthday. 
Because of our age difference & circumstance...
We really do have very few pictures together.
Taken: April 1984

With February virtually a thing of the past, I am pleased to report that (in all areas of my life) I'm in a really amazing place. 

That said, as our vacation draws near, I fear my sister is not in as amazing a place. 

Why?

She has made some big changes in her life lately. Though she knows I unconditionally support her, I still worry.

I know she'll be fine. I guess I may worry because I am an hour away and we lead extremely different lives. Similarities and/or differences, we've always been able to find our way to the guts of it all, which is that life is short!

We both have things in life we wish we would have handled differently, and we both have hope for the future. You have no idea how much I love that "we have hope". Truthfully, I have more  hope today than I ever expected. Right now, I'm like a kid in a candy store and I am loving life.By taking her on this trip, it's like I am sharing the Magic Carpet Ride I'm on.

Guess my personal goal is that by the time she arrives back home she loves the magic carpet I fly (regularly outta air traffic control at YYZ) as much as I do.

CHEERS to hope Peeps...Cheers to HOPE!

My Big Sister is My Forever Friend

"Our roots say we're sister.
Our hearts say we're friends!"
Taken: June 2005

"I don't believe an accident of birth makes people sisters and brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. 

Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition 

that people have to work at..." 
~ Maya Angelou

I had a great call with my sister the other night. It was totally amazing and long overdue.

When the phone rang I thought it was my girlfriend Andrea and started to chat accordingly. It wasn’t until she questioned the dialogue that I realized it was my big sister calling. I was ecstatic!

Though she and I have plenty in common, fact of the matter is we were born a generation apart. When I was young, that constantly presented challenges because we shared a bedroom. It was her record player, they were her records, and I was nothing but a big fat boil on her ass...

We may have been born almost a decade apart but certain challenges have kept us tightly woven together. I remember the day I arrived home from school to discover she'd been asked to move out. I was nine years old. My father was furious at my mother, and I was lost. For almost a year I was kept in the dark but she eventually sought me out. When I told my mother we'd met, I was instructed "never to speak to her again." Still a very painful memory.

I'm not pleased to admit that I too rebelled against the regimen. Just so happened my Dad wasn't going to let history repeat itself. After all these years, I honestly feel that her misfortune's a credit to my good fortune. She truly paved my way.

The biggest thing I am grateful for? That her timeline in life was different than mine. As a result, we raised our families together. Because she never drove (and I had Fridays off) for the better part of a decade we spent Friday's together. I look back at that now and willingly admit that I couldn't have survived the 90's without her!

As sisters, when all is said and done, there are very few things we are truly competitive about. All night, head to head, Trivial Pursuit jumps to the front. But nowadays SongPop seems to be tripping the radar. Truth? Just so we're clear, I know she lets me win the odd one so I'll keep playing. Just so we're really clear, I am totally fine with that approach.

I love you Andrea... I can't wait to spend an entire week on the beach with you. Just so you know, it's not going to be like Jamaica was last year. The packing weight of Trivial Pursuit totally trumps the shoes and extra crap I take on this trip. 

Two words. BRING IT!

I Have Been Thinking About My Mom....

Sunday is Mother’s Day, and for whatever reason, it's a 'day' I've never looked forward to.

Not sure if it’s because my own mother passed before I was married and had children, or the fact that when my children were babies I use to ask my husband “what are you getting me for Mother’s Day” and his standard response was “nothing, you’re not my mother!”

All joking aside, I’ve been thinking about my mommy a lot lately.

Though she passed in 1987, I think she’d be proud of what I have accomplished, and proud of the woman I have become. Not just because of the success I have seen, but the person I am, and aspire to be. (Let's face it, she'd have her own opinion,  so I best aim for proud.)

My mom had me later in life and my siblings were much older. By the time I started Kindergarten, everything in her homemaker life instantly simplified, and I guess I was on the receiving end of that benefit.

Out of the gate, I 'd like to go on record with the fact that my sister Andrea (eight years my senior) paved the way for me. Man, she had it rough!

I’ll admit that it was very hard as a teen and young adult, to hear my sister continually utter the words “you got everything and I got nothing”. As hard as it is to admit, it was true. (It was like my mother revisited her youth through me.)

I remember my first waltz lesson, first day at the rink, first time on stage, and of course my first serious conversation about the game of Bridge.

Seeing all of Canada, coast to coast, before I graduated high school was the added bonus. (My pic was taken at Lake Louise in 1976.)

As a woman entering middle age, I do possess some of her character traits.

Without being disrespectful, there are specific traits, that I’ve spent my entire life, working each and every day, never to emulate. (Those of you that read this, and knew my mother when she was alive, know exactly what I mean.)

With my nest empty I’ll be thinking of my mom as I celebrate our day this Sunday.

I think I will wake up and watch Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 North By Northwest. I will sing really loud in the shower and play a great round of golf. And all the while, I’ll be thinking of her. 

Though she never did, I most certainly will, Carpe Diem.