Day Thirteen - It is November already??!!

Personally, I don't think you can top this costume!

I am so going to do this next year - With Valentina at the back! :o)

Chillin' in the hot tub

Tiny Bubbles!

Wow! Where did the year go?? Only 2 months left! Blech & they're even winter months! I think the year should at least end on a sunny, warm note! :o) It was definitely sunny & warm here today. Gorgeous is about the only word to describe it! Even better was the fact that I was able to turn off the alarm clock & SLEEP IN!!!

When I finally did get up, I took Valentina outside & saw some friends from the clinic by the pool. Herman & Trudy, John & Margaretha were enjoying the warm weather. They asked what I was up to & I told them I was going to venture out to the mall. I offered to take them with & John & Margaretha were quite excited to come along. We agreed to meet at 1300 & set off.

In the meantime, I did yoga! Whoo hoo! It begins! Bring back the strength, flexibility & de-stressing blessings of yoga! I miss it so much, I can't believe it's taken me until now to start again. We'll see how stiff I am tomorrow! I quickly showered & prepared Valentina's carrier. Away we go!

John & Margaretha have one week left & they haven't ventured out too much. They said they didn't feel too comfortable to go on their own, so they were very excited to see something new! I took them to Fashion Valley, an outdoor mall with 200+ shops. It was about one hour on the trolley & bus, and unfortunately I didn't ask what they were looking for until we got there. Margaretha was looking for fabric to do some quilting. Oh dear. I'm not sure she will have found much. Between Victoria's Secret & Abercrombie & Fitch, I think it would have been slim pickin's. I wrote out directions for them to find their way back & I will see tomorrow morning if they were successful!

I enjoyed strolling through the shops - many of which we don't have in Calgary. Anthropologie, Jimmy Choo, Kate Spade, of course, the fancy ones, like Gucci & Louis Vuitton. I went into LV & looked at a bag I liked. $2800. Are you kidding me?!?!? Okay, I am a shopper, but that is just stinkin' ridiculous!!! Anyhow, it was interesting to observe the people who were shopping in these stores. Hello High Maintenance.

I ended up spending a few hours at the mall & the best part of my day was the ride home. I hopped off the trolley to get some juice & Clif bar at 12th & Imperial & struck up a conversation with a lovely young fellow standing next to me. He was wearing a US Navy hoodie, so I asked him if he was involved with the Navy. (There's a large naval base in San Diego) Sure enough he is. He is a medic with the Navy. Pardon my ignorance, but coming from Golden Prairie or small town anywhere, Canada, I don't have much knowledge of military life. He was involved with the Marine Corps & also the 'group' that was responsible for Hussein's capture. Crazy! He's part of the Navy, but has only been on a ship for 3 days! He is headed to Afghanistan for 8 months in February. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about his life & what he does & will continue to do. He has been with the Navy for 7 years.

Sadly, he is married with 2 children & this time while he is back in the USA, his wife told him she wants a divorce. He doesn't & doesn't understand why she does. To make matters worse, he is busy flying all over the states for pre-deployment training, so he can't even be at home with his wife & children to try & work things out. I gave him my email address & told him I would send him news, from a random stranger, to try & brighten up his time in Afghanistan. He left the trolley at Pacific Fleet & I was misty eyed after he left. I went to shake his hand & he gave me a big hug. My heart goes out to this brave young man. He can handle death, devastation & destruction, but a broken heart is another story.

I always thought these Americans were a little OTT with their 'Support Our Troops' & the American flag & Navy, Army, blah, blah, blah. But now I have seen how just one life is so greatly affected by the reality of the military & it's heart wrenching. I can only imagine his wife's side of the story - he's never there. Full stop. Now the children will have even less contact with their father. It's so messy. And so easily prevented.

I'm going to step onto my soapbox for a moment. Life is tough. Life is a challenge. We get hung up on silly, strange things. We say things we probably shouldn't & then we regret it. Being stubborn, closing ourselves off to the ones we love solves nothing, needing to be right or pretending there isn't anything wrong doesn't solve a thing. Maybe you're not happy where you are, or maybe you've figured it out & you're loving every minute of life. Where ever you are at, I beg you, please, please, PLEASE, say those loving words that need to be said. And just because you said it yesterday or even this morning, doesn't mean that you don't have to say it now. 'I love you', 'I forgive you', 'I'm sorry', 'Let's try again', 'You were right', whatever the situation is, GET OVER IT!!!! If it's been a day, a month, a year, 5 years, 10 years, call them up & get rid of the dirty stuff that lingers in your life. Life is too bloody short. We have no idea how good we have it, growing up in a 1st world country. (I think my dog is humping in her sleep - is that possible?) Anyhow, my heart goes out to Tyler & the numbness he must be feeling. Don't let things in your life get to the point where it's harder to go back than it is to just 'forget' about it & keep plugging away. Make life beautiful again.

On that note, I'm going to bid you farewell. I don't have any photos from today - but for a few I snapped in the hot tub because I felt bad for not taking any during the day! I did find these 2 Halloween photos on Facebook that I thought were worthy of sharing. I hope whoever took them doesn't mind!

I love you all & I miss you all - Jaco the most! I look forward to seeing you soon!

xxxx

Jill & Valentina