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Showing posts from August, 2020

Remember Bestie Who Just Moved Away? They Are on Evacuation Alert...

Just a few short weeks ago, her bestie moved out of town . We are planning on seeing them on our road trip this coming week. Our plans have shifted somewhat. Her bestie is amidst the wildfires and they are on evacuation alert There was a lot of chit-chatting on the phone this week with constant updates of where the smoke was. At one point she announced, "uh, when I look up, the smoke is right above our house." The space I had picked out for camping is under evacuation alert, it also has a little red dot beside it on the government's fire map page. A little red dot means a little new fire has popped up... I guess I'm not sleeping there. I'm going to wait until Saturday to figure things out. We 'rents agree that getting the kids together is super important now. We may swing through and take bestie and bestie's little sis to a lake outside of town for some retreat and some major catching up. In the next town, and the plan for the rest of the week (air quality

A Survival Plan for Parenting in 2020

 So I have this really cool kid. Creative, smart, social. She's 12 going on 13. Of course, she wants to fit in to what everyone else is doing. Fitting in at 12 years old in 2020 in an urban setting includes but is not limited to... Well, a whole bunch of crap. Parents can no longer think in the longterm (ie: when my kid graduates from highschool unscathed, at their wedding, when they emerge from a healthy childhood to have healthy kids of their own.) As a parent in 2020, I'm focused on the now and getting through the last few weeks of summer. Then, it will be the first month of school and managing her emotions and intensity as tech companies buy their way into her education. From there, it will be getting through the fall, emotionally and spiritually intact.  Completing this school year? That is ten months away. And then there are friends... Listen, if you have "given in" to technology you may have noticed we aren't hanging out with you as much. We are happy to me

An Impromptu Holiday to Tofino for Bigger Waves...

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We just returned from a trip to Tofino. This all came about last week when I took Horse Girl (now 12) to the ocean. She literally was in the water from the time we arrived until the time we left -- only coming out for food and a Johnny Pop from the concession. The tide was sooooo fun that day. * Elapsed time in water was a mind-blowing six and a half hours. The next day, she asked to go again but to this time bring her bestie. Two days later, we were back at the ocean -- with bestie and bestie's little sister. As soon as the car parked, they took off to the water only to come out for food (they couldn't even sit down to eat, and instead stood at their bags shoveling snacks in their mouths before running off to the ocean again) and a stop at Yogen Fruz. * Elapsed time in the water was 3.0 hours. Back to our first day at the ocean and how we got to Tofino... While she was in the water, I read the Spring 1991 edition of Beautiful British Columbia magazine (why not?). It highlighte