Happy Star Wars Day! One of the big things I love about Star Wars (besides the science fiction aspect) is how its transcended generations. I know it isn’t the most popular view, but I love how the new trilogy has brought out all the nostalgia, the excitement and the wonder that the original trilogy elicited. Since I’m still kind of nursing my wounds, perhaps tonight will need to be an evening of a couple of Star Wars movies…☯️
My son Alexander was born just a short period of time before the world shut down due to the pandemic. In fact, he was sadly born during the few days that I was in southern New Brunswick for a job interview. Not only did I miss his birth, I also didn’t get the job. Life, eh? My point is, the majority of Alexander’s existence has been contained within the confines of our house and back yard. We’ve brought him to a couple of parks and to my place of work on a couple of occasions, but he hasn’t been out to experience the outside world, despite pandemic conditions being recently lifted.
We recently started picking out one activity every weekend to do with our two sons. Last weekend, we brought them to an indoor play structure in a local mall. It was good times; we were able to get coffees and sit while the boys played and socialized with other children. They were quite happy and made a bunch of friends. The best part is Alexander passes right out for an excellent nap that mommy and daddy end up partaking in… But I digress… This weekend, we thought we would shake things up by bringing the boys to a restaurant. Not a fast-food restaurant, mind you; an actual, sit-down and eat restaurant with a menu that didn’t includes toys or a play structure.
Besides getting the boys out of the house and being out in the world, they had the option of choosing their own meal, including drink, main, side and a free sundae. Nathan absolutely loved the option of choosing his own meal. Much to our surprise, both boys were extremely well behaved and ate their meals with gusto. I enjoyed a deli sandwich with fries and my wife had a chicken burger with bacon and dill sauce. It looked amazing.
There were some mild leftovers to be brought with us but that’s okay! They both enjoyed their mutual mini-sundaes and we left the restaurant with a calm feeling of success as we introduced our toddler to a restaurant without any behaviour issues or having to raise our voices. It went so well, that we decided to reward them by bringing them to a local outdoor park. Despite the wind, they were pretty game to play and there were some kids there for them to socialize with.
Despite all the other kids to play with, Nathan and Alexander couldn’t help but cling to each other and stick to each other’s hip as they played. Nathan filled his role as big brother with aplomb and helped Alexander make his way up the obstacles and joined him down the slides. It was fun to just sit and watch them play. My wife and I stayed off our smart phones (except to take these photos, of course) and just soaked in the fresh air and watch the kids have fun. It was incredibly soothing.
After about half an hour, the looming clouds chose that moment to join in unison against humanity and start drizzling their unnecessary dampness on everyone’s head. We loaded the kids back into the family vehicle, which Alexander chose to voice his displeasure by pouring a torrent of verbal diarrhea and screaming combined with hot tears. By the time we got home, it became quite clear that we were overdue for a nap time. Alexander was put in his crib and passed out within minutes. My wife and I joined and found some enjoyment in a small, two-hour nap. Unexpected sleep is the best.
Despite my current torso injury, I napped quite nicely and awoke with renewed energy. Once our naps were over, Nathan was allowed to go outside and join one of his neighbourhood friends at the park contained in his school yard, which is only five minutes around the corner. Last night involved mommy and daddy time of watching “Bad Boys For Life,” so I could relive some of the glory days (policing is NOTHING like what’s seen in those movies, but it’s fun nonetheless). We also binged a few Grey’s Anatomy episodes. Looking forward to what today may bring. Weekends with family are best. ☯️
Considering the bitch-fest I’ve been writing about in recent weeks, I thought I would write about how nice yesterday kicked off after I posted about my doctor’s visit. When I got ready for work, I suddenly realized that not only was it Friday but the sun was shining and he weather was great. It was geared up to be a great day and I had actually gotten some actual sleep by virtue of the stronger muscle relaxants I had been prescribed the previous day after that shitty doctor’s appointment.
