Tis the Season

I never saw myself as a person who’d have my pet’s picture taken with Santa but that’s who I’ve become. Our neighbour hosted a ‘Pet Pics with Santa’ session for about a dozen of the neighbourhood dogs so, in the spirit of Christmas and neighbourliness, we headed over for our scheduled timeslot.

Needless to say, Juno had a ball. The adults drank hot chocolate (with Baileys) and beer while the dogs raced around the yard creating havoc. One woman got knee-capped and another got knocked right off her feet, but the dogs had fun and that’s the important part, right? Just like with kids, they eventually got overtired and cranky and it was time to break up the party and take them home. As my mom used to say, “that’s enough fun for one day”, which makes zero sense when you’re a kid. How can you have too much fun?

We’ve been experiencing the friendliness small towns are known for. This week we had a box of shortbread left on our doorstep (by a realtor who lives in the neighbourhood) and a jar of jam thrown in with our purchase at a local shop. Ray and Juno were gifted this walking stick from one of the guys he regularly runs into on his morning walks in the conservation area.

We’re still getting settled into the house, stripping wallpaper and painting walls. Ray built us a bed frame (just the frame, not the headboard) so the bed is no longer in the dining room and we don’t have to sleep on the floor anymore, which is kinda cool.

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Ray spent another weekend with his mom in Georgetown while my sister came here. We’re trying to take advantage of the opportunity as much as possible before winter driving conditions make the trip trickier. Ray is getting slightly concerned because this time my sister brought along a sheet set and pillows for ‘her’ room and left a bathrobe, slippers and toothbrush here. He’s wondering if she’s just gradually moving in and we’ll wake up one day and realize she lives with us and we can’t legally evict her.

It will certainly be strange not to have our usual family celebrations and annual get-togethers this year. I’ve noticed a lot of people doing what I was just going to do, which is to downplay the stress of the situation by recognizing how fortunate we are. Most people I know have been relatively unaffected by the pandemic. By that I mean they haven’t lost their jobs or their businesses and they aren’t struggling to feed their families. It’s almost like you feel you don’t have the right to be stressed by what’s going on in the world because you’re one of the ‘lucky ones’ and you need to be grateful for that.

Initially I told myself this was nothing. After all, we were essentially quarantined for six months while Nick was getting his cancer treatments. 2020 was better than our 2017. And 2018.

I’ve seen other people say that this is nothing compared to what previous generations had to deal with – wars and the Great Depression. And that’s true. But I don’t think stress really works that way. You can’t rationalize yourself into not feeling stressed by something that’s stressful. Well, you can, but your body keeps the score, as they say.

When we came to look at this house, Ray was walking through the backyard and suddenly got a nosebleed out of the blue. I was talking to the agent in the driveway and had to sit down because I felt like I was about to pass out. It’s like our bodies were saying, “Hey guys, you know there’s a pandemic, right? You really want to take on the stress of a move right now?” The messages were apparently too subtle for us as we went ahead and bought the house on the spot. A month later, our subconscious minds stopped beating around the bush. Ray had insomnia and I passed out at a get-together with friends.

We’re both fine now and happy in our new home, but all that to say that it’s okay to feel stressed and sad even if you know how fortunate you are compared to others. Also, this too shall pass.