My baby...

Oliver update....

I knew I wanted a dog and after meeting Steve I knew I wanted a greyhound. I didn't know I would fall deeply madly head over heels in love in less then a week.
When things weren't working with Wildcat I thought perhaps we had made the wrong choice bringing a dog into our family. However I felt compelled, if only because we had already invested so much money, to try another dog.
*Enter Oliver stage left*
I was so wary that this match wouldn't work either but I was right to trust Jeanette's judgment. Oliver (Rogue Villain "Rebel") was meant to be our dog. He is sweet and kind and loving. The other morning when he was me he wagged his tail! I thought I had died and gone to heaven. We have our share of daily challenges, Gil and I being first time dog owners are learning a whole new game. Oliver can be mind blowingly stubborn but I think that our classes will help all three of us learn to communicate better.
He is also afraid of pretty much everything including the cats (yay), the wind, traffic noise, the hardwood floors (oh dear!) and shadows but we are working everything out.
We have had two small accidents. A pee in his crate because he refused to leave it to be let out for a bathroom break the first day. And a poop on my mom's kitchen floor. That was our fault, we missed the signs. My sisters made me feel much better by telling me that when their dogs had done the deed it had been on the carpet.
On Monday he had two firsts (with us), a trip in the car which we were nervous about but he was a DREAM. As well he had a fairly large social gathering with my whole family including my three sibling's dog. He was AWESOME. He was nervous at first but quickly warmed up and was the center of attention all day. He was particularly fond of my 94 year old, stone deaf grandfather who knows none of us anymore but was very smitten with Oliver.
Today we celebrated a whole week together by taking an extra long walk at Shubie park and hitting Three Dog Bakery for some treats. Right now he is passed out cold in his crate but he seems very very happy.

A tail of two dogs...

Gather 'round folks and let me tell you a story. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll think I am crazy...er. So as you know we were eagerly awaiting the arrival of George. The day we got to bring him home was a very happy one for us. He was great. We got him home, went for a walk, he was awesome. So handsome, so sweet, so perfect. Then he met the cats. We had been assured that this dog passed cat school. Ummm yeah okay, I guess a D is still a passing grade. This perfect, handsome, awesome dog really REALLY wanted a piece of my cats... to chew on. We hoped it would pass.
The first time he was left home alone in his crate he broke the door off of it. I am so not kidding. But still his general behavior was awesome. Until he caught a whiff of cat. I am not even sure this dog got a D, I think he forged his grade. He thought of nothing BUT the cats. He hunted them through the house, he found the cat bed and rubbed his face all over it. If the cats were in the basement he would stand at the top of the stairs and cry and whine and drool. If a cat came into his sight he BOLTED. This first time he almost caught Mango it was truly terrifying. Day three he wanted Tikka SO badly he followed her up onto the dinning room table. I wish I were kidding. We called the lady at the kennel and told her we were at our whits end. We didn't know what to do. Then we found out that he had FAILED the first time around and the next time he was exposed to a cat who lived in a house with a whole bunch of dogs. Cheater.
In the end it was decided that no matter how much we liked George, no matter how awesome he was under most circumstances, we could not have a dog who wanted to eat our cats.
There was a dog they thought was a better fit who was being fostered just down the road. We got George all together with his stuff and walked him down the road in the drippy wet rain/snow. Yeah start weeping here. Pretty sad stuff.
The house were the foster pup was living also had like a BILLION other dogs. George walked in, pissed on the floor and forgot all about us. That was pretty much the end of that story. End one chapter and on to another. George's foster brother Rogue Villain was all set to head off into the world with us, although he didn't seem all that eager. Half way home we were soaked all three of us, a plow came down the street and I was pretty sure he was going to keel over from heart failure. When we got to the steps we met our first real obstacle, the stairs. After a long time of him crying and shaking I picked him up and carried him up the stairs. This is NOT a small dog. We got him in the kitchen and dried off. He didn't move. I mean really... did not move an inch... for hours. The cat came near to see that was going on. The dog cried. No really, the dog CRIED. After a few hours we decided that there was no way were were getting him to the crate to we brought it to him... in the middle of the kitchen floor. He would not go in. I had to pick up his paws and WALK him in. He was shaking so hard I thought he would break. We went to bed. I was worried because he was downstairs and he would likely cry all night. He slept like a baby. A proverbial baby since everyone knows real babies wake up and cry in the night. He didn't make a peep. not one. I got up at 5:30 to get ready for work and he was so quiet I thought maybe he had died of fear. Nope he was sitting pretty. I opened the crate. He wouldn't come out. Gil drove me to work and came home. He wouldn't come out. Gil came to pick me up from work 4 hours later, we got home and he still hadn't come out. I begged, plead and bribed him. No dice. I got him to come half way out. Front paws out, back paws in. He stayed like that for an hour and a half. he tried a few times but he seemed TERRIFIED of the hardwood floors. I could go on and on about this dogs fear. we did eventually get him out, at least long enough to move the crate into the computer room. The cats in the mean time did some testing of their own and found they could rule the dog with an iron paw. So it was decided, despite the fact that he is afraid of EVERYTHING including his own shadow and wind (yes, you read me right, he is scared of the wind) we know that he is here to stay so we decided that he needs a name. We loved the name George but he was the first dog and we could not recycle the name. We like people names for dogs. Because he is a tuxedo dog (black with a white shirt) we thought he needed a distinguished name and I came up with Oliver and we both love it. So Oliver is our dog and he is pretty cool.
We have a long way to go with the trust. He still basically exists in his crate, he only comes out if I am taking him out. But we have conquered the front steps. That was a real battle. We have been out for a few walks and he has started to make pees and poops and he even ate a little, which makes me pretty happy. Best of all when I got up at 6 this morning to take him out for a pee I came into his room and he stood up and wagged his tail!! He was happy to see me. He wasn't the dog we picked or planned on but he is awesome and I think we are all going to be very happy.

