Happy September!
- Rising vaccination rates. When the vaccine passport in BC was announced, I honestly was skeptical that it would make much difference. Surely, everyone who wanted to be vaccinated had already been? Surely, restaurants and sporting events weren’t enough of an incentive if public health and science hadn’t convinced someone? I’m glad to be proven wrong.
- An honest conversation with a good friend. There are so many events and topics and ideas right now that are dividing people and disrupting relationships. I’m realizing just how cautious I’ve become to bring up certain topics with anybody other than my husband because things that might seem straightforward to me or clearly right, aren’t seen the same by others. So even though this is one of my best friends, a woman I care for dearly and spend time with frequently, I think we’ve both avoided certain subjects. But recently, while our kids played down the hall, we got talking about some big stuff and while we still see some things differently, there were a lot of topics where we were on the same page. I don’t think friendship requires the same opinions about everything, but it really made me feel less alone to know that someone else sees and experiences things the way I do.
- Beach Days! The ocean temperature has gotten much colder in recent weeks and the days are getting cooler but we’ve been able to squeeze in some more beach time. This week friends joined us at one of our favourite spots and our kids had a blast paddling around together.
- While I worked an extra day this week, Peter decided to take the kids camping for a night. Over night they had an encounter with a cougar so the highlight of this for me was that everyone came out of it safely. The girls slept through most of it so while they understand they had an adventure, they don’t seem any more concerned about camping or being outside, which is a good thing.
- Friday night was my monthly ladies night. Getting together with these friends is always so good for my soul.
- The following pictures, all taken by Pearl:
Karissa Reads Books 
A cougar??? Goodness, I’m glad everyone was safe! Yes, I think we tend to avoid disagreement a bit too much – debating is a great way to challenge our opinions and to hone our thoughts, so long as it doesn’t become heated and turn into all-out argument.
Yes! I’m very glad everyone was ok! They heard it but never saw it but it was a definite reminder that we live in a fairly wild place.
I feel like it’s getting more complicated to disagree with people. There are so many strong opinions and emotions that issues seem more divisive than ever before. I don’t mind an even discussion but I hate getting into a debate where the other person gets aggressive or angry and I’ve had both experiences in the past year.
That’s so fun that they had a dad camping night. It already sounds like Peter is a super involved dad, but doing something extra special reinforces that parents are a team. I’m not sure what your folks are like, but my dad really follows typical gender roles while my mom is a do-everything person: raise kids, maintain the house, full-time job, organized everybody, etc.
I know what you mean by wanting to feel safe enough to talk to someone about big issues. I don’t think it’s so much about everyone wanting to agree with you, but rather having a space to vent without feeling like you have to get into a debate. Sometimes, we’re just too worn out to debate every little thing. Last night I recorded a Zoom session with two classmates from ASL 3. When we were done, we started talking about the teacher and how she teaches and where we’ve gotten confused or scared. Just a nice pressure release session! Unfortunately, I forgot to stop recording, so I had to have my Nick do some fancy video editing to cut all that stuff out, but just having space to talk and feel heard is a huge relief.
It’s been really fun for them to have some extra dad time this summer while I’ve worked. And, yes, I hope it shows them that mom and dad are a team and we both equally share the work of keeping the house and family going. My parents were pretty typical with gender roles (like my dad really doesn’t cook at all!) but my dad worked from home a lot while I was growing up so he was actually the parent who was around more. And they both shared pretty evenly in cleaning and maintenance etc around the house.
Yes, I don’t need or expect everyone to fully agree with me but so many issues right now are so emotional for people that I often don’t even want to bring them up because I don’t want to have to defend myself or get into a debate. Those vent sessions about classes or jobs are sometimes so good and needed!