Old Man Winter

I am originally from Manitoba. Yup...lemme hear it....'Winterpeg'....ahahahaha.....

I have lived in BC half of my life, but it's still not long enough to forget the BONE chilling, windy, Winnipeg winters.

I would even now consider myself a British Columbian.....but, there is one thing I can NOT stand for.....and that is whining about a BC winter.

I have a new friend, Janelle. She is from Ontario (don't judge her....she's lovely, and we can't hold the entire province's snobbery against her) and she has lived here in 'northern' BC (seriously, it's CENTRAL PEOPLE....LOOK AT A MAP!) for about 6 weeks. In those 6 weeks, all she had heard is how she is going to perish in the cold and awfulness of this winter....that she will not survive....that death would be welcome about January 5th.....

I. DO. NOT. GET. IT.

These winter complainers are obviously not from anywhere other than BC. Only in BC do people compare winter conditions with Vancouver. THE WARMEST MAJOR CITY IN CANADA IN THE WINTER.

We spend 95 % of winter days outside here! We snowmobile, we toboggan, we ski, we skate...and all in a relatively moderate winter climate! There is little or no wind here. It's about -10 all winter (with the exception of the two cold weeks that are in the -20's) and yes, the snow is here for about 3 or 4 months, but really people? Really? You want to compare yourselves to a city that collectively cries when it snows 5 cms? This is the true north strong and free for goodness sake! Man up!

Prairie people are hearty people. It's hotter than hades all summer and colder than....well, what's the opposite of hades?

Uh...that would be Winnpeg.

That Moment....

My BFF Heather recently posted a blog http://www.inallcyriousness.blogspot.com/ about her kids going off to the first full day of school. I re-read it a couple of times and thought back to that moment. The moment I brought my baby to kindergarten, then to full days of Grade 1.

I remember holding Delaney's hand and looking at ALL the kids around the playground and thinking, 'I can not just drop my child off here! There are so many kids! What if she gets lost? Or hurt? Or......' I also remember thinking that the grade 7's looked HUGE and mean. Also they dressed stupid.

Fast forward...and I mean FAST...to fall of 2011. I walked my baby girl to the school, where she was now the big, mean, stupidly dressed grade 7. She had painstakingly put on mascara (since years ago, she asked me when she could wear make-up to school and I said, 'UH...grade 7' in quite a hurry, thinking that was YEARS away. Well, she didn't forget, and she was very excited to get to wear make up to school) and picked out her clothes. She ruled the school. One. LAST. YEAR...until high school.

My Mommy heart soared and broke all at the same time. My Delaney Frances is a wonderful girl, inside and out, but she is not a little girl anymore. Calvin and I are doing what we are supposed to. We are teaching her that she can do ALL things through Him who strengthens her. We are reminding her to make good choices, even when we aren't around....and yet part of my heart breaks because time must move on....just in time for me to do this all over again next year with my sweet Avery Vanessa.