Detours

My husband returned from London with a nasty cold last week that he shared with the kids.  Not just the runny noses that we left home with, but chest congestion, throwing up and all sorts of things that go along with that developed shortly after we arrived in Calgary.  Sick kids, check.  Immediately following my appointment at the tailor with the bride my truck crapped out, full of people.  I did manage to limp it to the dealer to get fixed.  Fingers and toes crossed for a quick and cheap repair didn’t do much this time around, when I finally accepted that I wouldn’t be driving my vehicle anywhere that day,  my friend rescued myself and the kids from the nearby restaurant we had camped out in for the afternoon.  Broken truck, check.

About the time we got back to my friends’ place, news started trickling in with talk of rising water levels, property damage, and evacuation efforts in Canmore (a small community about an hour and half north of Calgary).  A sense of foreboding seemed to fall over us as we watched the reports .  And so , in the wake of an official state of emergency being declared in the city I was born in and lived in for 32 years, my final check of the week came in the form of a reality check.  After feeling sorry for myself for a few hours about petty shit, I realized in a hurry that those things don’t really matter.  The things that do matter most to me: family, home, friends, my health are all intact and I am so very fortunate with the richness of my relationships and the experiences I have with the people I love.  As we sat glued to the television watching the destruction with disbelief I was reminded over and over again to count my blessings.

My husband in shining armour came to town Saturday night to our rescue.  We travelled Sunday from the NW corner of the city to the south for the baptism.  We drove along the river and could not believe the devastation and damage done to the city and some of our favourite communities in it.  We didn’t get close to downtown where the most catastrophic damage occurred, but we saw enough to get an idea of what they are facing for a clean up efforts there.  My heart goes out to the Calgary community, although I have to say that in true Calgarian spirit they will persevere.  It’s inspiring the way they are pulling together and helping each other out.

On the bright side, amidst a week of detours and stress during which I would typically excuse myself for making poor choices about food, I found myself staying on course. Because I’ve had a major paradigm shift: I’m not actually on a diet, I just eat this way now.  It’s not deprivation to choose to fuel my body in a healthy way so please don’t feel sorry for me not having a piece of pie with my lunch. I promise, I don’t miss it, and if I wanted it I would still eat it!  I wasn’t perfect, it’s hard when I can’t control everything the way I can when I’m cooking at home, but I did the best I could and I’m proud of the choices I made.  I’m also proud of the number I saw when I snuck on the scale at my friend’s house, it was below what I weighed when I got pregnant with my second baby. Yeah, you read that right, I have lost my baby weight from number two in seven weeks.  Now to work on the weight left over from number one!