Still waiting..

We have an appointment at the kennel on Saturday morning. I hope this means that George will be home VERY soon. I can't wait. I have been doing doggy prep for a week. I am ready. Gil is ready. The cats will never be ready.
My back isn't ready but my back is just going to have to suck it up princess. I am in bed tonight on the heating pad and pumped full of drugs. Is it me our am I always sick or injured over the holidays?

Good glorious morning to you!

It is a very cold and windy winter morning and I am glad I have no place that I need to be today. My tea is hot and my chair cozy. I am thinking about starting a batch of sugar cookies and I have the Christmas tunes playing. Both cats are napping in close proximity to me and hubby is still curled up in the warm bed. It is pretty much a perfect Saturday morning. I am ignoring the fact that I have a mountain of laundry to do and that Christmas is in two weeks and I have done precious little shopping. Those things will still be there this afternoon but for now I am content to be a puddle of mush in my chair.

Last day of vacation....

I feel like I have a hang over. Up SO late last night working Operation Red Nose. My body doesn't know what to do with little sleep. My head aches and so does my back. My house is a freakin' mess, the tree is half up. There is a pile of laundry the threatens to kill us all. And my poor husband had too many cups of coffee last night and hasn't been to sleep YET! Yup he has been up for more then 24 hours and pretty soon he is going to come crashing to a halt and will be totally unable to help me with the million things that need to be done.

Vacation day 6

Wow what a lazy day. It has been pouring all day so any dreams I may have harbored about taking a walk have become soggy. Man I haven't gone for a walk once this week. SO lazy. We did get up at 8am for breakfast fish cakes and poached eggs for me, smoked salmon french toast for Gil, but that was only so I wouldn't be hungry when I went to my 9am massage. Decadent!! Since then I have plopped in front of the tv watching trash. Trolling through the internet. You haven't lived until you have been through this blog. After this week I will be able to go without TV for a good long time. Really there is so much crap out there. I mean even stuff I love is terrible. Yup come Saturday I am ready for a detox.
Of course I will pretty busy getting ready for George and then having George. Also I will be getting ready for the holidays and I am no where near close. Although Gil and I did do some shopping yesterday in Liverpool, that was fun.
I am determined that the holidays are going to awesome in spite of or in light of our decision. We are going to have our fur babies, lots of good food, lots of friends and most of all each other.
Okay since I started writing this I have watched two more episodes of CSI, eaten a salad, because lets face it, that website I posted above made need to eat a vegetable. This is officially the laziest day ever. With that in mind I think I will go have a nap.

Waiting for George...

