Mum

On the Eve of Mother's Day, I want to write a little story about my Mum. Although she is at quite a distance at present, she is never really far away. As I did when my own daughter, Sophie, turned six, I have written a little list below of some of the things that I love about my Mum.

1) I love that my Mum always smells of warm hand cream and that her skin is so soft
2) I love the shape of my Mum's fingernails. I always loved to look at her nails when I was a little girl
3) I love the one tooth on the left-hand-side that sticks out, slightly
4) I love that whenever I think of calling my Mum, she was either waiting for my call or has already picked up the phone to call me
5) I love that my Mum calls me "love"
6) I love my Mum's cooking
7) I love that my Mum thinks that I am always too skinny even when I am far from it
8) When I was little my Mum would stroke my head when I was going to sleep. I still remember, clearly how her cool hand felt on my skin
9) I love that my Mum is just a little bit dramatic. It makes me always know where I came from
10) I love that my Mum loves me, unconditionally and with all of her heart and that I always know it

Happy Mothers Day, Mum. I love you.

Trousers, trousers everywhere

My new life (day 15), with my new job (11th working day done today) is so very different from the life that I knew that I sometimes stop and actually have to think about who I am. And then I remember, I am now "Trouser Lady"

You see, for the last 10 years, working in a lovely little creative nest, nestled deeply onto the coast of West Vancouver, I have been locked away. Completely and utterly disconnected to "DOWNTOWN". Today, I am in the city center and I work in a building that houses some of the giants of DOWNTOWN (Vancouver Sun, The Province, Electronic Arts blah, blah, blah). It is as foreign to me as you can imagine and the biggest and most apparent change for me is that I now have to think very carefully about what I am going to wear each day. It is a curse.

I no longer have the option of throwing on my comfy and trendy skinny jeans or my casual olive denims. I have to wear trousers. Or skirts. And shoes that go with trousers and skirts. Oh how I long for my flip-flops.

Despite the fact that I have to go out and spend a fortune on new "trousers" there are some good things about working downtown. I am still discovering all of the unique and interesting little stores and cafes in Gastown. The seawall beckons me when it is sunny and warm. The harbour planes and cruise ships are constantly coming and going and the people are humming about with things to do, people to talk with, messages to send, ideas to twitter about. It is hard not to get caught up in all of the energy.

So, if I can get over my issue with trousers and the fact that I now have to share my morning commute with all the other people riding the skytrain (ok - this is another thing I have a hard time with. Since I was born with some kind of crazy sense of smell, the proximity of people on the skytrain (nose to back or worse) is really concerning. There are so many "sniffs" assaulting my poor nose on the train that I might have to take my friends advice and put two discreetly placed globs of Vicks under my nostrils each morning. Seriously.

Ok, so, this is a completely disjointed, rambling entry but I am tired and just really wanted to write something so that I don't feel that I am giving up on everything! (I have not done my on-line homework in over a week...I suck).