Tag: choices
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It’s not always the what and when and where
It’s Christmas break, and I’m doing that thing I always seem to do when I have time away from work: making unrealistic lists of stuff to do with the kids, stuff to enjoy, stuff to catch up on, stuff to start, stuff to finish. And then jumping into my to-be-read pile with my stocking candy…
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Peer pressure
I’ve been hearing phrases lately that I last recall hearing as a teenager. “Everyone is doing it.” “No one will find out.” “It won’t hurt anything.” These kinds of arguments were usually reserved for PSAs with stilted acting warning thirteen -year-old me not to do drugs. But now I’m hearing them from family, coworkers, neighbours,…
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#icreatedtoday
I turn 38 today. I’m not one to hide my age, or get terribly overwrought about it, but it does inspire some reflection. What exactly have I accomplished with those nearly 14,000 days on the planet? Quite a bit; lots of it good, some of it hard, most of it worth it. The trouble is,…
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No break this spring–and I love it
Many friends and co-workers have disappeared to tropical locales this week. The kids have been sleeping in and complaining about ‘everyone else’ getting to go to Hawaii (not to mention the work I’ve had them catch up on). Our week off probably does seem a little boring on the surface, and my husband and I agree that…
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The parable of the mistaken oak
Last fall I sat on a lawn under an oak tree, surrounded by music and children. I brought home some acorns, researched, prepared, and planted one. It lived in the back of my fridge, in simulated winter, annoying family members just trying to put away the yogurt. Last month, I decided it was time to…
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Before you post that…
I love how Facebook can be a place to share and learn different perspectives. I hate, hate, hate, how Facebook turns too often into skirmishes of opinion. In case you don’t know, I live in Alberta. Rural Alberta. In case you don’t know, Facebook has turned into a battleground (at least on my feed) over…
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The leap
I quit my job. It was only supposed to be a one year thing anyway, but they asked me to come back. I considered it, and, between my husband and myself, we decided it wasn’t worth it. The income didn’t justify the strain on the family, and I desperately wanted to get back to writing,…
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Renaissance girl?
I envy my husband sometimes. He’s an artist with tunnel vision, the classic absentminded professor. He jumps head first into things and doesn’t look back, working with feverish abandon on the project of the moment until the next idea strikes, oblivious to the debris field in his wake. The trained eye can look over his…
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Why you didn’t get a Christmas treat from me
I live in a tight-knit community. The type of town in which you know your neighbours, newcomers can’t fly under the radar, and you go to church with your rivals as well as your friends. Around Christmastime, there inevitably comes the ringing of the doorbell as friends and neighbours drop off cookies, crafts, candy. Some…