Frozen in Time

Was thinking of some moments in my life that bring me great joy. The first time I saw my wife which was the precise moment I fell in love with her. Saturday night hockey games with my Grandfather who spoiled me rotten. Watching my sister walk down the "aisle" with "Rain Song" playing in the background. Assisting on a goal for a young kid who had never scored a goal and seeing the excitement and joy on his face and his fathers. Walking on the ice on Lake Erie with my daughter talking about the Arctic, sink holes, pressure points and the best ice for sliding on.

Kissing and Houses

Rain: I wish us kids could be more grown up about things. I mean everybody knows that kissing is gross, but I really want to kiss Graham.

Dad: Uh oh.

And...

Cassidy: Rain has her house of swimming and painting. Mommy has her house of flowers. Daddy, you have your house of hockey. And I have my house of happy meals with no sauce.

It's War

War has been declared against our Corp on Eve Online. The galaxy will not be the same. Oh how I long for a simpler time.

Dinner Conversations II

Cassidy screams and begins crying. Leaves her chair and sits with her mother, finger raised to signify the culprit of her tears. She calms down a minute later trying to laugh again.

Cassidy: Hey, don't bite down on that. Hahaha.

Dad: Did you bite your finger by accident?

Cassidy: No.

Dad: Cassidy, did you bite your finger?

Cassidy: No the teeth done it. Bad teeth. Bad teeth. Say you're sorry!

Dinner Conversations

Cassidy: Mom, your husband got blue eyes.

Mom: Yes he does.

Cassidy: And he's a dog owner.

Mom: Yes. He has blue eyes and is a dog owner. You know a lot about my husband.

Cassidy: His dog is a girl. Is she going to marry another dog?

Mom: Dogs don't marry, honey. Only people marry.

Cassidy: Yes she will. She's going to marry Prince Wow-wow.

Family Spam

I have an Aunt in Northern Ontario and an Uncle in Alberta who daily send me emails in substantial amounts. To top it off, they send each other emails so I very often get them sending me the same messages. Further more, the content (animals dressed in suits, painted, sitting in baskets or shoes, redneck jokes, blonde jokes, racist jokes) is mostly horrible. Case in point; my Uncle sent me an email yesterday entitled "Beware of Infrared Cameras". When I opened the attachment a film clip appeared of a soldier standing in some sort of building while others walked around him. Then, from the soldiers ass area, there, in all its splendor seen through the miracle of infrared, erupted a dark geyser which began to ascend in a cloud-like shape before dissipating entirely. It is at this moment that I think about how little my Uncle knows about me and how much I know about him.

Bones and Cap

My sister had been visiting for a few days before her Cap came for the weekend. We laughed a lot, ate some really good food (the salmon sausage pasta and cheeses were awesome), went skating and gamed a little. And, you know when you have visitors, there comes that point where you want them to leave? Well, we never reached that point and the house is a little too quiet today.

The Visitor

We have a visitor here in our groovy love pad. She eats all our fruit (bananas especially the litte monkey) most of the chicken pie and a good helping of our homemade pizza. She makes my girls squeal in delight while they invent new fart jokes. She has been made an honourary child by the girls as they have christened our guest with Sir Rex the Very Large (our biggest stuffed animal) who, in his german shepherd ways, protects the throng. I could go on, but here's the summorized version. We have a visitor who shines in an already glowing home. It's a good mix.

After Dinner Query

Our eight year old approached my wife and I while sitting at the table post supper.

Rain: Hey Mom and Dad, you know Vivaldi's "Four Seasons"?

*Quick looks of surprise are traded between Mom and Dad*

Mom: Uh, yes.

Rain: How does "Spring" go again?

*With jaws agape*

Mom: We forget. Why don't you go put it on the cd player.

A Klaus Call

Completely heartbroken and inebriated to the point of being reckless and likely to find trouble in numbers I drag my butt into Zak's (not knowing what it's called these days) which is my third or fourth bar of the night. Miserable and surly I grab a seat at the bar and too loudly tell Klaus to give me a beer. He complies as I more slurp than drink the beer while writing illegible nonsensical poetry about how I was screwed over. And Klaus finds it in himself to come and talk to me. Calms me down and finds a way of reaching me. He cuts through my pain to the very essence of my suffering and lays it all out on the bar for me. He gets me to drink water now and some coffee. Tells me where I went wrong and what an asshole I am being while also showing me the good side of who I am. He does it in such a way that all I can do is respect him even though he is exposing truths most want to stay hidden. I thank him and leave the bar feeling lighter. As I exit she is there. Emotions all jumbled and askew. I slip back into false bravado and bullshit as a carload of her friends drive by and hurl insults at me. I challenge them to fight, but she drives them off. She pleads with me to straighten up, but I find that most fridgid side of pain and walk away. And when it's all said and done and I find me again I remember Klaus. I remember him again today and I still find thanks for being led to the right door. Thanks for having wisdom beyond his years. Thanks for being human to a young man who needed to be righted. Thanks.

Fathers and Daughters

Cassidy: I'm not your father, daddy. I am a daughter.

Dad: Yea, that's right.

Cassidy: Yea, I'm a daughter. I'm your daughter, daddy. Mommies not a daddy. Mommies a mommy.

Dad: Yes, that's right. Mommy is a mommy.

Cassidy: And your Rain's daddy too.

Dad: It's 50-50 there kid.