So as I mentioned we are getting a dog. More to the point we are adopting a retired racing greyhound. His name is going to be George. We are getting him from the Greyhound Pets of Atlantic Canada (gpac). I have been really into Grey's since I met Steve, Melissa and Dave's dog, three years and a half years ago. He was so cool. So we have talked about it on and off. More on in the past few months. Now that we have made a decision about how we want to progress with our family it seemed like a good time to do something positive for ourselves. So here we are, about to be George parents. I am really excited and nervous. It will be a big adjustment. George is not meant to replace the child we are not having or getting, he is a baby in his own right but he is not a replacement. We are going to the kennel this week to find out which hound is the one meant for us. Like I said I am excited but nervous. It will be a big shock to the cats. Mango will likely be fine but Tikka is going to be pissed. The dog will have gone to cat school at the kennel but the cats will have had NO exposure to dogs. It should be interesting.
Stay tuned!

Vacation 2009!

Praise be to gods! We are finally on a relaxing vacation enjoying some much needed down time. We were both so close to burn out. We have both been working our asses off and as you know we have made some major life changes. We needed to sleep, we needed to sit and talk or sit in silence. We needed to play chess. We needed to recharge our batteries that were SO low. We are on day 4 and things are going very well. I have been napping. I have been, for the most part, sleeping well at night. We are eating and talking and dreaming. We have been swimming and reading and hanging out in front of the fireplace. We have also been watching WAY too much tv and surfing the net. It has been awesome.

No time like the present.

Some changes we have made since our choice to remain childfree. Funny how the little changes can feel so big...
1. Moved the medicine from the high, hard to reach shelf into... the medicine cabinet. No more needing to use a step stool every time I need a damn Tylenol.
2. Moved the nail clippers and other sharp or pointy bathroom accouterments into the drawer in the bathroom.
3. Moved fragile glassed and bowels into the lower shelves of the island.
4. Started making plans to take a BIG vacation.
5. Started making plans for the spare room.
6. Don't freak out.... started the process to adopt a dog. Okay I asked you to please not freak out. I am not replacing my dreams of a child with a dog. A dog can't replace a kid. I have just wanted one for a long time and at the moment we think it would be a good, therapeutic time to lavish some love on a 4 legged buddy. We will probably have him by Christmas.
7. Made arrangements to donate crib and various bits to a local shelter for abused women.
8. Purged house of books and magazines about parenting and pregnancy.
9. Gave $300 breast pump to girlfriend who just had a baby.
10. Started to sort toys to give away and toys to keep in a box for young visitors.
11. Talking to each other about our choice. About what it will mean, what it will look like. We are together 100% here and that is the most important thing.

The choice that changed everything...

Well you know that for a long time now Gil and I have been trying to expand our family of two. We tried the old fashioned way. We tried fertility treatments and when we reached our threshold there we turned to adoption. It seemed like a perfectly natural progression. We presumed that while it was not going to be easy it would be better then what we had been through with the Clomid. Well if wishes were horses right? The adoption process has proved to be longer, harder and much more stressful that either of us ever expected. MUCH harder. On the 18th of November we met with the social worker she told us it was not going to be a happy meeting. It wasn't. They want to send both Gil and I for intensive therapy for however long it takes! Then they want us to start all over again from the beginning. Yup. You read me right. Months of therapy followed by starting back at square one. It was a lot for us to swallow. We drove home in silence. We had been told so many times that it wouldn't matter that neither of us grew up in a Cosby/Cleaver family but clearly that was a lie. We are being singled out for being different and I know it. It is very obvious.
The silence continued for a long time. Clearly we were both away in our own heads. Certainly there was lots of talking for us to do but this was going to be a time we both needed to internalize.
I didn't sleep much that night, I tossed and turned and I while I did that I started making lists, of the mental variety. What were our options. To continue with this frustrating adoption process. To go back to the Clomid, after all there was about $400 worth sitting in my underwear drawer. Or there was the other option, we could stop. everything.
I made some mental columns and started making further lists, pros and cons. Yeah I didn't sleep much that night.
Our quiet day turned into a few quiet days but my lists grew. We started making jokes about the elephant in the room, who often seemed to be sitting right on my chest. Yup soon we were going to have to talk.
A few mornings later in the car on the way to work I told Gil about my lists of pros and cons, and which list had the most pros. He told me he had come to the same conclusion. When he dropped me off at work that morning. I felt light, almost giddy. I felt free. We had without much fan fair decided to become a family of two.
I know most people are going to find this shocking and maybe difficult to digest. Why would we give up? I will tell you that unless you have lived through infertility you can not wrap your head around how much of your life it consumes. Yes I want to be a mother and I doubt that will ever go away. I love babies and children. But I love myself more, I love my husband more, I love my marriage more. I love my mental health more. I feel like I have lost all perspective about life since we started trying to have a child. I feel Like I have stopped putting energy into things that really matter like me, and my husband and our life together. We could keep going down either road but it wouldn't be pleasant and we would certainly continue to be unhappy, stressed out and growing apart. Ours is certainly not a marriage in trouble but is a marriage that has been under stress since day one and we want to amend that. Both of us. I honestly think another run with the Clomid would be as hard on Gil as me. It is so hard to explain what that is like to one who has not experienced it but imagine PMS times approximately one million and you are somewhere close.
We could continue with the adoption road. But frankly we have hit the wall. In 2.5 weeks Gil will be 38 years old and in 5 weeks I will be 35. We are by no means old but when you consider that we would be starting all over again AFTER the therapy we are looking at being 37 and 40 by the time we have a placement. Neither of us want that and if that is selfish so be it. I will be selfish. That is okay with us. The only people who get a say in this are Gil and I.
I am not saying by any means that this has been an easy choice or that it won't come with it's share of grief. But I can tell you that since we have made it official for ourselves we have both been lighter. We have been talking more. We both seem relieved. I am sure I will have lots more to say about the subject as time progresses but for now ... I think this is the right thing and I thank you in advance for your support.

