I’m desperately in love with the world today!

It’s the most gorgeous day…the sun is warm and the wind is calm. I had a terrific, unhurried morning with Steve and Tugger (complete with hash browns and orange juice…yummy!). I rode my bike into work this morning during the calmness of pre-rush hour traffic. I received the most wonderful email from an adored friend who I miss already. One of my favourite colleagues and I shared coffee and conversation while everyone else was still making their way into the office. I previewed the most fantastic and breathtaking photography exhibit that I’ve ever seen.

And it’s only 1pm!

HEAVENLY!

I finally finished A Complicated Kindness last night. It's the third time that I've tried to read it. The first two times I would just consistently find myself drifting off a couple of pages into it and eventually, I just found myself drifting into a different book! So I guess the third time really is a charm, though for some reason, I would hesitate to call this book charming. Strange, yes. Charming...not so much!

Interestingly enough though, almost the entire time that I was reading it, it made me think of Lesley's blog! The style of writing is so similar except that Lesley's stories are so much better!

So there you have it...it's a good book if you are patient enough to even get into it. But it would be an even better book if it were Lesley's!

The best weekend of the year has come and gone once again! And once again, I’ve been walking around as though I fell asleep with a hanger in my mouth because I can’t stop smiling!

For the past two days, we’ve been participating in the Ottawa Race Weekend; one of the premiere running events in the country. For five years now, I’ve stood at various start lines for different races throughout the weekend and every time, I find myself overwhelmed with the excitement of the experience. I’m always so moved by the other runners around me and how determined they are to accomplish their goals. Even when I finished my own marathon, I still caught myself captured with everyone else’s stories.

This year was the first year that I didn’t actually run. Between the move and our trip, I just didn’t have a whole lot of time to train for a specific goal and I also thought that every runner, at some point in time, should be a spectator. We value the encouragement of spectators so much while we’re running and I figured that it was time for me to return the favour!!

An added excitement for this year was that Russell and his gorgeous girlfriend, Maureen, were coming to town from New Brunswick to run their own respective races. I hadn’t seen Russ in nearly ten years and the anticipation of seeing him again, in addition to the usual excitement, just made the wait for the weekend simply unbearable! But alas, it arrived and it didn’t disappoint!

Being a spectator, I sort of expected to come out of the weekend feeling a little bit sad that I hadn’t run at all but, much to my own surprise, I found encouraging other runners so fulfilling that I really wouldn’t have had it any other way. For four hours, Steve and I stood at Pretoria Bridge cheering on marathoners and half-marathoners. We watched them pass in huge masses as they initially found their way along the canal and then we watched them trickle in, slowly but surely, as they finished along the other side. We stayed well beyond the five hour mark, which meant that some runners needed more encouragement than others! Another spectator actually approached me and asked if I knew some of the runners or if I was just an “enthusiastic citizen”?!?! I answered him by saying that I just knew how hard this part of the race could be. I’ve been there and done that…more than once! Kilometer 40/19 simply has no prejudices and will take down anyone it can!

One “less inspiring” thing that I always experience during the race weekend though is a pet peeve that I have among other runners; the willingness to use the term “marathon” interchangeably to describe any distance run over the course of the weekend. I don’t say this to undermine the significance of all other races because running any distance is an accomplishment but, only one distance is truly the marathon! And for anyone who has endured running that distance, they know that it requires an unbelievable amount of determination to earn the right to say that you’ve run it. I can’t tell you how many times I heard people say that they ran the marathon when really, they ran the 10km race (yes, incredible…no, not the marathon! Let’s be clear about this!). I’ve read before that less than 1% of the population has ever finished a marathon…so with that being said, other runners should have the decency not to take that away from them!

Misuse of terminology aside though…everyone was amazing! They hung in there, they smiled, they lavished in the gorgeous weather and they realized that respect had just been earned. Russ finished with a terrific time, Maureen completed her first half-marathon, Jesper uttered the words “pace bunny” on his way by and everyone really showed the course who’s boss! There are, of course, the elite runners as well, which are just incredible to watch. They never cease to blow my mind with their gift of running. I always see them fly by and find myself saying “uh…so that’s what 90 pounds of Kenyan looks like! It’s a good thing I didn’t blink or I might have missed them”!!!

Don’t get me wrong though…one sight of the ten kilometer race sent my heart racing as well and I couldn’t wait to get back in my running shoes. If there are ever times when I question why I started the madness of running in the first place, I question no more when this weekend comes. The inspiration of 30,000 runners of all shapes and sizes leaves me wide-eyed (usually crying) and aching to be on the run again.

Running rocks my world!

Happy 5th birthday my beautiful Priya!

While I know you may think that grass will never be seen in the world again (though I do hope that you have a new green marker by now!!), know that your smiling face is all the world will ever need anyways!

Bonne Fête ma belle!

Love,
Auntie Gen xoxo

Okay…I’m a delinquent blogger right now…my apologies! But rest assured that it’s not for a lack of trying!!!

