Reflections on Tiny House Living

May 30, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

Four-hundred and fifty square feet has defined our living quarters for the past year. Less space when we are on the road with the slides pulled in. Front to back, the motor home is forty-one feet. It is less than half of the size of our former home, which was a considerable downsize from the […]

Eavesdropping

May 25, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

We are full of the excitement of making plans, and after signing more papers, decide to go out for lunch. Both of our minds are going in different directions, so when the hostess seats us, I barely notice the couple sitting next to us, except that they are young – she a striking chestnut-haired beauty, […]

And the Winner Is…

May 24, 2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

What I didn’t tell you in my last post is that we put an offer on Option #1 immediately after viewing it. It has everything we want and more. We had driven to this community and looked at houses before, but they sell fast, so when we found out this one was sold conditional on […]

House Hunting – Option #3

May 23, 2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

“We love the Bluffs!” my friend exclaimed when I told her we were house hunting. We are looking for a small bungalow in an adult retirement community, outside of the city. So far our options have taken us forty-five minutes and an hour from family. Today’s destination is an hour and a half, and overlooks […]

Reflections on a Travelling Life

May 22, 2018.Reading time 1 minute.

It is easy to engage in surroundings when vacationing: all travellers belong, having escaped (even if momentarily) their scripted lives. We project friendliness onto strangers – mothers meeting outside our day-to-day – have new things to discuss. Dare to confess concerns, or approach the personal, and the shunning is immediate. Only peripheral conversations are expected […]

House Hunting

May 21, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

“Fasten your seatbelt,” Ric told me fourteen years ago when I first agreed that we were a “couple”. He wasn’t kidding. We’ve barely just settled in after a six month journey across North America and now we are looking for a home. We’ve narrowed it down to one of three. Option #1 is in a […]

Pain Fog

May 19, 2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

The hockey game blares from the front of the bus with a confidence I am not feeling. Yesterday, I had two cracked and very infected teeth extracted, and my jaw is in intense pain. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” the dentist told me. Apparently, I had clenched so hard that I split my back […]

Relationship Ruptures

May 17, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

The sign on the community pool clearly indicated that the pool was closed, and the gate was locked, but that didn’t stop my friend from scaling the fence and jumping in. Our other friend hesitated only briefly before joining her, and I stood by in disbelief. It was day one of our girls’ getaway, and […]

Come Play, Gamma

May 15, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

“It feels like my heart and my thumb changed places,” five-year-old Sloane says carefully guarding her injured digit. I can’t help but laugh. She can be a little dramatic, this one. “Can you get us a tissue?” I ask her older cousin. “I don’t need it! It stopped bleeding.” The blood has bubbled up on […]

Unsettled

May 14, 2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

The buzzer on the dryer startles me and I jump up, eager to change over the wash, only to find I have forgotten to start the washer load. I feel a tug of annoyance at myself. I am not functioning well today. Have been awake since well before 4:00 a.m. and am wired with non-sleep. […]

Imagine

If we could lift understandingto indigenous teachingsexpand our loveto earth, sky, and seaMake personal gain tabooand Ancients a weigh point If we could witness the mountainsslow floating across the skyand touch the dolphin’s soulanxiously swimmingwhere tuna are netted Would we cower at our insignificanceor move forward, learning to acceptthat all of life is deeply woveninto […]

Dear Child

I know a little girl,whose hair in ringletsfalls, unkempt from lackof brushing; who standswhen she should be sitting;who laughs with defiance whenchallenged, her dark eyes gleamingwith mischief; who holds her chin uphigh and stamps her feet, arms foldedin protest when she does not get her way. I see that little girl,have watched her play,with a […]

Re-de-fine-d

Ask me how I’m doingand I’ll say “fine”, notbecause I’m actually fine,but because “fine” is the onlysocially acceptable response. If I said that I have been lyinghere, for three hours now,willing my body to move,that would elicit unsolicitedadvice and tarnish my “fine”. I’d berate myself for breakingmy promise not to moan,knowing that complainingprovokes a compulsive […]