Sometimes you have to dig

through life that is...
No one ever said to me that my life would be sunshine and roses and I am so very fortunate to not have had that misguided, preconceived notion looming over my head, especially this week.

Life has ups and downs and arguements and disappointments; children misbehave, act up...run away. Our houses aren't always spotless, our hair perfectly coiffed; we get runs in our stockings, sometimes our shoes don't even match and sometimes, life throws things at you that you never dreamed you would deal with (like when Rush ran away or..).

Take, for example, this past week. Dear friends of ours have been faced with the unthinkable, Our son, LilB, has been faced with the unthinkable.  His very good friend, and the son of the couple, I mentioned, was shot and killed on Thursday in a tragic run of horrific events that are just too complicated to delve into at this moment. He was a military man, a daddy, a husband, a friend, a son and his death is living a hole in everyone's life that was touched by him and his giant personality.

Life is sometimes pretty shitty....

What wonders my eyes have seen

I have always valued the ability to look into the heart of someone by looking into their eyes. My grandfather taught me that from a very young age. I saw so much depth, so much joy, so much love, so much life and so much life lived in his own pale blue Scandinavian eyes.

I look into eyes every day and I have seen some ooglay things on the inside of peoples' eyes but it never changes the beauty of looking deep into their eyes and seeing their life.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure immense joy of taking care of one of our 101 year old patients and I, as I do each time she has come to the clinic, fell madly in love with her, as she is the sweetest, teeniest, dearest little grannies.  As I reached to put dilating drops in her eyes, I got choked up. In a split second, my mind raced in a flash slideshow of all the things her eyes have seen since 1911. The world has changed so much in her years here. I long to be able to capture the wisdom, life lessons and stories of these people, these pillars of strength and resilience...

Think about it. She has gone from no phone to facetime in her lifetime...there have been a lot of bumps in that road. I am getting emotional now just thinking about it. 

So many wonders her eyes have seen...

P.S. I have learned the secret to a long life from Miss Julia, as I call her; change your own lightbulbs. Last year, on her 100th birthday, she was standing on a kitchen chair, changing her own lightbulb. In other words, never put off doing what you can perfectly well do yourself because you just feel like getting someone else to do it for you...live until your purpose is up.

5 Question Friday

1. What is the weather like where you are and do you like it? Heh! I just sort of answered this question here as we have been having "stuhrange" weather for this time of year.  

Let me see, our weather is about as reliable as the weatherman him/herself. Summers are either uber dry or you get webbed feet, and can range in temps from 20 C to 35 C, as an average. Falls are crisp and painted; Winter can be extreme (unlike this year, as outlined in the linked blog). Spring is puddles, puddles and more puddles, throw in one last major blizzard about April/May and then the nice weather comes out...

It may sound crummy, unreliable & not very inviting but, it is the weather I have grown accustomed to. Each season has its own special beauty mark...just one question though, WHAT is with the mosquitoes?! Anyone else have mosquitoes big enough to carry off small children? 

2. When you're sick what do you seek comfort from?

It depends on the sickness but all in all, I want my Dad. I remember how he would stroke my forehead as a young child when I didn't feel good and his voice was soft, soothing and comforting. BigDaddy has tried but, in the height of an extreme fever, I may or may not have said to him, once or twice, "Just get me my dad! You can't do it right!" . Poor guy, and yet he still puts up with me.

3. What do you need to do before the end of the month?

Save up enough money.

4. Have you ever served on a jury?

No, I got called to jury duty one time. The accused was charged with (and eventually found guilty of) attacking a corrections worker in the jail he was all ready serving a sentence.  When asked if I could be impartial, I had to inform them that several of my family (including my mom and brother) are corrections workers and, NO, I could NOT judge him with an ounce of impartiality (word? no? seems like it to me)

5. If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?

You have stumped the unstumpable (very much a word! Well, now it is!)

Ok, my animal is really a bird (counts right?). I would want to be an eagle. An eagle is a symbol of strength, beauty, authority, freedom and grace. An eagle can sense a storm coming and instead of running and hiding from it, he flies right into the center of it, using the currents of the storm to rise and fly higher ( I want to be able to say the same of myself, instead of running from the storms of my life that I used them to rise and fly higher)

I heard once, whether it is true or not is irrelevent to me because the image of it is just too beautiful to care,but it was stated that eagles will fly toward the sun when predatory birds are in pursuit, or have wounded the eagle, in order to lose them. I would like to be able to personify that in my life. 

So...there you go...I thought I had no answer but I kind of like my non-answer answer...what say you?

You want to join in the fun? Hop on over to MamaM's blog, see her answers and read the answers of some other fantastic ladies!

Well, the weather outside is ________

You finish the sentence.

I know the Christmas song states it as "fightful" and... depending on your perspective, one could say it is so right now but...

Here in northern Canada, January usually brings us -40 degrees Celsius with winds that cut to your bone marrow and whip snow like teeny little ninja stars; where children brave the elements just for five minutes of fresh air by wearing about 8 layers of clothes and their scarves pulled up to their bottom lashes and their toques (snow hats) pulled down to their top (creating prime conditions for frosted lashes).  Bug calls this look being made into a ninja.

Well, this winter we have had, perhaps 2 days of weather that made you snuggle down and shrink into your scarf.  The rest of the days have been -10 C (14 F) or warmer and that was great for a time, albeit an unsettling visual as we are desperately lacking quantities of snow...

Now that it is January it is incredibly unsettling, while I still enjoy the warmth and not feeling like my appendages will shatter or fall off as I contend with the elements. Today, for example, was +1 C (33.8 F)... with rain, more like British Columbia weather (think Vancouver). Tonight, the rain has turned to a thinly veiled sheet of glare ice covered in slush and rain puddles. I drove 34 km/hr (which is roughly 62 mph) on my way home. If I dared to go even that 1 km/h more, I fishtaled, swerved, and slithered on the ice like an eel through water... (gross visual)

I have never lived a winter like this one, at least not in my remembrance. Some of our cute little old-man farmer patients tell me 1989 was similar...another told me 1967 in BC was the same.

It's unsettling. You may think I am insane but...the cold serves a purpose.  Viruses die. We get enough snow to sustain moisture the following farming season. Viruses die...did I mention viruses die...

Anywho, I am not all "freaked out and stockpiling canned goods and buying generators" unsettled but it just seems weird