What's been on my mind...

A few week ago I stumbled on a video that has really stuck with me.
It is called Killing Us Softly 3.
Since that time I have found myself obsessively looking at ads and trying to dissect what the ad is trying to tell me. I have spent hours combing the internet and magazines and it is really profoundly disturbing.
So I thought I would share a couple of them with you.

First up, this lovely Portuguese MTV ad for safe sex....

Okay, I don't speak Portuguese but I get it, having sex with out a condom is dangerous.

I am SURE there was a better way to convey this message. I can think of half a dozen better/different means of telling women that they should use a condom and I am not an advertising executive.
For Example....
I love these ones from the Ministry of Health and Social Services Quebec. They say SO much and without reducing a faceless woman to her sexual parts.
And speaking of her sexual parts, to me these are not the nethers of a grown woman, they are the nethers of a undeveloped prepubescent girl.

I believe in safe sex.
I believe in advertising of safe sex.
I don't believe in equating safe, consensual sex with images that that make sex look sinister and violent.
This picture doesn't sing to me of taking charge of my own reproductive health but screams to me of rape and sexual violence against helpless vulnerable girls.

There are dozens more of these and I am going to try and share some more. But for now I am going to go look at pictures of kitties and flowers to try and erase some of this awfulness.

Another Sunday stroll through my mind...

This week I compromised on something I felt strongly about. It didn't feel good, I am not sure I made the right choice but I did it for my husband and our marriage. I drapes in the living room. He even picked out the drapes. This is hard. In fact I am sitting in the living room right now trying to acclimate to them. So far they just look weird. Boy, relationships are hard work. Who knew?
While I am sitting here I am soaking in the backyard view. All our leaves are aflame with colour, it is really quite spectacular.
I love Sunday so much but there is always the threat of Monday lurking right around the corner. And I am really not looking forward to this coming week so it sneaks up all the quicker. Time is sneaky like that. What I really need is one full week of Sundays. And I hope that in 47 days that is exactly what I am going to have.'Cause that is when we head out for our week at White Point. I seriously can't wait. Because it is the very end of November, first week of December I anticipate that it will be even quieter then normal there. I have already checked the website and as far as I can tell there is nothing special happening there that week. The last few times we were down seemed to coincide with busy festivals and events. For the whole week we are going to sit in front of the fireplace, read, play chess, drink wine, talk and sleep. We don't have to worry about running to get from one place to the next. We don't have to squeeze in any extra chores or errands. I can't begin to tell you how much all of this excites me. I am going to go for walks on my own and take pictures. I am going to book a massage. I am going to swimming in the indoor pool. I am going eat, oh yeah I am going to eat well.
Oh I am getting so excited. And I am hoping as well that it will be the last trip the two of us make by ourselves for a while. Which is to say I hope that we have a kid soon, not that I don't want to go away with Gil anymore. I love my Sweet Baboo!

Adoption stuff...

