Zona

My 23 year-old son caught a flight to Edmonton tonight. It will put him there on New Year's Eve. This is a big step because next month we leave Canada bound for Salt Lake City. He's staying behind. He's giving it a go with his band. There's also a girl involved but they're not talking crazy. They're comfortable.

He has a sense of commitment of the path he's taking. Of the choice he's making.

Twenty seven years ago today I was 23. I boarded a flight that would put me in La Paz, Bolivia on New Year's Eve. My choice was all about a girl. The girl who kissed our son goodbye at the airport.

Both of us were just as sure of our decision and both of us had about the same amount of money in our pockets. It was a big leap for both of us and the unknown outcome stared me in the face then just as it stares at him now.

I know how he feels. I would go back and do it again in a second. It was the defining moment in my life.

This will define his too.

Two 23 year-olds coming of age on New Year's Day

I laughed but she didn't know it was at her

well, her picture anyway. You see dear friends, Canadians are not allowed to smile in their passport photos anymore. So instead of just relaxing, they concentrate on not smiling and all kinds of hilarity results. This lady had a look on her face in her photo that instantly made me laugh. It was the look she got as a 12 year-old boy scout tapped her on the shoulder,

"excuse me ma'amm, you dropped this"

And then she looked at his outstretched hand to see him holding her purse pouch of tampons.

So I'm blah blah blah today

but I have these tunes I've been listening to over and over. I do that a lot with songs I really like. Dan turned me on to a guy named Jose Gonzalez. Spanish name but he hails out of Sweden. Acoustically folk tunes. Really nice. If you have iTunes, there's a set he did exclusively for iTunes and it's very very good.

He does have some stuff I don't care much for so I don't give him a blanket endorsement but this one set of five tunes is really nice if you like a solo guitar with nice vocal. If you have iTunes, skip a trip to the greasy fast food place and buy something soul filling that hangs around a little longer in your system.

My favorite uncle passed away on the 18th. More than likely of kidney failure since that's what he was suffering with when I saw him last.

I just got word today.

I said that we'd only take one of these and it came out great. I was the last of all of the family and we were ready to throw things at each other.

That is how it always is when we take the family photos. Too much stress but it's over quick.

I wanted to scream when I saw that my mother was holding her camera but then thought, you know what, she is the one that always lined us up as kids to take holiday and travel pictures so it's quite fitting that she's holding a camera.

I was scheduled to work today. I made it to the snow ruts in the street and managed to get about 4 feet forward. I was lucky to make it back into the driveway. The guys in the background gave up too. About 10 minutes later a 4 wheel-drive truck high enough to turn my car into a speed bump made it out of our cul-de-sac.

SNOW DAY!!

Don't go out front without a jacket

is what my coworker told me. Even though she didn't have too. YVR is a mess today and all flights to Portland and Seattle are all cancelled. Many others are delayed. Many connecting in from the prairies are cancelled.

Lines lines LINES.

The drive in wasn't too bad. Slow and steady and the parking lot is chaos. I am working overtime today and was scheduled to report BEFORE rush hour traffic hits the streets and I go home AFTER the afternoon rush. So my only worry is somebody hitting my sled in the parking lot.

I went to Burger King to get a coke and the line was long and the guy at the register was telling people the credit card function was not operating and he couldn't give any chage for a twenty. I bet I could get $50 for 8 five-dollar bills from some of the places here. So anyway, my man spots me at the end of the line and leaves his register and goes and gets me my usual coke-half-full-of-ice and I hold up a twenty and tell him I'd be back later in the day.

The coworker who gave me the warning had been out front without a jacket when somebody with an elderly lady in tow approached her and said, "is there an AMERICAN who can help this lady?". She told the guy that he had to rely on the Canadians today.

It's a binational gong show.

Today is Magaly's birthday and it is snowing here as you can see. I love the odd shot and this idea popped up. I have somewhat of a congested chest condition and stayed home from work. Of course, that doesn't stop me from pulling stunts like this. It's not that cold.

Ilsen and Scott are stuck downtown waiting for the bus. I imagine that downtown Vancouver is a mess since they do not have the snow plows that it takes to clear the streets of a city this size when it snows this much.