Since I wanted to keep the positivity going, I was crooning along to some music as I headed south towards the office when I decided I should get some donuts for my staff. There were a few of them sill working from home, but I knew there would at least be a handful that could take advantage. So I popped by my local retail coffee chain (y’all know where Im talking about). I ordered a dozen donuts but got myself a medium coffee as well. My usual habit is to make a Keurig coffee at work but I thought, what the hell? May as well treat myself as well, right?
I pull up to the drive thru window and had something happen that I had, until that moment, only read about… Someone “paid it forward” and paid for my coffee and donuts! I was floored! I often read stories about people paying it forward in drive thrus like that but I had never had it happen to me. I was elated and was asked if I wanted to keep it going by paying it forward to the next customer behind me. I agreed and pulled my debit card out. Then, a thought hit me… What if the person behind me was ordering breakfast foods for his entire crew or something like that? I assumed the risk that comes with paying it forward and kept my mouth shut.
The person behind me only ordered a coffee and I drove off feeling happy and satisfied. I got to work and sent out an internal email to the staff I assumed would be working on site that day. Then, I ironically sat down and ate the two hard-boiled eggs I brought, since I couldn’t justify the increased amount of carbohydrates that early in the morning. It only took a few minutes for me to recognize that at least four of the ten people I assumed would be working at the office were either working from home or had the day off. brutal. I offered some donuts to the on site staff. I still had seven or eight donuts left.
I walked the other two floors of office and offered the remainders up to all the other staff. I got to make a few people’s day and met some of the staff that I’ve somehow managed NOT to meet over the past year due to working from home as a result of the pandemic and some who have been recently hired. Besides the fact that I got to do some wicked networking within my own organization, I created some positivity not only in my own day but for others, as well. It was a great way to cap off the week, especially in light of how rough it’s been with the pain and the lack of sleep. Next week has a lot to do to make up for yesterday. ☯️
Yesterday was our eighth wedding anniversary. No, I didn’t forget to post about it yesterday, wise asses! We just hadn’t enjoyed our expected festivities yet and writing about something well before it happens is not without its pitfalls. For example, if our plans changed or got cancelled, I’d have a post going live describing things that never happened. The entire point of a blog is to write about one’s knowledge and experiences.
But yes, yesterday was eight years that my wife and I have been married, nine years years together in total. It’s been a wild and fantastic ride, with the purchase and ownership of a couple of houses, the arrival of both our sons and getting through some of the darkest and most difficult periods of my life together. Somehow, I still wake up every morning and she’s still by my side. I consider anyone strong enough to put up with my bullshit for this many years without running away screaming to be a keeper!
Although we do occasionally enjoy a night out, we’re both a bit more on the homebody side, preferring to binge watch some of our favourite shows while the boys play in their respective ways. So, it’s all the more fun when we get to go out for a special occasion, such as last night. Our evening started with my wife picking me up from work and we went to a local restaurant that we’ve both been wanting to try. We had a fantastic meal and enjoyed ourselves before I decided to do a little something different…
They say that the gift for eight years of marriage is brass, so I started by getting my wife a small, brass heart pendant. I also got her some hardware for her phone to help it operate more smoothly. But for the past year or two, we’ve been playing with the idea of doing something akin to renewing our vows at our 10-year anniversary. With that concept in mind and assuming it would potentially take a year or two to plan anything pertinent, I got her a new wedding ring and proposed again!
