2020 Vision

When I reflect on the past decade, it’s the jagged edges that stick out most sharply – the deaths of my parents, my father-in-law and my sister-in-law; Nick’s cancer diagnosis and treatments – but a decade is a long time and it also included adventure, travel, accomplishments, and good times with friends and family. Most significantly, we watched Nick grow from an awesome 10-year old kid to the amazing young man he is today, with all the parental pride and joy that go along with that.

Awesome kid

Amazing man

Ray and I left for our friends’ cottage the day after getting back from Georgetown, hoping to get ahead of an ice storm that was headed towards Ottawa (Nick didn’t join us this year as he’d made plans with high school friends and had a trip to Montreal booked with Sinead).

The storm hit the day after we arrived at the cottage, so it was a stay-inside-and-bake-pies kind of day (or, you know, stay-inside-and-watch-Sue-bake-pies kind of day), but after the rain and sleet, around 30 centimetres of snow came down and it was like the outdoors had been covered with a fresh coat of paint, just in time for the new year.

Most of the group went out for a cross-country ski. I normally stay behind to keep the home fires burning and drink tea (due to my severe aversion to being cold). This year the weather was mild enough that I’d have loved to join them, but I hadn’t brought my skis. I settled for peaceful walks with Juno, who had fun digging her face deep into the snow and following the scent to whatever hidden treasure she could find, like a banana peel, for example.

We played some ‘friendly’ games of darts and euchre, watched football games, played a game called Telestrations – a cross between the telephone game we played as kids and Pictionary – that had us in tears of laughter, and ate way too much of things we shouldn’t have eaten way too much of. I saw this online and it’s a fairly accurate portrayal.

No idea what the coming year or decade will bring, but grateful for friends and family to share in the good times and help soften those jagged edges when they come along.