I fought the law and the law won?????

I have returned!

I am a believer that if you don’t have something interesting to say, then why say anything at all? Now while many of you who have known me for a long time might find this statement an unusual one coming from “Chatty Cathy” of all times, (Oh dear one’s do you remember that doll? My sister had one of those dolls and I swear I wanted to take the ring and string that prompted that doll to chatter and wrap it around it's neck!) I’m sure that’s how many felt like when around me… “Is there an off switch on that girl?!” Anyway, lets just say I probably did more listening this summer than I did talking and as a result, learned a great deal about myself and where I am at in this big old world of ours. So lets play catch-up.

What a summer. Calgary had a remarkably warm/hot summer. It’s still going on! Today we reached a high of 26C and really no real signs of cold in the near future. Those of you who live in Calgary know that often by this time of the year there has been at least one day of snow or a good blast of cold from the north. Global warming? Hmmmmm… I’ll leave that to the experts (Al Gore is he one?) but it does make for good talk on a boring day.

For me it has mostly been a summer of searching within and when you’re soul searching, you’re not doing a lot of talking, you are either listening intently or reading lots. And I’d have to say I was doing a little bit of both. My desire to be creative waned and all my energy was put into moving forward in a way that I could accept myself, accept the world that I live in and quench this hunger to always know more about the ways of the universe. I’ll let you know if I reached any profound conclusion about it all, in the meantime, I’m still taking it all in and doing it in my own stride. I am working on positive affirmations and holding onto my faith and belief that life is filled with love and abundance and it is there for the asking. And that’s pretty cool when you think on it. Why just today E.D. and I were talking about forgiveness and how hard it is to forgive when you have been hurt. She pointed out to me that only by letting go of the need to hold onto hurt and opening your heart to viewing all situations through love, and approaching all situations in love, that then and only then forgiveness is an easy task. I knew this already but was grateful to be reminded of it for sometimes I forget to live life through my heart and that terrible old ego steps in and rules for a while.

My books this summer have been more along a spiritual slant and I have not read much fiction. I am saving up for my African trip. Nine hours from Calgary to London, five hours to Kenya from England. Fortunately, my “journaling sisters” have provided me with many titles to choose from (see www.tifty.wordpress.com and www.rwl10802.blogspot.com )for great book references and I look forward to searching for some of their suggestions in used bookstores around the city. (By the way, you girls are far more clever than I, for I still cannot figure out how to make those long addresses into short names.)

LL and her husband got back from their trip to Peru. Peru, can you imagine? She and her husband were birding, yes you heard right. They are avid birders and it is their goal to go birding all over the world. Since LL and her husband have been just about everywhere, I’m not sure how many places are left for them to visit! Remember last year they were in Antarctica walking with penguins? LL tells me that there are more birds in Peru than anywhere else in the world and it is not unusual for someone to find a new species monthly. In fact their guide had actually discovered several new species himself. They went with two other couples (none had met before). One couple was delightful but the other well, lets just say finding rare birds was not the only challenge on this trip! LL said that when they eventually reached the Machu Picchu site it was so emotional she cried. BL her husband, is an incredible photographer, unfortunately his camera ceased up shortly after they reached the Incan ruins. I can only imagine his disappointment. Perhaps some things are just not meant to be photographed. Our birthday dinner outing will be next week and I am sure I will hear all about the trip then.

Nick started school this week. YES, YES, YES. It has taken almost 5 years for me to convince him of the importance to going back to school. He’s taking 18th Century literature (this is a kid who one year asked his teacher if they could study Hamlet for their Shakespeare portion of English class) so this is right up his alley, Sociology, Spanish, Political Science and Philosophy – the Art of Arguing… great, like he needs to refine his ability to argue!!! He seems to be enjoying his classes but it is a bit early to tell. He does however have a keener interest in seeking out a girlfriend (I’m rolling my eyes). Nick has got to be the most painfully shyest person I have ever known and because of it has had many girl friends but no one steady girlfriend. Great, I just get him convinced that school is most important and he focuses on getting a girlfriend! He is forever resisting me.

Talking about resistance. I was talking with my sister today. My nephew Nate is about four years younger than Nick. The two cousins are very close. They are also truly cut from the same bolt of cloth and outside of how they differ in looks and age you would think they were identical twins in personality. Anyway, my sister tells me that a couple of weeks ago Nate was being disrespectful to her and Nick gave Nate a lecture on how to treat your mother with respect. My sister almost choked seeing as how Nicholas is always “squawking” off at me. Not only that, she says Nick helped her clean up after dinner, actually did dishes and asked if she needed any more help around the house. I was totally shocked… well not really but I did suggest that perhaps we trade kids for a weekend and that way we’d be treated real well and our house would get cleaned to boot!

Funny but not so funny story. My nephew is a very logically minded kid and somewhat absent minded. He was on his way to school and ended up j-walking across the street. Unfortunately for him a police officer caught him and in downtown Calgary that is a fine$$$. He stopped my nephew and asked him what his name was. My nephew who a) knows the law like the back of his hand and knows that legally he did not have to give the officer his name, and b) is at this stage where he is always resisting authority… ie his mother… told the officer he did not have to give his name until the police officer gave his intent. BUZZZZZZZZZZ! Wrong answer! Go to the end of the line, do not collect the $200… GO STRAIGHT TO JAIL. Well, the officer right away saw him as a kid with an attitude, grabbed his hand cuffs and whipped them around my nephews wrists. My nephew then proceeded to tell the officer he legally couldn’t do this… WRONG AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well this made the officer even more angry and it was downhill from there. To make a long story short, he told my nephew he misplaced his keys and had him stand on the front steps of the school until classes started. Friends and teachers, classmates and peers all saw my nephew standing there with hands in cuffs. The officer eventually unlocked the handcuffs and he was allowed to go to school... not without a j-walking ticket.

My sister went berserk when she found out, my brother-in-law took it all in his stride (all the while chuckling to himself about the whole incident). Now my sister is far more reactive than I am and I can be a little alarming at the best of times… she was ready to phone City Hall (hey what am I saying she works at City Hall)... after observing her husbands response, she decided to not file some kind of complaint. (She told me she was ready to call the police station and tear a strip off the officer who had done this.) This decision paid off, for the officer called her and at first the conversation was tense but ended up in laughter. She told the officer that she had taught her child the value of the services a police officer provided and that he should always be respectful of them and their job. What had taken years of teaching her son, he had undone in one instance. She said that the officer knew that her son was not a drug addict or criminal but chose to intimidate him anyway. Although the officer argued his justification for approaching her son, after all he was j-walking, he did concede that perhaps he had been a little harsh in his handcuffing the boy straight off. The officer did say he would gladly speak to my nephew to explain the situation. In the meantime, my nephew is a hero in his school. He was cool because he had been handcuff by a police officer and stood his ground. My sister is beside herself because when she asked him if he wanted to talk to the officer, my nephew declined. So when my nephew asked what to do about his ticket, my sister told him to pay it! Jessie James, look out here comes Nasty Nate!!!!!

Well kids, that’s it for this broadcast. I’m off to give my kid a lecture on courtesy. I’ve been waiting for 3 hours for him to come home so we could go back into town to do some errands he needed attended to (in other words he need me to pay for an oil change in his car because he was short on money). He decided to go to his buddy’s place and neglected to tell me. Just a warning to those who have loving, delightful young boys in their homes... something happens to them at the age of 13, their brains turn to mush and they never quite recover it all back from that point on!

Next time my dears!! XXX OOO