So I haven't talked much recently about the adoption process. That has been sort of deliberate. I needed to take some of my own focus away. It is so easy for me to get so obsessive. We are still in home study mode however I have not been overly involved. It has been Gil's time to do one on one interviews with our lovely social worker. They meet here once a week in the morning and talk about.. I dunno, stuff, Gil isn't too clear when I ask for details. Not that he is hiding things from me but he is not a big talker and certainly not about his personal life and I think that translates to a difficulty in sharing with me the content of their conversations. Fortunately I will get to find out for myself in the near future as I have my first date with her a week from Monday. I am not meeting her here at the house because we work on the same block so it makes more sense to meet at her office. Which is a bit a relief, not because I am worried about the house. I have stopped caring about the mess, we are normal people and I think our mess reflects that. No I am relieved because I live in perpetual fear of being late and being judged on that. So sad. I am not sure where this obsessive fear of tardiness comes from but I wish it would ease up a bit. I guess I have something else to work on. Anyway there is one little glitch about meeting her at her office. The building. The building that her office is located in hold a LOT of personal history for me. I worked there for a while when I worked for Moose. But more specifically my Father worked there. I think it will be weird for me to sit and talk about the abuse I experienced in a place that is so infused with the abuser. Anyway. I think I am going to steer away from this line of thought a little while longer as it is having an impact on my lovely Saturday morning vibe.

TGIF!!

Okay it is a corny saying but I am genuinely thankful it is Friday. I know that the weekend ahead of me is a busy one. They always are, and this one more so with the in-laws and turkey dinner and yard prep for the winter. Every weekend is busy; every weekend is packed to the brim with things that were neglected during the week; every weekend zips by entirely too fast, but Friday is different. Friday night the weekend has begun but is still pregnant with possibility. You can drink coffee and not worry about staying up too late. I can flake out in front of the dumb box. I can go out or stay in. I can do anything I want... it's Friday!

'cause I cried listening to the news today...

I am a smush head. I am unrepentantly emotional. I cry, often and plentifully. I cry when I read or hear stories of others suffering. I feel things deeply. I cry when I hear about abused children and animals. I cry when I hear about homeless people dying in the cold. I cry when I hear that the shelves in the food bank are bare. I cry when I hear that a little boy who was thought lost or dead in some freak balloon accident is found alive and hiding in the attic. Sometimes I wonder if being so emotional is a handicap. I worry that maybe I am weak. Then I realize that my compassion is one of my greatest assets. I love deeply, I feel deeply, despite having been through ten kinds of hell I still love humans, I still love humanity. I mourn with them, I celebrate with them. My tears are not weakness, they are awesome. What a gift!

Charity begins at home...

As the weather gets colder I start thinking about the holidays, baking and decorating, and people in need. I don’t know what exactly it is about the holidays that makes us more charitable, I wish I could say that it was something that I carried through the whole year but that is a lie. Well that is not entirely true, when I can I donate clothes and household items to charity, I give to breast cancer research and for several years I sponsored a child in a third world country. But that is thoughtless charity, which is to say that I am not thinking about the intent when I do it. When I donate clothes I am trying to get them out of my house, the money for the child came out of my bank automatically every month and I never really gave much thought about who it was intended for. I believe that charity isn’t just an action but also and intent.

You may know already that my wonderful husband volunteers most of his Friday and Saturday evenings in December to work for Operation Red Nose and last year I went with him for two shifts as well. And I loved it. It was totally rewarding.

Another thing we did last year was to contribute regularly to the food bank. And not just the crappy stuff in our cupboard that we don’t want to eat ourselves. When we go to the grocery store we pick a couple of items and buy extra, it especially good when things are on BOGO. We try and pick things we like ourselves because if I were receiving help I would be sad if all I got was Kraft Dinner and cans of soup. I don’t want to give “charity” I want to give someone a helping hand.

My plan this year starts November first. Each and every time we go to the grocery store for ourselves I will pick up a few things for the food bank. I want to donate some money too so the food bank can buy perishables.

More thoughts...

