11/11

I remember:
- my mom and all my grandparents, my Auntie Donna and Uncle Jimmy
- all my friends who have passed before me.
- Great Uncle Don who died overseas, and Uncle Stubb who was a pilot.
- all the people who put themselves in harm's way to keep the world as peaceful a place as humanity can manage at any given point in time. Thank you.

On the same note but in a different vein: I remember
- the way my mom's purse always smelled of juicy fruit and spearmint
- the cousins using grandpa's sunday go to meeting neck brace as a princess crown
- Grandpa Irv's case of pic-a-pop that Patty & I got to choose the flavours for
- bath day in the summer at the Swan farm BEFORE the bathtub was installed when I was in grade 6. All the cousins lined up in the kitchen with the metal washtubs, thus the origination of don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
- cooking with Auntie Donna in preparation for harvest
- Uncle Jimmy attempting to teach Patty to ride Joy, but Patty simply told the horse go left, and it did, go right ... Uncle Jimmy was so surprised.

AND I remeber:

- losing my ruby ring my dad bought me for my birthday in the sandbox at the park.
- sliding down the crackled windshield of the beater car in larry lazondike's back yard - with his uncle's permission.
- my first trip to Polo Park, sans adults, with cousin leslie and randy & Brian Carpenter
- both times I was almost struck by lightening
- the FIRST time hot pants were hot.
- making the cheerleading squad
- hash attack jeans, chevy vans and muscle cars
- army cadets and rapelling down the mountain
- private boarding school
- hitchhiking all over
- juvenile hall
- crushed velvet suits and 4-5 inch spikes at the disco
- Whole Earth, the Den, the Old Gold, the Paddock, the old student union, and Hollywood's
- my pair of mismatched 1960 falcons and my 1961 push button transmission valiant
- how magical I felt in my 2nd wedding dress (heh heh)
- finally moving out of housing
- the satisfaction of seeing both my kids complete their grade 12
- finishing my degree