Everything comes to a head.
November 28 – December 2 — We flew out to Medicine Hat in a rush to help get Andrew’s family on track with some health care needs. Andrew was very strong throughout and really made things happen that should help.
It’s a difficult place. I don’t know if there’s a way to change perspective on an entire region once your opinions have been formed. It would be nice to visit there and see opportunity. There’s beauty in the flat horizons and big bright skies, but the lack of colour and the scale of life is exhausting. You see people shopping and driving but you don’t really see them living.
There’s a couple industrial plants on the edge of town with towers that spew out flames. I keep thinking of what a different perspective of the environment and your place in it that would impress upon you, to live alongside those flames without second thought.
December 3 — We were sure to be back in time for Tom’s birthday/leather night at the Poodle.
December 16 — I work with wonderful people and some of us walked around Thetis together to close out the year.
December 22 — Omicron case counts started going wild, so restrictions came back and we decided to hide inside with video games as much as we sanely can. But needed some holiday twinkle in our lives, so we found all the lights.
December 25 — Hey sis, it’s Christmas. Had a nice quiet morning of gifts. Kept it all small this year because of so many surprise expenses cropping up. We generally just buy the things we really want anyways, so it’s been a good reminder of priorities and less need for stuff. And gifts are not my love language.
Went for a walk along the breakwater with pals in the afternoon. Stormy seas were gorgeous, but no one was quite ready for how cold it was.
My parents came over for dinner and hours of grazing on cheese and crackers. And then we shooed them out to go see a late showing of the Matrix.
Full day, full fun.
It’s been a snowy, frozen week since Christmas. It causes a lot of problems, but it’s also a beautiful change of scenery in the city.
December 31 — One last walk for the year. That’s it. A year with a proper camera in hand, collecting my environments. A year in and out of restrictions and release. A year where I think we all learned so say “I love you” with more ease and frequency.
I completed my one-line-every-day journal and took the time to read over it and reflect. I really felt some shit through the year. “Feb 19: I want to be different after this.” The daily records of work being boring or stressful or whatever are all forgotten. The catastrophes are pretty memorable. “Jun 28: It’s so hot I can’t focus. I want to sleep & scream & cry.” But moments when the world felt open again and we could see friends and share time are resounding. You can trace our movements from screens to parks to homes to pubs to parties. And I appreciate each of those steps. “Dec 31: Less is more now.”
