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Sunday 27 November 2011

"With great mustache comes great responsibility"*

Like last year, Chris participated again in Movember this year to help fundraise for prostate cancer research.  All month long everywhere I go I see mustaches.  So, so many mustaches.  I'm glad to see so much participation, and I hope that this participation has led to thousands and thousands of new dollars going to the cause.  It still doesn't nullify the fact that mustaches creep me out.  And, I selfishly look forward to the first of December when all the razors come out of hiding :).

Yesterday, Chris, Matt & Nicole again set up a Mo'Photo shoot, and they raised $255 to go toward Matt's work's Movember donation.  A great big thank you to all who came out to participate!  Your generosity will not be forgotten!  If you missed out this year, fear not, as far as we can tell, this photo session will reoccur every year. 

Let's kick prostate cancer in the ASS!!

*Quote from the Family Guy

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Anniversary

When You Found Each Other

When you two found each other,
you gained the finest prize:
a companion to share life’s joys,
a friend who lightens burdens,
whose company is always a comfort.

When you found each other,
you embraced the love you had dreamed of,
the source of endless pleasure
and memories to treasure.

May your anniversary remind you
of how precious that day was,
when you found each other.

By Joanna Fuchs

****
They found each other over a half a century ago.  They brought many years of joy to each other.  They were the perfect fit for one another.  His loss makes her world so quiet. So empty.  53 years ago today, they were married.  Today, she thinks of him a little more.
 
Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad.  I miss him so much, too.  Mom, I'm so sorry that today will make you sad.

Wednesday 16 November 2011

75

You would have been 75 years young today, Dad.  Every year, the weeks leading up to your birthday make the ache in my heart a little stronger.  I hope there's a party going on right now in Heaven to celebrate the amazing person that you were.  You were nothing short of wonderful to me.  You taught me so much.  I owe so much to you.... Thank you for guiding me, and shaping me into the person that I am today.  I hope I made you proud.

Since memories fade, and they're all I have of you now, I wanted to recount a few more here, in celebration of you, on your special day:

-sitting on your lap with a bowl of Bits & Bites.  I never liked the cheese cracker bits, so I'd give them to you, and you'd suck them up like a vacuum, and I'd giggle every time.
-surprising me one winter day by coming to my kindergarten class and asking Mrs. MacRae to let me out early so we could go on a 'date'.  We headed to the Rideau Canal where the ice sculptures were. Winterlude was over, and it was just the two of us and your camera.  I have to go find those pictures.  I don't think you're in any of them, sadly.
-the scent of your cologne and the shine of your face after a bath and a fresh shave.  I'd come home from work or being out, to greet you in your chair in the living room, and bend over to kiss your forehead from above.  The smell wasn't overpowering (though sometimes I wonder how it wasn't, being Aqua Velva or Brut, and all!), it was comforting.  The lighthouse blanket used to smell like you.  It doesn't anymore :(.
-those crazy eyebrows of yours.  They stayed so black while your hair went so grey.  Every now and then there'd be a rogue hair that was stuck way out of place and I'd pluck it. You never complained.
-some girls might have thought it weird that their father would ask them to shave their neck.  I didn't mind it though.  I don't think I ever cut you once.  Even with that ancient old razor you used with the Wilkinson Sword blades.
-You must have been a very hard worker - immersing yourself completely in your job at the office. On more than one occasion you started small talk with me as I called your office after waiting impatiently for you to pick me up out front of Main building.  It would go something like this:  you: "Head Material Control Officer, Fred Manuel"...me: "Hi Dad..."....you: "Oh hi Amber, how's it going today?"... me: "Um...aren't your forgetting something??".....you: "Oh! Shit! I'm sorry! I'll be right there!".  You'd look like the cat that swallowed the canary when you got there.
-your smile.  Your eyes twinkled, and you commanded a room (Mom always said it was your Navy arrogance).  Everyone who met you, loved you.
-your hugs.  The biggest, warmest bear hugs ever.  You'd squeeze so tight and hang on just a little longer than most.

God I miss you.................

Tuesday 15 November 2011

finally!

It wasn't just something I read!

Eeeeee!!!!!!!!!!  December 9 is opening night!  And!  I just HAPPEN to be on staycation that week!  Can I buy my tickets now??? 

And December 9th is not that far away.  (How the heck did THAT happen, anyway?)

quote tuesday

The 'return' of quote Tuesday:

Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.

Sometimes life can be hard.  Sometimes you don't get what you'd really prefer.  Sometimes you don't realize just how lucky you really are.  Take a few moments today to think of what/who make you truly happy...and be thankful for what you have, and most importantly, be happy.

Friday 11 November 2011

remember

My father was a member of the Royal Canadian Navy.  From there, he worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs until retirement. And, up until his death, he joined the Canadian Corps of Commissionaries. He instilled in me a deep appreciation for remembering those who gave up the ultimate sacrifice, and the importance of November 11 as a day to remember them.


Every year on this day, for at least a few moments, I stop what I'm doing and think about the brave soldiers who lost their lives fighting.  They fought to bring freedom to our nation.  They died in sacrifice to the freedom we all know, and share, and for the most part, take for granted.  Thank you soldiers, past and present, for allowing me to live and breathe in a nation of freedom and peace.  Thank you.

For the past hour and a half I've been watching coverage of various memorial services for Remembrance Day - the majority of which airing from Ottawa.  The camera pan across the crowd of previous service men and women, tears in their eyes, is very affecting.  I've wiped my own tears away several times.

Lest we forget.