Canada-land

I've said it a million times: "Remind me again WHY I live in Canada?!" I'm especially vocal about this when I've just come back from some idyllic tropical vacation or I catch a glimpse of some southern weather forecast. It's a balmy -15 today here in Toronto with a windchill of up to -30 and as I walked through the windtunnel that is the parking lot of my building, I cursed Canada for being so bitter and ugly outside in the winter time.

Recently though, I had this real moment of patriotism. This moment where I thought, yes, THIS is why I live in Canada.

It was Family Day weekend, the first of a wonderful new winter long weekend in Ontario. We were at a friend's cottage in Muskoka. We were with a big group of friends decked out in winter gear, wearing snowshoes and trodding along a frozen Bass Lake. We had beer. We had a fire pit. We made an igloo and it was one of those perfect winter days - no wind, a quite tolerable -8 and so sunny you need sunglasses to see through the glare on the mountains of white snow. As I stood there in my snoeshoes on the frozen lake, beer in hand, I looked around and thought, wow, we really couldn't be more Canadian, could we? And funny as it was to me at the time, I also realized that nowhere else in the world, could we play on top of the lake and in it all in the same year.

This is why I like living in Canada.

So next time my face is burning in pain from a 4o below blast of arctic wind and my lips are so numb I can barely speak, I'm going to try really hard to remember that moment.

And besides, only 2 more months till Spring ;)

Alone

Let me just state it for the record: I hate being alone.

I get to work from home occasionally, which I realize, sounds awesome. People who don't have this option probably think it sounds like a pretty cushy luxury. I did too and I especially hated when I "wasn't allowed" to work from home when I first started this job. Being given the freedom to stay home on days where the weather is bad or I have an appointment downtown is great, don't get me wrong. But what isn't great, is being completley and utterly alone all day. Just me and my computer. Not one human interaction all day. It's lonely and the day drags forever. I literally cannot work from home more than two days in a row or I go nuts. I have a typical case of cabin fever or something.

It's funny actually, you'd think I'd be better at being alone. I'm an only child and spent countless hours alone growing up. I lived alone for over a year as I was finishing my degree and that never seemed terribly depressing. But now it seems, more than 24 hours of nothing but my own self and my own thoughts is enough to turn me into a lunatic.

I saw this ad in a magazine about elder abuse. It showed this sad looking elderly woman sitting alone at her kitchen table drinking tea and looking thoughtfully off into the distance. The caption read something like, "She can't remember the last time she had company." How sad. I don't know why I brought that up actually. It's not like I, in any way, bear any similarities to a poor, lonely elderly woman. I guess lonliness is just really sad to me.... or something.

Bottom line: I like people.