Session 24

Session 24 March 25
Today is Pat’s birthday and would have liked to do breakfast for him but instead I dropped Cherie at work and went for treatment. It was fast, less than an hour in and out. I headed back home but Pat was gone already. I felt down and tired and puttered around doing not much for awhile. I knew I had to clean up to go to a retirement event for Liz Janzen, a wonderful nurse retiring from long service in leadership roles at Public Health. I sat with Liz on the Board of the Woman Abuse Council of Toronto and knew her as an excellent person. Following that it was on to a restaurant to meet the rest of the family for our traditional birthday dinner out followed by cake and presents at home. After talking to Cherie on the phone I realized she was going to be up against it coming home at 6 to bake cakes (there are always 2 cakes because of my diet restrictions). I decided to surprise her by doing the baking but in the end I had to let her in on it because I didn’t know where the recipe for her excellent carrot cake was. Still I did it and I got in to it. Fatigue fell away driven out by virtue and a sense of adventure. Cherie is an excellent baker. I got it all done and everything seemed okay. I sampled mine, baker’s privilege, cleaned up, put up the birthday banner and took the car to Cherie. She dropped me at Gerrard and Coxwell for the streetcar and headed home to frost the birthday cake. It was lovely to have a half hour on the streetcar. Many people don’t like transit but for me it is privileged time. I read, I do puzzles, I listen to my IPod and I observe the other passengers. Sometimes I even have conversations. I regard the time as a gift.

The event was fun as colleagues of Liz paid tribute, often in humorous ways. I was sad that no one told of her huge contribution to WACT but I also realized that it was one a many things where she made a difference for people who were not getting equity and inclusion in society. It was also good that my daughter in law Sara was there and a friend, Linda, from ballroom dancing. In an amazing small world experience it turned out that Liz’s daughter is a friend of Sara and my sons. After that it was birthday dinner at a new east end restaurant Cherie discovered and which worked out very well. I heard an amazing story from Patrick about how he had scored the winning basket at the buzzer in the league he and Matt play in. This had happened about an hour earlier and what a birthday present. Cherie had used her extra time to pick them up at the gym and we all made it in good time with Sara driving the two of us. So complicated but it worked so well. At home my cake was approved and Patrick loved his new computer speakers and two new games for PS3. So much excellent family and friend life. It puts the radiation in perspective.