She said yes again, so I must be doing something right! My boss was teasing me that if I propose again, I’m giving her an out and I need to be prepared for a different answer than I’m expecting. I was glad to see he was wrong. We capped off our evening by going to the book store. Of course, we did. It was a fantastic evening, loaded with joy and good company. With all the negative that happens in the world, it’s always important to take time to appreciate these special moments. They come and go in an instant but the memories last forever. ☯️
I’ve been complaining about my back quite a bit in recent posts. Nobody likes a crybaby and I have to admit that I’m starting to get some mobility back and the pain is lessening more and more as the days are passing. With that in mind, I thought I’d share a quick clip that illustrates the comedy of the moment… please bear in mind that I hold no rights to this video whatsoever and I simply copied and shared from YouTube. Get a laugh and enjoy! ☯️
Sometimes I look back on my younger years and I become nostalgic for the past. During my youth, I never travelled much or wandered far from the comforting confines of Northern New Brunswick but it continues to surprise me how full a life one can have, even living in such a small environment. And no environment could have given me as much as my home. Here’s one of the memories drifting to the surface of my psych. Buckle up…
This story takes me all the way back to 1989. I was 11-years old and my older brother had another two years of life ahead of him. My health was waning and life wasn’t going so well for me. Increased insulin-resistance and the development of ulcers in my stomach saw me hospitalized almost as much as my brother. in fact, we often shared a hospital room together. I’ll let you decide whether that’s cool or just a little bit sad. But I digress…
I was in 7th grade and we had oral presentation to give in class on a topic of our choosing. As was usually my choice, I spoke about Type-1 Diabetes, its causes and how it’s treated. Because of the number of students, we had two separate 7th grade classes; 7A and 7B. I was in 7A. Didn’t mean I was smarter or further ahead. I think it went by alphabetical order. Anyway, on the third day of presentations when we were all done, the teacher announced that someone from 7B would be sharing his presentation with us.
In walked my friend Guillaume. My Sensei’s son. Friend and adoptive brother. He was asked by the teacher to share the same presentation as he had to his class in exchange for bonus points. Considering she found the presentation worthy enough to share with another class, I had difficulty grasping WHY he would need bonus points, but whatever kept me from doing actual work was fine by me, back then.
Guillaume went on to give a presentation about Uechi Ryu karate, how long he had been practicing it and the benefits it provided him in life, thus far. He capped off his presentation with a demonstration of a form, or kata, which I now know as well. While the rest of the class was busy snickering at the movement and making fun of him, I was captivated by what I was seeing. The flow, the movement, the gracefulness… My eyes were open to the potential of what I was seeing.
It was at this point that I had called Guillaume at home and asked about class times and location. I joined the same month. I had tried other styles and attempted different things, but none struck quite as deep in my soul as Uechi Ryu did. I would go on to study Uechi for the next 33 years. It would ultimately save my life and help forge me into the person I am today. All of that from a simple ten-minute presentation in class. Nice.
Our instincts provide for more than we usually assume. And as the old saying goes, we often find our destiny on the road we least thought to travel. All things happen for a reason. If the teacher hadn’t asked Guillaume to share his presentation with out class, I might have never been exposed to Uechi Ryu. I likely never would have joined. And my health may have continued to deteriorate to an uncorrectable level. Who knows? I certainly don’t. I just know to appreciate life as it’s been offered and continue to live life with no regrets. ☯️
I think it’s safe to say that Diabetes is one of those “invisible” illnesses. After all, if one were to see me walking down the street, one would never be able to KNOW that i have Diabetes. Contrary to what you may see joked about on mainstream media and in the movies, having Diabetes doesn’t unilaterally mean that one is obese, missing toes or eats too much candy and junk food. Granted there ARE some like that, but it isn’t the standard. Most people don’t see what’s happening below the surface and they don’t realize the effort and control it takes just to get through the day. Some of that has led to some extremely uncomfortable situations throughout my life.
When you reach a certain age, you start to contemplate your life. And that isn’t a bad thing. Although I’ve grown to accept and acknowledge that I live my life without regret, contemplation is a completely different thing. My life is pretty awesome; I can’t deny that. To live with any regret means that I wouldn’t want my life being what it is now, and that just wouldn’t be true. But like anyone else, I’ve made some mistakes and have hurt people along the way with the choices I’ve made. And that’s what I’ve been contemplating.
