On support and mercy

It’s been an amazingly difficult year for me – by far the most difficult of my entire life. Now, I’m astounded by the support that comes from places that you would least expect, at the time that you need it the most. I would go so far as to call it a miracle even, this support that I’ve found in people who continue to awe me everyday with their strength and faith and friendship.

I got the best compliment of my life recently, and no, it wasn’t “wow, you look particularly hot today”, although someone did tell me that today – that may be a miracle all on it’s own actually! I can’t share the compliment because it was so good that I was humbled and brought to tears because of it, because of the person that said it, because no one ever told me something that made me feel so blessed and unworthy all at the same time. And funnily enough, she is a person I’ve always thought of as a gift to the world, or the blogisphere at least!

In the spirit of feeling good, what’s the best compliment that you’ve ever received?

Time just does not work for me

The person who said “time heals all wounds” just did not know what they were talking about, or lied. Because this is clearly untrue. Time heals nothing! Faith, logic, support, “willing” yourself to heal even – any of these things may work, or at least contribute to the “healing” – but time, not so much.

What do you think?

Talk to me & the pink hijab

So, umm, hi! Happy Friday! Is it just me or is everyone really distracted? Who can think of something other than the next American president? And while we’re on the subject, who thinks that everyone in the rest of the world should also get to vote in the American elections??

Anyway, I usually wear grey, brown, blue or black – I don’t know why because I am totally attracted to color – but I loved this pink hijab, bought it about 2 years ago and never wore it even once! One day I decided to wear it to work, and I asked my fashion consultant, aka my 6 year old, for his thoughts on how it looked. Now, my 6 year old has a keen interest in fashion… he will straight up tell me when I look totally absurd, and he has particular items of clothing that he likes and don’t like – on me!

My 6 year old said that he liked the pink hijab, but he didn’t think that I should wear it to work, maybe it would be better if I had to go to “somebody’s house” or something like that! What do you think?

Be your own person

I love to listen to my kids talk amongst themselves; it’s how I learn that siblings have a language all their own, and realize that the warmth I feel inside is from knowing that they are growing, understanding that they can depend on one another, trust one another, and protect one another.

My eldest, yesterday, in the middle of a conversation with the 4 year old said to him, “you must be your own person!”, and I smiled to myself upon hearing those words, as it’s become almost a mantra in our house. You see, I realized a while ago that my 4 year old was in danger of becoming infected with one of the worse parts of the somewhat-mythical-but-all-too-real middle child syndrome, the part that I like to call “what he said” – you know, where the younger sibling just decides that being a shadow of the eldest is the grand sum of his life’s ambition.

I could see that he was falling into the trap of fearing that his opinions were not good enough, that if he was different from his brother that we would somehow love him less, I could see him becoming unsure of himself, questioning his own thoughts, even at his age. I now ask him specifically what he thinks before I ask my eldest, I now have long talks with him, well long-ish talks, and above all else, I’m trying to stress to each of them the importance of being your own person.

I’ve started to notice a change in my middle child, a new confidence, the charismatic smile that he often flashes my way, a fearlessness to disagree with his brothers, a refusal to be bullied, and a passionate dislike for injustice, which is fitting because his name actually means justice.

I’ve never been one to succumb to peer pressure, in fact, I think being different is one of my defining characteristics. Some may call me “crazy”, some may make fun, some may just not understand, and sometimes even I wonder why I have to always be different, but when I look at my kids and realize that they are accepting of the differences in all of us, that they are comfortable being themselves, that they are beginning to display a level of confidence I’m sure I never had as a child, I know that “being your own person” is a mantra worth learning.

Happy holiday monday!

Well, in North America at least.

So, I am web developing again, and I just finished my first site since the whole being broken episode! Funnily enough though, in my many years of doing this, it’s the first time that visitors seem to like the old design better! Not that I am taking it personally, because I really like how the new one turned out, (albeit slightly flawed in IE6 – stop using that browser people!!!) I actually totally understand the reaction as the redhead with the boobs was a bit of an icon in the mommy blogging world!

Anyway, tomorrow is elections here in Canada, if you’re like me and can’t possibly read anything that requires a lot of concentration and focus, you can check out the z103 election guide, although truth be told, I didn’t even read all of it! I am sad, I know!

Ok, have a great day people!