Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy birthday, mom.
Thanks for having me. And loving me. And letting me live in your basement.
You've taught me about family, about faithfulness, about marriage, about filing. (I never did really catch on to the filing bit.) Thanks for showing us all what it means to keep one's vow of 'til death do us part'... you were The Best Wife for dad, especially at the end. We are blessed to call you mom.

From being Realtors together in the early 80's to being partners at Billie's Country throughout the 90's to being house-mates now, you've always been 'my person'. Thanks for being so encouraging, so supportive and so caring.

So many things to look forward to in this next decade: new (penthouse!) digs for you, ten more birthdays, possibly a great-grandchild (?) and maybe, finally, some face wrinkles? The 20's are gonna be awesome.

Love you x 1000.

(May Queens, for example.)
:)



Here's the slideshow we prepared; from birth to 80 in about 5 minutes.
(A whole decade is missing; I couldn't find any pics from the 60's...)

Click the > arrow to start it. Then, I'd recommend making if full screen. The first few images are of my mom's parents and grandparents (both maternal and paternal). And then? A million pics of my mom with big hair in various bathing suits. She was a babe.

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. New year. Everything feels shiny and bright. And to be honest, a little spinny and weird. Haha. Oh these meds should settle in any day now. (This morning, I placed my phone on the microwave, but, like the bowl on the island on Boxing Day I missed by a few inches and dropped it into the butter bowl. WHAT THE HECK. How can my aim be so far off? )

2. Half of my kids are home from Sunpeaks, safely. YAY. Thank you, Jesus.

3. A fun weekend/New Year's with some friends...

Kim came for the weekend; I introduced her to the Vedder Rotary Trail. She's a fan.


And then some friends from work hung out with me on New Year's Eve:

E and A are from France, and they brought dinner. First time having Raclette for me. And it was a thousand times AMAZING. I am a fan. 

We had an assortment of french and canadian treats on hand ...

... to sustain us while we played Ticket to Ride (my new favorite game):

And then, when I got up (noon-ish), I made French Toast (to keep the theme alive) and bacon for brunch while we swapped stories of our ancestors. We talked about our grandparents in Romania, in Manchester, in Africa, in Russia. It was all so fascinating and rich. And I loved the journeys our families took, from 4 different corners of the world, that brought the 4 us together at my table in Cultus Lake.

Thanks for reading/keeping in touch throughout 2019. 

Wishing you THE VERY BEST ADVENTURES and the most love ever, in 2020. 

xo

Time Capsule

    My plan had been to give each member of my family a sheet like this (below) to fill out on Christmas. I'd save them in a sealed envelope to open in ten years. Haha. This was not an activity that anyone was interested in. HOW ARE WE EVEN RELATED? Maybe you or YOUR family would want to do it for New Year's? 

• ·         I am
• ·         I love
• ·         I think
• ·         I know
• ·         I have
• ·         I wish
• ·         I hate
• ·         I like
• ·         I miss
• ·         I fear
• ·         I smell
• ·         I crave
• ·         I search
• ·         I wonder
• ·         I regret
• ·         I eat
• ·         I ache
• ·         I am not
• ·         I believe
• ·         I dance
• ·         I sing
• ·         I cry
• ·         I win
• ·         I lose
• ·         I am employed
• ·         I never
• ·         I always
• ·         I confuse
• ·         I listen
• ·         I can usually be found
• ·         I need
• ·         I am scared
• ·         I am happy
• ·         I imagine
• ·         I write
• ·         I work
• ·         I hope
• ·         My superpower
• ·         My favourite possessions:
• ·         Words that I live by:
• ·         If I could be totally wild, I’d:
• ·         I still can’t get the hang of:
• ·         I’d like to learn:
• ·         I wish I’d known:
• ·         First thing (or two) I’ll say to God:

My answers for the end of this decade:

• ·         I am a woman (in this gender fluid time in history). My preferred pronouns are her/she.
• ·         I love God, my fam, sunsets and long, rich, deep conversations.
• ·         I think I daydream too much.
• ·         I know I live a blessed life.
• ·         I have too much crap. Also, breast cancer.
• ·         I wish "divorced" wasn't my marital status.
• ·         I hate oysters, getting needles and selfish people. Also coffee. 
• ·         I like getting head massages, everyone in the kitchen helping with meal prep, and having people who call me mom.
• ·         I miss holding hands.
• ·         I fear dementia.
• ·         I smell ALL THE TIME. Yeeeesh. Hot flashes are the worst. 
• ·         I crave fresh, cool air all day long while at work.
• ·         I search for my keys FOR HOURS EACH MONTH. 
• ·         I wonder if I'll be able to retire. I wonder what that will look like?
• ·         I regret letting myself go. Why oh why couldn't I have found a (physical) activity that I'm passionate about? 
• ·         I eat alot. Often. 
• ·         I ache, well my heart aches, when people I love are hurting.
• ·         I am not an athlete. Or extroverted.
• ·         I believe I was created for a purpose. 
• ·         I dance rarely, self-consciously, but with joy. 
• ·         I sing poorly but enthusiastically if the music is loud enough. 
• ·         I cry easily and often. 
• ·         I win sometimes but really just enjoy playing. 
• ·         I lose my mind when I'm with indecisive people. 
• ·         I am employed, full time, doing something I'm pretty good at. 
• ·         I never drink beer or get out of bed happily.
• ·         I always pray in my truck when I drive out to the lake. 
• ·         I confuse names all the time. 
• ·         I listen to 80's rock, friend's fears/sorrows/dreams, and sermons.
• ·         I can usually be found easily in a crowd because of my blonde hair. Or so I've been told.
• ·         I need to feel loved and needed. 
• ·         I am scared that everyone I love won't be in heaven. 
• ·         I am happy in the summer. Especially when I've got my feet in the lake, a book in my hands and sunshine on my face. Even better if someone I care about is sitting beside me. 
• ·         I imagine an alternate life just before I fall asleep. 
• ·         I write lists all the livelong day. 
• ·         I work at being kind and encouraging. Sarcasm is my natural first language. 
• ·         I hope to be a grandma, someday. No hurry. No pressure, kids. 
• ·         My superpower, sadly, is the ability to cry on demand. 
• ·         My favourite possessions: camera and laptop. 
• ·         Words that I live by: "this is just a chapter in the story" or "this season won't last forever"
• ·         If I could be totally wild, I’d: take a one year leave of absence to travel. And maybe have plastic surgery.  
• ·         I still can’t get the hang of: communicating easily with my boys. 
• ·         I’d like to learn: three things, (just to ward off Alzheimers ...) another language, to swim and how to play piano. 
• ·         I wish I’d known: about pensions earlier. I should've got a government job back in '98. 
• ·         First thing (or two) I’ll say to God: Thank you. And why mosquitoes? 

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. A daughter (in law) who sends me pics of her, her sister and the boys in Sunpeaks:

2. I'm thankful that I had the energy and resources to help them learn how to snowboard when they were young. Such good memories of being on the school snow trips and those early days of Sunpeaks holidays. 

3. I am thankful for the past decade. The last of my kids graduated from high school, Clint graduated from SFU with a BA, Max graduated from BCIT with a DipTech in Marketing Management. We travelled as a family to England, California. I joined Sue in Vietnam, Cambodia and Japan. Accompanied Sandra on her business trips to Florida and Arizona. Saw a concert at Red Rock Amphitheater. Hosted a birthday cruise for 18 friends from San Diego to Vancouver. Max got clean. We said goodbye to my dad. We welcomed Dani to the Ofam. Had two major break-ins; 2012 at our house in Murrayville, then again in 2017 at the lake. Learnt so much about myself as a result of both. My time at Arrow ended, and my season at Focus began. My circle of friends expanded. As did my waist. I learned how to pray without ceasing. And I read a couple hundred books. I have a good life. 

Christmas

For the first time since 2012, I decided to take the last two weeks of December off, using the final bits of my vacation time. Fri Dec 20 was my last day.

I drove up to the lake, watched some Netflix, started writing a blog post, had a bubble bath and then went to bed. I slept clear through to 5 pm on Sat Dec 21.

December squeezed the life outa me.

On Monday, Dec 23, I had an appointment with my oncologist. It was an appointment she'd scheduled three months ago when I started using Tamoxifen. She wanted to check in. See how I was doing.

She asked a eleventy thousand questions, noticing that I was at another appointment by myself. "Who is keeping an eye on you? Do you have anyone? Who do you live with? How are your moods? Tell me how you've been feeling. You do realize you've been through alot, right? And radiation isn't a walk in the park. Have you been working? How has that been? You are planning on taking time off when undergoing treatment, yes?"

Anyway, I left with a prescription for another medicine to take alongside the Tamoxifen I'm already on.

From there I used the gift certificate I received this summer (from work) to get a deluxe mani-pedi. It was a one and a half hour pampering session. I wish I could've just fallen asleep in my chair instead of straining to understand then answer the small-talk questions asked by a soft-spoken young Asian woman with a heavy accent wearing a mask over her mouth. I am terrible with accents.