For the most part, I was a pretty stubborn kid during my teen years. This cost me a lot, when i consider friendships, relationships and even experiences. Always a bit of a loner, I went it alone and dealt with the many ups and downs that Diabetes caused without ever sharing what I was going through with anyone. That includes my parents. Given the significant lack of control I had over my blood sugars, I tended to be cold, distant and a bit of an overall asshole. I know what you may be thinking: how is that different from how I am now? Well, first of all, fuck you! Second of all, I’m going to explain…
Wildly varying blood sugars can cause all sorts of behavioural issues, including fatigue, depression, mood swings and unprovoked anger. This didn’t bode well for friendships and relationships. And wouldn’t you know it, I just HAD to be going through it during my teen years when i was trying to be a typical teen… have friends, date girls and go out and have fun. None of that was conducive to good blood sugar control. I think back to the number of times I had to bail on friends and just stay home because In felt like absolute shit due to my Diabetes.
This doesn’t even begin to cover how much of a dick I was to girls I dated (NSFW pun fully intended). My mood swings and behavioural issues due to Diabetes made for some pretty harsh treatment from me. Couple that with the typical torrential wave of teenage hormones I was subjected to that just made all of it worse. This led to some pretty in-depth guilt, which cause some of the aforementioned depression. Unlike most teenagers of my generation, I never touched drugs or alcohol. In fact, as I’ve written in previous posts, I only had my first beer when i was 23 years old. So I had to ride the guilt wave with none of the safety or floatation devices that most people have.
Even now, knowing what I know and having the control that I do, my time is better preferred sitting at home relaxing with my wife than making plans and trying to leave the house. I keep a pretty tight reign on my Diabetes nowadays and since absolutely everything tends to affect blood sugars, I also keep a tight reign on how late I stay up and how I spend time outside my house. But I no longer feel the guilt that comes with the issues I faced during my teen years. As an adult, i recognize that my life and family come first. And there can be no guilt in that. The rest of the world will simply need to understand that. ☯️
Alright, so despite the fact I often harsh on the negative aspects of social media (despite the fact I operate on several platforms), I have to give credit where credit is due. Social media can be extremely useful in reconnecting with people from your past that you DIDN’T walk away from, intentionally. Enter: several of my high school classmates. In the past year, I’ve reconnected and friended several of the people I graduated from high school with.
One of those friends shared a meal that she prepared that included salmon and a homemade, creamy dill sauce. I’m a big fan of salmon and fish in general (Hello, Maritimer over here!) so I was taken. But what also caught my attention was the dill sauce. My entire household is a fan of dill. We have dill powder for our popcorn, we use dill-flavoured dill dip with our chips and include actual dill in many of our recipes. Not least of which is the fact that we eat dill pickles. Because, dill pickles. But I digress…
I was curious to the point where I asked her for her recipe, which she generously provided. I’m usually a bit leery about trying new recipes as I’m no Gordon Ramsay, by any means. But the recipe was super simple and only took about ten minutes. As it was shared with me, so shall I share it with you. Here we go:
Mix all those ingredients in non particular order into a small bowl, whisk until everything is combined and go to town! My friend made a point of mentioning that she doesn’t usually use actual measurements and eyeballs everything to taste. I don’t have that level of skill. One thing I will mention is that after two tablespoons of dill, I started to panic and think three would have been too much. It wouldn’t have been. It definitely could have used the added dill kick. But it was definitely delicious and I’ve used it with chips, wings and on fish. Absolutely delicious.
