Random Acts of Visiting

In the moment of the morning, when I had finished at the gym, the voice to my left said "you coming?" I responded with "where?" And I was told "Tims." I glanced over and saw three of the regulars eying me and I grinned and said "sure, see you in a bit." That's how it starts.

This was not a planned event. It was just a random act of visiting, in the style that I adore. I spent a delightful hour of my morning chatting with some interesting ladies who all have news and stories to share. These ladies have very different backgrounds and personalities, and we met through working out at the gym. Most interestingly, we have learned how to have fun while being tortured together and the personalities are compatible. So, once the tea cup was emptied and was forlornly tossed into the garbage, we mosied on our ways.

I still had an hour before the school bus was to be met, so I decided to turn up on the doorstep of another lovely lady. Instead of painting her daughter's room deep purple, she took some time to spend quality conversational time with me. This time, the cup had hot water with lemon. There is only so much caffiene that my system can handle in a day. What fascinates me is that we are able to go from fashion to relationships, to children to holidays all in 45 minutes or less. But since that was all the time that either one of us had, I think that we were very efficient.

Now, normally I have had playdates scheduled, but with Miss K's sassy sore throat and the sheer lack of sleep that the girls have had with the longer daylight hours coming into play, I had decided somewhat to keep the girls to myself today. We did piano and school projects. There was some independent play and lunch thrown in but it was gorgeous today. So, we also went to the park where I ran into yet another friend. The children played and we briefly caught up. Ironically, I had spent two weeks trying to connect with her and now it happened by accident. Awesome! Sometimes, you are just meant to be where you end up. And the best part is that it was intellectually stimulating conversation too. I now have a few more ideas bubbling for Sunday School and some new ideas with connecting with the group of kids moving on up.

My day of random acts of visiting wasn't over though. Tonight turned into Yahtzee night at the house. More friends, company and conversation over coffee and tea...and those quirky dice. I confess that I lost! In fact, my score was only saved from being dismally appalling by a double Yahtzee in the last round. All in all, this was a great way to spend a day. No plan, but lots of fun.

The Full Monty

The first thing that comes to mind is? . . .Ok not that but yes, that movie is up for debate. You see, today I had one of those days that puzzles me. The time warp continuem crossed with my insane desire to do all things and be all things to everyone has jumped up and bitten me, and so I found myself almost thinking. I would suggest that I might have been thinking if I had time to think about anything at all. Are you confused yet? Good. Welcome to my world.

The door of my world opened up today to getting children up and dressed, ready in time to school when they are too tired and cranky to function thanks to Christmas Concert hooliganting last night. The snow was thick on the drive and the roads had sheens of ice as the van rock and rolled its way to school. Thanks to a heads up on bussing delays, I drove home to shovel the drive before rocking and rolling to the other school to drop off child two. Then my morning hit a lull as I scrapped with two friends. Cutting and pasting and recrafting images, and then ranting over the to do lists. By the way...this was not on my list.

So then it was time to get things moving again. I collected the first child and brought her home for lunch. I addressed cards and processed the list of who had moved and who needed cards and still working on who I have missed. If that is you, you need to tell me so I can fix it. Then, I had a couple of project related things to do. So I started by going to the grocery store to stand in line for an hour to get what I needed. One hour in, I had to leave to get the Grade 2 kids from school. The shopping was left in the store as the line was too long.

So, I have my children, but there is still much to do. I drop off one to the childcare as I have to go downtown. I line up at Tim Hortons for the coffee that needs delivery, and then drive to deliver it. The long line of traffic is the next line to navigate and finally the dance studio is in sight. That child goes to dance lessons while I park and go into the post office. You guessed it, I had to line up for another hour just to buy stamps and stop my post from coming during the holidays. I am not the best at getting to the mail box so it is simpler to not have delivery. This is still not my last line . .

I gathered Ailish up and hustled her to the gymnastics line, where we joined other long suffering parents who also line up every 3 months so that their children have the chance to be the next Nadia. Thankfully, Ailish was rescued and I continued to wait. I finished my evening with lining up at Extra Foods (to get stuff) and Walmart (to get stuff) and now the children are in bed and I am still sympathizing with those characters in the Full Monty's EI line.

At Walmart tonight, I finally got the stuff and I think I might nearly be done Christmas shopping. I could answer that in the definitive if I decided to think about it but it is definately too late to think about it. While in line, I caught myself shuffling my feet and tap dancing. People were swaying in the lines. Slipping their feet back and forth in time to Christmas music, people were trying to be patient as they waited for those cashiers to meet their needs. I couldn't help it. By this time, I was so tired and groggy, forgetful and really not with it, so the best thing my tired self could do was dance. What does that say about me? Do I even need an answer. So instead of resting, I am blogging.

At this moment, I am going to sleep. Good night and sweet dreams. Might I refer you to the Full Monty?

The Heart of Hooliganting

The snow is crunching under the tires, spitting the remnants of salt and sand at the windshield of the car behind. By car, I am referring to the buggy whipped trucks, slithering cars and any other passenger toting vehicle that happens to be in the trucks rearview. It is very satisfying to drive the streets and watch the Christmas lights shimmer against the cold and the snow. This is hooliganting.

The first stop is the line up at Tim Hortons. Comparably short for this time of night, we are through just in time for shift change. This means that we have time to scrounge through all those change pockets and figure out how many pennies we can get rid of to lighten the load. Two steeped teas and ginger cookies later, the truck is magically transported to the land of memories and stories. This is the northern version of the fairy tale. There is ranting and venting, laughing and snorting, commentary and opinionating and underneath it all, it is that quiet that transends the moment to the experience of driving. Just driving.

The trees are lit. Snowmobiles are careening around the Syne. The teas are sipped. Movie listings are purused and mulled over. Still the truck drives on, humming on the words both spoken and not. Plans are made and rearranged and made again. The truck skims the ice and keeps going. There are deer nosing the ice and more lights dangling from balconies.

That was definately an hour or so well spent. There is that moment of hooliganting at its most elemental and basic. Time spent with a friend doing something that is simple, that matters. How often have you taken the time to just drive? What could you see? What have you missed?