crazy ridiculous love.

 

Everyone knows you do silly, ridiculous things when you are in love. When Simon and I were first dating, he lived in the Okanagan and I lived in Burnaby and once a month we would take turns sitting on the Greyhound bus for 8 hours one day so we could spend 48 hours together. We would try to stay awake for as long as it was humanly possible because we knew it would be another month until we would see each other again. I remember one time, Simon picked me up at nearly midnight at the Greyhound bus station and he had a rose and a thermos of hot chocolate waiting for me.  We sat outside in the chilly night sipping the hot chocolate, and I knew I would sit on the smelly bus for another decade to spend another minute with this awesome guy.

One time, I took the Greyhound bus at midnight on Sunday knowing that I had an early morning class on Monday morning. I wasn’t able to sleep on the way back because the passenger beside me had just gone to Banff and Jasper and needed to tell me allllllllll about his trip the entire bus ride.  And when I got back at 6:30am, I had exactly 60 minutes to get myself ready for my 7:30am class at SFU. I don’t think I heard a single word the professor lectured on that day.

 When it was Simon’s turn to visit me, he was already feeling quite tired from working long 12-14 hour shifts fighting the gruelling forest fire in the Okanagan but he stayed up for our mega-date marathon anyways and the tiredness caught up with him on Sunday morning when he was *this close* to fainting during the church service.  And did I mention the time Simon went out and bought a $200 tent so he could come camping with me and my friends.  I didn’t know until later in our relationship that Simon dislikes, I mean LOATHES camping! I don’t think he has used it since that one time! Oh and we can't forget the time he put wore his bedsheets and went to a toga party just because he knew I would be there even though he hates dress-up parties (almost as much as he hates camping). Ahhh yes, we were 20 years old, young and in love. We did some ridiculously stupid things because of love.

So now happily married for almost 7 years, I now understand what it is like to be ridiculously in love with your child that you would do anything for her. When she was little it was getting up every 2 hours to feed her when she was little, lying on the floor with her for hours on the floor for ‘tummy time’ and rocking her until my arms seized up so she would fall asleep . Now it’s never being able to eat my food until it’s cold because I am too busy convincing her to eat her meal and planning her every waking moment with educational and scintillating experiences. I started bringing Natallie to the Strong Start program near my house and noticed that Natallie loves to play kitchen. We already have some pretend food at home but not the big play kitchen so I set my mind of getting Natallie a kitchen for Christmas. I have been scouring the internet comparing prices on Walmart, Target, Sears, Toyrus and Costco. I want to get her a really nice sturdy wooden one, not the big plastic kind. The one I wanted to get was almost $200, I found it was almost $100 cheaper at Walmart in the States and I was contemplating whether or not I should drive to Bellingham to get her the kitchen when I saw an ad up on Craigslist (which I also had been religiously checking every day) that was selling a brand new wooden kitchen for $100 (regular price $200), I was ecstatic when the person said it was still available. They lived in Chilliwack though, but I didn’t care. I happily drove an hour and half from my house just to get my hands on this beautiful lovely wooden kitchen. I think my husband and my sister think I’m ridiculous for driving so far but it made perfect sense to me. I can’t wait to give it to Natallie for Christmas. I can’t wait to pretend to bake a cake and have teddy bear picnics and tea parties with her. I will probably do many more ridiculous things just because I love Natallie but that’s OK, that’s just the way I like it.

Natallie's christmas present! So excited!