My wonderful friend and hostess with the mostest Jenn hosted a book launch barbecue for me on Sunday. It was a small and casual affair, which is exactly as I had wanted it. There is a limit to the number of people who can crowd around a table to celebrate anything, and I think I’ve made peace with some people getting upset at a lack of invitation. I would have loved to invite each and every person who has had a positive impact on me and helped me in my creative journey, but you’re always going to miss someone. For the record, there are dozens of other people who have been fantastic and supportive. Not just buying a copy of the book, but giving me the experience and wisdom that allows me to write in the first place. So, if you are in that camp and you were left off the invite list, I apologize. Don’t think that you aren’t a special little camper. I just can’t manage a giant crowd of people focused on me….yet (Mwa-ha-ha-ha).

I also decided to skip an official speech or sales pitch to the attendees. On a practical level, most of them had already bought copies, so selling to them would have been milking a dry cow. And I spend most gatherings nattering on at length anyway, so it was more humane to the guests to limit my speechifying.

Max had a blast playing with chum during the party, and after the chum went home Max moved on to a tickle war with the friendly librarian Lindsay. In the course of their tickle fight, I’m pretty sure that Max inadvertently got to second base a couple of times. He is quite advanced.

It is an interesting and somewhat odd experience to  have your friends admire you. One of them actually said he was proud of me. I should really stop being surprised when someone I’m not married to is proud of me: If I’m doing things correctly, it’s bound to keep happening.

It was a fantastic night filled with friends and family, despite the summer cold kicking my ass and my wife’s ass at the same time. The best payout for the evening was the giant basket full of non-perishable goods we collected for the Food Bank. With almost no effort, we did a good thing. Yay lazy philanthropy!

A sidenote about my predictable body. Whenever I go through a period of heightened stress, there will be a brief few days afterward where I will be very tired, and after these days pass, illness will thunder down upon me. Everytime. Mark it on the calendar and cancel any appointments. I suspect that my body keeps a pet virus stored away in my left eustachian tube, ready for rapid release into my throat at the drop of a hat. The spot where my eustachian tube and my throat meet is ground zero for every cold that I’ve had in recent memory. And, although I acknowledge that a cold takes 7-10 days to run its course, I am tired of waiting for it to be done (it’s day 6 today). Boo to sickness.

 

There’s a fearsome thunderstorm blowing in, and it could very well knock out our surprisingly fragile electrical supply. Let’s see if I can post before the power goes out.

We went on a family outing to Heeman’s Strawberry farm today and it was an informative trip for me. I didn’t learn a thing about strawberries (not that I expected to) but I did get a lesson in ethical business.  Out front of the building there was a charity barbecue, raising funds for the Terry Fox Run, and every employee was wearing a ‘Run for The Cure’ t-shirt. With a very simple and cost-effective effort, the good people at Heemans were taking part in the community around them and giving back to it. And for the last two weeks, Heemans has donated a field of their pick-your-own strawberries to Community Harvest. The berries were picked by volunteers, and those berries were shipped out to the food bank and other front-line services in town. What a simple way to make things better.

I’m more ambitious than informed right now, which I think is a normal stage for someone looking to help out.  It turns out that there are already good, ethical businesses who love their community and want to make it a better place for everyone. I have to remember to be patient and learn about the community before I rush off trying to save it. There’s no need to re-invent the wheel.

In other news, my little dude serenaded the wife and I yesterday with a rousing rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ for our country. There is nothing better than hearing a cheerful 3-year-old belt out “happy birthday, dear Canada!”. And during bedtime tonight, he decided that he would tell me a story about yesterday. You see, after we read a few books and turn off the lights, he usually likes to hear a story. The story must be a factual retelling of the day’s events, with no silly business. But tonight, after I began the story of today’s trip to the strawberry farm, he stopped me and said that he wanted to tell the story of Canada Day. He clarified that he wasn’t going to tell the whole story, just the beginning, and after that point I would take over. This is how he began it:

“One day, somebody had a birthday. But they weren’t people like you and me, people with skin. It was Canada’s birthday”. So there you go. No skin on Canada. That boy is something else.

Will there ever be a Sunday that I feel compelled to blog AND have a cohesive theme to expound upon? All signs point to No. Instead, it’s a parade of leftovers and remnants from the week.

Independence! The little dude has taken sudden and surprising steps towards autonomy this weekend, and I am just not sure how to feel about this. He went for a playdate on Saturday, and it was notable as the first time we have sent him out the door in the care of another parent. He cheerily hugged the playdate mom and hopped into the car seat. I stood at the door waving goodbye as they drove off for mystery and adventure that didn’t involve me or the wife. Sniff. And as an encore to that display, today he was at his friend’s house with my wife, and once they were settled in he told her “okay mom you can go now”. She lit out of there like a bat out of hell and came home for an astounding 2-hour, uninterrupted nap.  We when came back, he was cheery and having a blast. He even liked the suggestion of a sleepover, but I am nowhere near ready for that. Of course, it is the beginning of the summer, which means I won’t get the school time break every Tuesday and Thursday, so I may quickly become amenable to shipping him off for the night.

Different topic: Sales! I’m sure you’re all wondering how my one-man commercial fiction empire is progressing. I haven’t made a million bucks, or broken even for that matter, but bit by bit, my friends and family are showing me how supportive they are, and it’s fantastic. I’m learning to accept this deluge of positivity and compassion without freaking out.  And, even people I have never met are buying copies from my champions out there in the field. So thank you, supporters and well-wishers!

A topic about topics: I fear sometimes that I might alienate some of you, my wonderful readers, if I delve too deeply into certain topics. There are some people who want to leave the room in a rush when the topic of politics comes up, and I really don’t want to chase anyone away from the blog with my ill-informed political opinions. On the other hand, my posts are better and more interesting when I’m passionate about my current topic, and trying to stay in the safe middle-ground does a disservice to any readers who like the challenge of complicated topics. And what about my occasional post about a topic I am woefully uneducated in (AKA the “I am not an expert” posts)? Do people like watching me wander blindly into the intellectual minefield in pursuit of my harebrained theories?

Parting unrelated thought: It’s all well and good to bite the bullet and make peace when someone upsets you, but think it through. You can’t verbally acquiesce but continue to feel slighted and hurt. After you call the truce, any leftover hurt and emotional baggage is your concern and no one elses. And yes, this sucks, but it’s what grownups have to do.