Can anyone explain to my why it is that I check my email a thousand times a day? I don't get that much email, especially since the advent of Facebook. I rarely get any email of consequence, mostly forwards from friends or junk. I don't mean for Viagra or anything but stores who I have foolishly given my address to, etc.
Anyway, I check my email way to often. I also check Twitter and Facebook compulsively. In many ways it has replaced my tv watching habit. I did take a Facebook break for 5 days and it was fine. I kicked tv for the most part except the odd indulgence of a dvd bender once and a while. For example I have been on a Criminal Minds binge this weekend. It helps with all the chopping and peeling to be immersed in murder and mayhem.
Anyway I don't even know why I am rambling on about this. Except that I have been thinking about how much technology is part of our daily lives. The computer, the tv, the cell phone... technology is everywhere and it permeates my life, our lives. Right now I am in my basement watching tv, writing this on my laptop, being warmed by an electric heater, while the washer and dryer whirl away while my husband is up stairs blowing up alien bugs on his computer. We are totally typical in our social circle. But I can't help but wonder what it would be like with out all these means of interaction/ distraction. Would I read more? Visit with friends more? Clean my house more? Would I have longer conversations with my husband? Would I sleep better at night? Would I find it easier to tap into my creative energy? Would I be a better cook? Would I know how to knit or sew? I won't be able to answer those questions of course. I can't and wouldn't remove all this technology from my life. It is a part of who I am and the universe that I live in.
But it is certainly worth recognizing that I spend too much time with all these electronics. That I should shut it all down once and a while. Like now... yeah... good idea.

Thanksgiving Chez Hilltop!

Post 300!

Well here we sit full of turkey and all the trimmings. I am in my favorite chair, my beloved husband is snoozing on the sofa as is his father. In the kitchen I hear my mother in law starting to clean up. I am not going to try and stop her, it would be futile, plus I have been cooking and cleaning all day and I welcome the break. It is a little chilly but I have on comfy slippers and a good sweater. I have a cup of tea on the go. Life is pretty much perfect. I have so much to be thankful for and I am glad I took sometime to recognize that this week.
`I feel like I am right where I should be in my life and that is such a good feeling. No things have not happened the way I planned but I don't think that is a bad thing. I know that I seldom discuss my religious beliefs here and that is not by design necessarily, it just has not been terribly pertinent. I do believe in god and I do believe that what ever she/he/it is, they are present in my daily life. I think I have never been more then I can handle even if I didn't think I could handle it at the time. I think that my life is formed by the choices that I make but I feel divine presence in the good choices. That is how I know they are good. Anyway I guess what I am trying to say that I am feeling the goodness in my life, in my universe. Thank you god or universe or Mom. Thank you for this beautiful life.

OKAY...

So we aren't going to have any heat or hot water until Tuesday or Wednesday. That totally sucks but we have decided to look at it as an adventure, like camping only with more comfort. So I choose to see how fortunate we are. We have power, we have phones, we have running (cold) water. We have a comfortable bed, a space heater, computers, lots of food, lots of friends and family on the way for a beautiful Thanksgiving meal. We are blessed people and that is where i choose to focus my energy. Thanksgiving or not it is important to recognize how blessed we are in our lives. It is so easy to get caught up in what goes wrong and what is bad. Even a day when a dozen things go write it is the one thing that goes wrong that gets stuck in our craw. I am certainly guilty of this kind of thinking. I have a problem with rolling with changes in the plan. I tend to get cranky and irritable and even if the new thing is going to be fun I resist and resist and dig my heals in. I let it ruin my experience. I often let it ruin other people's as well. I really want to change that, I don't like that about myself and I am pretty sure that Gil doesn't like it either. I want to be a more positive human. This is a goal I am setting right now. Yeah! That is it!

Learning to use Picasa

Trying to be thankful....

Well today my desire to be thankful is being tried by the daemons of home ownership. I am entering Thanksgiving long weekend with no furnace which by extension means no heat and no hot water. I am supposed to have my in laws in for a big turkey dinner and my house needs cleaning. I am so frustrated. I told Gil that I thought we should cancel dinner and he didn't. Which means on top of everything I have to try and do it all with NO HEAT AND NO HOT WATER!

Yeah I had a big thing plan about being thankful for Friday. but right now I am just too cranky. Maybe I will try again latter.

stink.
stank.
stunk.

Day 4 of thankfulness

Freedom!

I am a Liberal voting, quasi Catholic, pro choice, university educated female. I write this blog and I can pretty much say anything I want. I might irritate you but no one is going to come knocking on my door, steal my laptop or throw me in prison. If I did get in trouble with the law I know that I have the RIGHT to a fair and expedient trial. I have clean drinking that comes right from my tape, but my life is so decadent that I also have water that comes cold and perfect from a cooler.

I can walk down the street unescorted, wearing whatever I please. I associate with whom I please. I also come and go as I please, and although I choose to be accountable to my husband, I don’t fear for my well being if I don’t ask his permission to leave the house or if I decide to have coffee with a male friend.

When I am sick I walk into a doctor’s office and I never worry if that means we can’t pay a bill that month.

I have all these things because I live in a free and just country. I am extremely thankful to be Canadian.