Like anything else someone with Type-1 Diabetes consumes, one should be mindful of portions, carbohydrate counts and proper monitoring of one’s blood sugars. But this dip is quite versatile and goes with SO many different foods. It’s definitely worth a try, if you’re looking for something new. Food for thought (pun fully intended)… ☯️
On the weekends I’ve been trying to get out with my boys and do a bit more stuff. With the world somewhat returning to normal (or whatever the hell PASSES for normal) I think it’s important to try and do things that allow my family and I some enjoyment without necessarily crossing boundaries or taking unnecessary risks. For example, I’ll take my family to local things that allow us to get out of the house and interact with the world but I don’t know that we’re quite ready to travel anywhere significant. Given the state of the world, I definitely wouldn’t be FLYING anywhere. But I digress…
I’ve come to realize that something I don’t get to do a lot is spend time with my youngest son, Alexander. Currently two years old, he isn’t quite a COVID baby (born into the pandemic) but he’s pretty close, having been born about six months before the world locked itself down for the first time. As a result, being around scores of people and doing things outside of the home or our property isn’t common place for him. Further, my routine usually sees me get home from work, help with supper/dishes, potentially go to karate if there’s class and come home to shower and occupy the oldest until I put him to bed. If I’m lucky, I’ll have forty minutes to an hour of time with the youngest before he gets tossed into his crib for the night. And that hour usually involves my wife and I binge-watching something, since it’s also the last hour before we submit ourselves to the sandman.
That’s why last Sunday, I decided it was important to spend some actual time with Alexander. Rambunctious and energetic, he has all the telltale signs of an angry redhead, including a mane of bright, red locks. So he doesn’t slow down much nor does he have patience for anything that doesn’t align with his thoughts and opinions. Sounds a bit like someone I know… I brought him to a local kids’ indoor climbing gym, where I thought he could spend some energy and hopefully have a kick-ass nap afterwards. I should honestly know better than to try and predict what one of MY children will do…
The outing started easily enough, with Alex being super excited at getting dressed and leaving the house. He had no idea what we were headed out to do. We filled up the tank (I had to remortgage the house in order to do so) and headed to the indoor park. Even as I paid and got our boots and jackets off, I don’t think he understood where we were. He could hear children screaming and playing, so he knew something fun was around the corner. When he finally came out into the main area, I heard an audible gasp from him as he saw the structure and all the play areas available.
The funny part is, he’s been at that location before. Granted, he was a bit younger and what babies can and can’t remember is a whole different story. Parents are allowed on the structures, which is good. It’s the size of a warehouse and he could easily get lost or hurt within its confines. We’d climb up to the top level together, which would involve me testing the limits of my knees’ cartilage. Then we’d go down a slide that takes us all the way down to the bottom of the structure. Loads of fun, even for a 210-pound kid like me. After a couple of runs, he decided to stop me at the bottom and wanted to do it by himself. Fair enough, I can respect a bit of independence.
I watched as he climbed the structure, carefully choosing his steps and being mindful not to fall. Then, he’d choose from three available slides and come whipping down, totally excited and pleased with himself. He’d get a high five and a hug and climb up again. Wash, rinse and repeat. I suddenly became one of the drone parents who just sat there and waited while the children played. But he was having a blast, which is the important part. It’s amazing how a constant, repetitive action can be so much fun to children. As adults, we call that shit work.
One of the side effects of living a mostly reclusive existence over the past couple of years is Alex’s low tolerance for other people. If someone else has a toy he wants or is using a slide he wants to get on, he’ll be quick to show his displeasure; usually with a show of force. You may be thinking, “Most kids are like that…” And this may be true but he takes it to a whole other level. He’s also not very tolerant of other people’s noise. This is kind of ironic, given how much noise he makes himself. But he was having fun, we were out of the house and we were able to spend some time together. Nathan can get pretty clingy and it’s pretty hard doing anything with Alex without Nathan trying to interject.
As with most things in life, all good things eventually must end and this outing was no exception. Alex soon started to bump into everything and BE bumped into by everyone else. Because there always has to be someone to spoil others’ fun, there were two larger boys who were chasing each other around the play area. Although this is expected and there’s no issue with this, these two boys were bumping into everyone and even shoving other kids out of the way. I was correcting these kids and asking them to be careful of the smaller kids, since I didn’t know who their parents were or where they were.
Inevitably, it finally happened. While Alex was trotting along towards a corner, the two larger boys came around said corner and knocked him clean off his feet. Since the floor is carpeted concrete, it stands to reason that it hurt and Alex started crying like someone stole the last curly fry off his lunch tray. I was understandably pissed and I started berating these two little bastards for inflicting harm upon my second-born. Alex clung to me like his life depended on it and one of the fathers finally showed up and started giving me crap for scolding his kid. MAYBE IF YOU’D BEEN WATCHING YOUR KID… (breathes deeply to calm himself).
