O Canada

Everyone start singing 🎼🎶 Oh, Canada, our home … pick a language.  I was excited to hear the anthem being sung, in addition to the official English and French, in one of the indigenous languages at a hockey game recently.  Unfortunately, I don’t know which language it was, but it was still lovely to hear!  I’m being glared at from the top of the sofa by a small, black, dictator who is telepathically communicating that I’m on a brief sufferance before he claims my lap!  Don was showing more signs of energy today, so I’m happy about that, even though much of that energy went into watching a baseball game (do those ever end?  They seem to last longer than a full 5-day test match!!). In some interesting news, I heard that cricket is gaining popularity in Canada, and there’s a search for more cricket grounds, especially in areas with large Commonwealth populations, as apparently there’s a long waiting list to use the existing spaces.  Well done, cricketers!

Someone commented to me recently that Jerry forms an important part of my therapy / treatment team.  I have to agree; he’s such an affectionate little nurse who spends a lot of time being a comfort (and then alternates into being a pest, but he’s super loveable no matter what!). 

I’ve spent today as I have many Canada Days in the past — sitting on my balcony watching cars get towed and ticketed for ignoring the exclusion zone.  I also watched someone get ticketed for driving the wrong way down a one-way street, directly towards a parked police vehicle… as we learned from Sesame Street’s Cowboy X, “some people just aren’t very smart.”  

As I wrap myself in red-and-white, wave the Maple Leaf and generally indulge in sappy patriotism, I’m happy and grateful — again — that I chose Canada as my home.  It’s great that I’ve been able to meet and become friends with people from a variety of different countries.  I’ve learned a few words in a number of languages, and experienced so many cultures.  I’ve said before that one of the things I love about living downtown is that I hear over a dozen languages when I walk down the street.  It’s awesome!  I really love the commitment to multiculturalism that’s part of the country’s framework.  It’s not perfect, but it’s encouraging to see this.  So I’ll enjoy my Canadianness, and be happy that I can experience it.  That’s all for tonight!  Dream well!