I didn't take a pic of my nails when they were done because I was so embarrassed with my colour choice. I should not make any major decisions after I've been to the cancer clinic. I was waffling between a deep burgundy (for Christmas) or a very neutral colour so as not to attract attention. Burgundy. Neutral. Burgundy. Neutral. Burgundy. Neutral. In the end I picked neither and went for a shade half way between both. #559

Neon pink.

WHAT THE FLIPPIN HECK?

This is what it looks like today (5 days later), all chipped:





























From there I went to get my face and throat threaded.

Then met my fam and the Stapes fam at Colossus for our annual viewing of the latest Star Wars flick:

I was emotional through most of it.



I took the first tablet of my new medication on Dec 24. And immediately felt nauseas and dizzy. Fun times.

Seeing it wasn't raining and I didn't have any plans, I drove into Vancouver to walk the seawall.

It was unexpectedly desolate.

Clint met me under the Cambie Street Bridge and we walked to Granville Island together, where he had a coffee and I had a water.

I got home 'round 6, then set the table for supper.
Me, my mom, Max and Clint would be spending Christmas Eve together.

Clint BBQ'ed some steak. I boiled some potatoes. Max made a pan of baked brussel sprouts. Merry Christmas!

After supper while I did dishes, they sat in the living room with their phones.

Clint got my mom set up on Instagram: Hilda_Jean_Klassen (if you want to follow her)...

At midnight, as per tradition, it was time for a second steak supper. Instead of BBQing, Max fried them in garlic butter after rubbing them first with coarse salt, then letting them sit on the counter for an hour, then warmed them in the oven at 200 degrees for half an hour.

If you love cows, turn your eyes away for the next couple pics.

We shared one of the steaks and put the other two in the fridge.
Then went down to my TV room to watch Netflix.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Christmas Day

We all slept til noon.

I made cheese biscuits (from scratch. Thank you grade 9 Home Ec class for the recipe):

By the time I'd cleaned up, the boys had left for their dad's.

I sat around, fighting nausea and dizziness and generally feeling miserable. My mouth felt weird. My head felt wobbly. It WOULD'VE been the perfect day to walk along the beach, or read a book, or go for a drive but I was clean out of energy.

At 4:30, I drove to the top of the hill then walked to the freeway and back, just to clear the fuzziness in my brain. By the time I got home the chicken pot pie in the oven was burning and it's insides were making a smokey mess in the kitchen. S I G H.

Haha. Merry Christmas.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Boxing Day

The kids all showed up in the afternoon, hungry (and tired).

Max made us all steak sandwiches:

Then we went down to the basement to open our gifts to each other...

Then they all found a soft surface to crash on and had naps.

I went upstairs and started making dinner.

And by 5 my family started to arrive:

(My mom sets a beautiful table:)

And it was at this point of the day that my dizziness came out in full force. I was sure I'd placed the glass bowl on the island, but apparently I missed by about a foot and just let go mid-air; it crashed to the floor.

There was dead silence, then Daryl said, "Well that's one thing we won't have to pack up when she moves." (My mom is considering moving.)

And then the men all jumped into action...
(It was lovely.)

While Drew vacuumed, Zac looked after the veggies, and Clint kept carving the hams and turkey ...









































... it was decided that I shouldn't carry anything. I was getting dizzier (and ditzier) by the minute. So Dani took over doing the things I would've done.

In addition to celebrating Christmas, we were also celebrating my mom's 80th birthday:

We sang Happy Birthday very poorly but with enthusiasm,

and gave her some age-appropriate gifts which were not totally appreciated:

Then we divided into two teams and guessed the answers to questions about Nan's/Mom's life. Examples:

1. How old was Nan/Mom when she was first kissed?
2. What is Nan/Mom's favorite flower?
3. What was the first car Nan/Mom ever drove?

So fun hearing the guesses. And even better (in most cases) were the answers.

Then we moved into the den and watched a slide show of her life ...

Her 8 decades on this earth were very entertaining for her kids and grandkids...

While Jim, Daryl and Julie did the dishes (I wasn't allowed to touch anything that might break if dropped) the grands looked at my dad's turquoise collection:

And then I put my camera away.

Happy birthday, Jesus.
Happy birthday, mom.

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. Doctors who care. Meds that (apparently) are working. Eight weeks total, off work.

2. My family. Grateful for my kids’ help (especially Clint) with the slideshow. Grateful for Danica and the quiet moment in the bathroom, amidst the busy-ness of the day, where she gently, expertly, graciously curled my hair. An oasis of calm. Also grateful to Jule and Daryl for preparing half the food and Jim for taking the lead in doing the clean up afterwards.

3. My mom. 80 years old. What the heck.

4. Jesus. Christmas. Love.