We left after that, especially since I noticed that the boys carried on as though nothing had happened. Besides, we had been there for a couple of hours and had loads of fun. He was starting to get tired and was probably headed towards nap time. Time flies by far too fast… I remember doing such things with Nathan when he was a toddler and now he’s a grown kid! Those baby years go by far too fast. It’s important to enjoy them while we can. Food for thought… ☯️
Some of my posts in recent weeks have been pretty negative and morose, considering some personal matters that have been happening in my life. That’s why I felt that when there was something positive I could write about (including my post about the Batman from last Tuesday) I should make a point of seeing it happen. This is where my story about last weekend comes in…
My wife and I are typically homebodies, preferring to stay at home and watch a streaming service or game on our devices than venture out into the outside world. Most of this is by virtue of the colder weather keeping us indoors as neither of us is a fan of the cold. But the recent milder weather and temperatures reaching into the positive has seen us walk outside into the sunshine more than usual.
Last Friday was a bit of a crap shoot, considering you may have read about what happened to my son Nathan in yesterday’s post. I left work on Friday morning and brought him to the doctor’s office for an eye infection. By the time I got home and actually sat in front of my computer, my work day was almost done. My evening saw me playing with my kids and sitting to watch some television with my wife. Not a bad way to spend the evening and pretty typical of what we do.
That’s when my wife suggested we go to the movies. This was pretty exciting for me, because I had been wanting to see the Batman. We chose a 4 pm viewing, since it was a 3-hour movie and we didn’t want to get home at a ridiculously late hour. We spent the morning cleaning the house as a family with all the windows open, allowing the cool air to circulate through the house. Once the house was all clean, I pre-ordered a pizza for the boys and the babysitter, which would arrived around 4:30 pm while we were gone.
We made our way to the theatre and enjoyed some Chucky Cheese style games, including shooting hoops and playing air hockey. Turns out my wife is a little hellcat at air hockey and kicked my ass twice. We watched the movie, which I reviewed in a previous post. So I won’t get into it. After the movie, we went to an eatery that specializes in poutines and ordered a couple of large bad boys, which we brought home to consume in front of the television.
The boys in bed and our poutines in front of us, we ate until we were ready to fall into a carb-induced Conan and went to bed. It was a fantastic night and loads of fun. So much fun that we decided that we would bring the boys to the theatre to use our remaining game tokens the following day. We had a good handful but I brought an extra 10-dollar bill in order to ensure everyone got to try some of the games.
On Sunday morning, I checked for the theatres hours of operation, which were erroneously shown as being 11:30 am. We left the house and ran a couple of errands before making our way to the theatre and parking about ten minutes before the time they were SUPPOSED to open. It was only then that we found out that they don’t open until noon. Thanks a bunch, fuckers! You know how easy it is to get a screaming toddler back into his car seat when he’s finally been released? Not easy at all…
We took a drive and came back at noon and everyone had a blast. Some mild issues with losing tokens in one of the air hockey tables was quickly rectified by a staff member who compensated us with some extra tokens. Nathan and Alex had a blast. You know a toddler has had some fun when he breaks down crying at the prospect of leaving. We got home and enjoyed some family nap time before having supper. Then, since it was Sunday night and our week was about to begin anew, it was baths and showers all around before getting the boys to bed.
My wife and I capped off our night by watching Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure of all things. Definitely a fantastic weekend and loads of fun was had. I know that with everything going on in the world right now, it can sometimes be hard to remember that happiness still exists. But our household definitely recognized that fact, this weekend. I don’t have any photos or documentation of our excursions. Wanna know why? Because I was too damned busy having fun to take photos. Now if only this mild weather could hold and keep melting the snow, I might be able to get my bike out… ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 