More on the pictures below

My son is still out somewhere and I drove around in the snow looking for him because of a lie and his phone going through the washing machine. (not his fault and I won't dime out who did it) The storm's blowing snow all around and the little girl huffing the tree has a bad cold and wakes up crying from time to time. The phone just rang and the boy is at mickey d's with a ride home soon he says. I'm getting and upper chest bothering that's going to keep me home tomorrow (or later today if you're in to details)
I'm going to bed because it's Maggie's birthday and I have to make lasagna later.

Dan's breakfast. I had my usual bacon and eggs

Dan flew in yesterday and all four kids were in the house having a great time. I was going to drive down to Seattle and pick my mom up but instead I got her a flight from Seattle into Vancouver.

That turned out to be great because Seattle got slammed with the snow that up until last night had missed them.

It's going to be a great Christmas.

That kid in the middle always makes me laugh

I don't like Walmart but there was a toy there that Maggie couldn't find anywhere else. Then I found black playdoh. WTF? Just HAD to buy two. The checkout girl was surprised that they made black too.

As an adult I have never been a fan of the snow. Salt Lake gets it's fair share too so I am stuck with the stuff. The good news is that I'll still have use for the winter coats I've accumulated in Canada.

We usually set the tree up after Robert's birthday but Maggie wanted to do it while Scott and Ilsen were here. We stopped by the tree lot on the way home from picking up our sushi order.

Sabrina reacted to the smell of the tree just like I do to the smell of bacon cooking.

My youngest child turns 18 today. All of my children, when they reached this age, in some way or another expressed that they could make their own decisions and didn't need my approval. In my own way I let each of them know that this was true. What also is true is that the police can't make me come and get them.

Happy Birthday Robert. I love you very much.

I will never forget the doctor holding you up when you came out of your mother and trying to keep you from peeing all over him.

My son asked why I'm not blogging as much.

Aint got much to say these days but if I did I would say that ainxiety over this move jolts me wide awake from time to time. I calm myswelf down pretty easily and a friend who just recently transferred out told me that the differnce is amazing and that I will wonder why I didin't rotate out a couple of years ago.

I had my reasons.

I'm thinking more and more of shooting for a posting in Ireland for the last years of my career.

Rain only makes me smile in big picture windows
It's only when I have that transparent force field
That I feel completely secure
That I feel your soulful allure
And you are transparent to me
But I feel you

I see the trees moving behind you
Their deep green color pours through you
The gray sky rushes through
And you allow it to caress me
You raise my head and kiss me
Then lay me back to sleep

The atmosphere in Vancouver was just a tad bit more relaxed than Calgary. We lived south of the city near a town called Ladner. I found what became my favorite sushi place and since we were near the border, we did all our shopping in the U.S.

There were a lot more flights to work and in the summer we worked the Alaska cruises.

I'm not a big fan of the city even though I ended up doing a lot more in downtown Vancouver than I ever did in downtown Calgary. Vancouver was more interesting than Calgary but it's interestingness involved a lot of effort and that effort did pay off. I enjoyed Vancouver more as a photographer and that helped because the work environment sucked.

In Calgary I made Canadian friends in the airport and almost none outside of work. In Vancouver the opposite was true. It almost makes me want to say that I enjoyed my time in Vancouver more.

Maybe I did.

Hmmm

Dear Sabrina,

I'm sorry I made you cry last night but you were just asking for an accident to happen while trying to stand on those pillows in the kitchen. That's a slippery tile floor and I worry enough about you falling down while walking in socks across that floor. I just couldn't watch as you tried to stand on the small pillows piled one on the other. I'd rather have you cry in anger and disappointment than pain.

Dear Conroy,

I'm sorry I made you cry this morning by picking you up and carrying you out of the living room. But when I asked you to stop doing something that makes an irritating noise and then you look me right in the eye and do it again...

You'll understand when you have kids.

Love you both,

Bahbah

Bits and pieces

I dreampt last night that I was the starting goalie for the Boston Bruins. I was a rookie and scored a goal in the all-star game that was played in some guy's living room.

I dreampt a while ago that I was playing a cross dressing roll in a movie and I told the actress who lent me these way cool knee high black boots that I was "so keeping these".

I was gambling on pro basketball the other day which had me wondering what the hell I was gambling on pro basketball for. I mean there I was, yelling at some 5-11 team for not being able to keep up with a 4-11 team.