Ok, so I didn’t sit on a beach in Maui or at a cafe on the left bank. I wasn’t in a balloon over the Loire. I didn’t paddle down the Rhine or bike around Amsterdam.
However, I did get to spend some quality time with my friends, Sheila and Gord, their daughters, Aven and Thea (and Thea’s boyfriend Tommy.) Say what you want about world travel, sometimes it doesn’t hold a candle to a relaxing afternoon in Victoria.
To start off with, I had crepes a la Gordo, (with fresh strawberries and properly whipped cream by the master chef Tommy.) Soooo good. Then I sat in the sun on a deck and talked for hours with Sheila and Gord, while Tommy and Thea threw around a football and my doggies chased each other around and Aven bouned on a small trampoline. Time rolled effortlessly by.
We didn’t resolve any great world issues. We didn’t even resolve any great stresses in our own lives. It wasn’t that kind of afternoon. It was a kind of Tom Sawyer day, lazy and relaxed.
For supper, we ordered from the Noodle Box and ate while watching the Game of Thrones. Then the adults endured the loss of the Canucks together, while Aven and Thea were far more responible and worked on their homework.
Nothing really special. Nothing really amazing. And, yet, having been down for a few days, it was exactly what I needed. A sense of beloning. A sense of family. A sense of letting go of all the stress and just… being.
And being is good.
Yesterday, I had a chance to laugh, to tease and be teased, to have fun. Today, a reminder of the joy of simple things. Of little things. My old dog, Freya, following the football and hoping it would get dropped so she could retrieve it. My spazadoodle trying to seduce Tommy with her brown eyes. Aven trying to find fun facts about the earth’s core. Thea and Tommy sitting near the hotutb, arms wrapped around each other. Gord eating all the ‘unacceptable’ crepes while he got the heat just right. Sheila and I fanboying for an hour over Game of Thones (or Sheila showing me her organzied computer cable box.)
Little things matter. Little things make life,