Almost incessantly, I hear stories of frustration and furor from friends about their parents and or families. I can only listen in support (which is also most appropriate), since I can't contribute very much in empathy. I'm extremely thankful to my parents, their parenting styles and morals. From which, I have been gifted (blessed) with love, a continual support net, encouragement, independence, a pretty good preparation for the real world and all of life's bumps and challenges to come. An anxious thought crosses my mind when I think about parenting, "Will I be able to parent a child as well as my parents have done for me?" Even prior to that, I really admire their marriage. Now that I'm older, I can really notice and appreciate how my mom and dad tolerate/appreciate (Lol, on occasion)/compensate for the other's faults. They get into fights and arguments often, but it's obvious that they pick these carefully and get through them gracefully (for the most part). Not only can I appreciate their communication skills, from 20 years in-counting, in marriage, but the physical manisfestations of their love as well. No, I will not delve into how wonderful their children are... :) What I mean by manisfestations is like the "love taps", hand resting on e/o when driving, a brief hug at the sink, hand-holding during an evening stroll etc. etc. I think that it's adorable, aww. All in all, the explicit and implicit lessons that I have, am and will learn from my parents are ones that I am mindful of and hopefully will one day apply in my own marriage and family.

My dear sister will always be a  baby in my eyes. The girl is 14 now, and while she is maturing and what not, her many quirks are dated quite younger than that. Although I worry if she will ever   "grow up" and/or "get serious" one day, I appreciate the fun spice that she adds to my life. (For instance, see "Shampoo commercial" photos) Because I am in Hamilton so much, we obviously see less of each other. And while it is not explicitly said, it's quite implicit that we miss each other's annoying company. One thing that I learned about my sister (to my horror), is that she's a "pink-kind-of-girl"!! Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate pink shirts, pink pencils and pink dress shirts (wink wink), girls who have a devotion to pink bothers me slightly. Generally speaking, they tend to be excessively bubbly and really girly ("I can't lift four pounds", "I will chip my nail if I do that", "Only men can do that" -type of deal). Associating my own sister with pink, and consequently with my thoughts on pink-girls was actually quite enlightening! I must add a disclaimer though, she isn't too "pink", yet. 

Les: Oh, there's the washroom.
Vic: Okay, let's go.
L: WOW, it's a washroom in an outlet mall!!!
V: ... yes, is it like your dream come true?
L: Totally.
(Mind you, at this point we were dealing with camping washroom facilities for the past 2 days. To finally enter a washroom fully indoors and devoid of damp toilet paper and sand on the floor from the swimmers is definitey a Godsend. However... her enthusiasm was a bit extreme to illustrate her excitement, for which she does 95% of the time.)

I have issues. Some would call them insecurities, but I’m going to choose the smaller word today. I’m a control freak and a perfectionist, what a combination! On family occasions, I am usually the photographer. I enjoy photography; there’s something special about capturing a moment in time permanently. It’s almost like writing it down, except faster. I mean, a picture is worth a thousand words, and there is no human way to write a thousand words in the time it takes to click a shutter. At any rate, I usually take enough photos to ensure that there are sufficient “good ones” to commemorate the event. Going into the family vacation, I was slightly dreadful of the photo part, because the other members of the trip have yet to develop an eye for photography or skill to work a camera. My favourite example is my mom. Asking her to take a posed photo for you is a setup for twenty seconds of awkwardness. My sister and I were sitting over a bridge and mom held the camera. Because we both know that this photo will take a long time, we began counting…all the way up to 22, before we unfroze our smiles. However, revenge is sweet when it was our turn with the camera, what goes around comes around! It was truly a source of frustration to try to get the favour returned and have a nice picture of myself, a photographer’s woe. But as I write this out in retrospect, I suppose this teaches me humility and selflessness. What a revelation! That actually makes me feel much relieved about which side of the lens I’ll stand on more willingly now.

Because of my lack of life experience and skewed research skills (insert a jab about my summer job here), I wasn’t much help to my mom in planning this trip. Up ‘till the first night, I had no idea what was going on, where we were going etc, despite having seen the rough itinerary. Once it clicked in my mind that this was a CAMPING TRIP, and we’ll be exploring various trails, towns and attractions near the campsite, I was more settled in enjoying the trip. I enjoy knowing things, which I suppose is why planning events is a joy to me. Again, this trip revealed to me my uncanny necessity of control.

One thing that I did not realize was a drive of mine was my motivation to see a task to its finish. On the rainy Sunday of our trip, we visited the glass museum and walked around town for the most part of the day. My dad is not the most cultured man you will meet, and so we drove to see a waterfall to satisfy his definition of an “attraction” for the day. We drove to a waterfall to “take a quick photo” before heading out to find a place to eat. Taking those words at face value, I decided against changing my footwear (I was in flip flops), since I had 2 mosquito bites on my foot. Anyhow, we did take some photos, but then began going up the stairs that were alongside of the falls. I was okay with “hiking” in my flip-flops, but my mom (in her rightful duty) was worrying where I wasn’t. We made it three-quarters of the way up the stairs before the family decided to turn around and go down. For a few minutes, it didn’t sit well with me that we didn’t reach the end of the trail. I suppose the mindset of seeing a project through to the finish was instilled strongly in me, perhaps too strong.

All in all, the trip was an enjoyable one; it was definitely an appreciated change to my now daily routine (work, gym, dinner, TV, sleep).

Summer has finally begun, ladies and gents.
Let the sunshine, heat and humidity commence – after a few more days of rain.