Unfortunately, it looks like we are in this thing for the long haul. We can count ourselves lucky to be where we are, in a world where we can connect remotely and have the space to get out without ever coming into contact with another soul. Stay in, shop once a week, spring clean, learn a new skill, send videos out to the world showing off the skills you have, bake, chill, read, connect with your friends, and laugh – it really is a medicine.
There was a Community Howl happening Sunday the 22nd where we were encouraged to go out at 7 p.m. and howl into the night (and hear others howl). I like this and it should be a nightly event IMHO. Check in with the Roberts Creek Community Association for more on this.
I am having a call-in contest this coming Wednesday. Call 778-330-2389 anytime between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. for a special message.
With the need to laugh I want to share with you one of the stories that has been told in my family again and again. It happened when I was about two and a half and living in Toronto.
On the morning of July 2 my father discovered, while changing my diaper, bits of red paper and the distinct smell of gunpowder intermixed with the usual smell of the other kind of boom boom. The Canada Day celebrations of the previous day had left the residue of firecrackers which I, being the gastronomic adventurer ahead of my time, had consumed.
My young parents must have panicked at the thought of the damage this would do to their child and rushed to the nearest emergency room. After a quick examination the bemused ER doctor told my dad that now the firework had gone through my system I would be fine, but added that I should be kept from open flame. Whether or not he maintained a straight face when delivering that last bit of advice, I do not know.
Flash forward one week. My older brother had the mercury from a broken thermometer in a shot glass that he would take out and play with (the early ’60s were a different time). At this time, I believe there were three children under five in the house so we had my parents outnumbered. I managed to get alone and get hold of the glass and was staring into the wonder that is quicksilver when my mother came in. Her frightened directions were clear, “PUT THAT DOWN,” so I did – downing it like so much tequila!
Another ER visit, this time with a stomach pump, and as my dad expressed his embarrassment over the fact I had just drank mercury to the attending physician, the doctor said, “That’s nothing, we had a kid in here last week who ate firecrackers!”
Be good to yourself and your loved ones, reach out when you need help and you can send your funny stories to kellybacks@rocketmail.com