Here’s a brief summary of life on our little corner of the world…

* Colin and Sandra came to visit us for the long weekend! We had loads of fun (like always!) and found that Tugger already has quite the affection for Baby Alexander.

*I’m working on the opening of the photography exhibit of Geoffrey James right now, opening next week.

*I’m also working on the opening of The 1930s: “The Making of the New Man” our much anticipated summer exhibition opening the first week in June.

*The girls and I are in the midst of planning our Sex & the City Movie night. Every girl deserves a night of dinner and cosmos, followed by sex…(ummm… & the City that is!!)

*Steve and I are going home to celebrate his parents’ 40th wedding anniversary next weekend…amazing!

*Russell and Maureen are on their way to Ottawa RIGHT NOW for the big Ottawa Race Weekend. I can hardly wait…I haven’t seen Russ in over ten years and it will be so fun than watching him qualify for Boston!

*Steve’s birthday is coming up…the big 3-1!!! Such an old man!

*I’m VERY behind on my personal emails…bad Gen :(

*And finally…I’m up to my ears in heart-wrenching season finales!! Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, Lost…the writers have had months to come up with the most outrageous cliff hangers and it’s going to put me into therapy very soon! I watch too much t.v.!!

So, as you can see…my hamster hasn’t fallen off the wheel yet…but it shouldn’t be long!!! Bear with me as I send cyber sympathies!!

I keep forgetting that summer is upon us.

Having been out of the country for a month and been oblivious to all sense of date and time, I keep waiting for Easter weekend to show up and then suddenly remembering that it’s already come and gone. It’s truly a weird feeling. But sure enough, we are, in fact, in our last weeks of May and soon, it will be summer (or so I'm told!). Why does this seem so strange to me?!?!

I’ve always been really envious of those people that return after Labour Day weekend having raved about the best summer of their lives. They’ve apparently spent three months on the beach, in love and without a care in the world. It’s as though their entire life is an episode of The O.C. The summer has never really been kind to me. Maybe it’s because I’ve worked almost every summer of my life so the idea of being “off” never really existed. Frankly, sometimes school was the real break. But even now, I approach the summer months with a sense of apprehension because for some reason or another, I usually agonize my way through it. For the past many years, I’ve either been heart broken, sick, bored or involved in some melodramatic episode between friends and/or family. And let’s not forget the summers spent without air conditioning…those are the real winners! In fact, it even comes as a surprise to me now that Steve and I ever survived as long as we did without some reprieve from the Valley’s soul sucking humidity.

The first summer that Steve and I started dating, neither one of us had an air conditioner at our respective homes. Much to my surprise, we somehow made it through the hot, sticky, sleep deprived months even though we made many attempts at scratching each other’s eyes out! When we lived in the apartment, we had a window air conditioner that enabled us to sleep at night and on more than one occasion (when just sitting in front of the television in the dark would make you sweat!) we would move our entire life into this one room. It was like being caged between four walls with a roaring machine sticking out of your window that, while certainly annoying, was the only thing that enabled you to keep your sanity. Really, what’s not to love about summers like that?!?!

When Steve and I first landed in the middle of the Australian Outback, one of the tour guides there was giving us a quick run down on how to get to the resort and to the National Park. In her cute little Aussie accent, she looked at Steve and I and said “you know, your husband and yourself are both fairly light skinned and it can get upwards of 30 degrees here in the Northern Territory. Perhaps you two should consider doing most of your excursions at night or early in the morning”. I couldn’t help but give her my cutest Canadian smile and reply with “thanks sweetheart, I think that we can handle it…but the real question is…can you handle 30 degree temperatures with 70% humidity?!?!” And that was the end of that conversation!

Somehow though, despite all this, I still love the idea of summer…and the anticipation of summer is usually worth it in and of itself. I love the thought of painted toe nails and tanned skin…BBQs and fruity drinks on a patio somewhere. I love the thought of long summer nights and weekends away with friends. It’s all so romantic in its own way…but it just never turns out like it does on T.V. Maybe it’s because I don’t have music accompanying me through all of my dramatic moments or the disposable income to spend $30 a day on margaritas on my lunch hour. Maybe it’s because I’m not seventeen anymore or I still haven’t figured out how to go swimming without messing up my hair! Who knows?!?!

Fear not though, my summer spirit is not entirely lost because this year…I have CENTRAL AIR!!! That’s right folks…this means that I have three floors to enjoy in the cool comfort of my home, which I expect will reduce the amount of summer crabbiness significantly! Not to mention that I am still determined to have the best summer of my life soon, even if it does mean carrying around an appropriate soundtrack to play for every time I enter a room (any suggestions?)!

Besides, I think that I’m due and I simply refuse to turn 30 without it!

So this past weekend, Steve and I went on a reconnaissance mission to see how long and how feasible it would be for us to ride our bikes to work from our new house. Living in the Glebe, it was always very easy for us to ride our bikes in the nice weather but, being out in the east end, we had yet to scope out our new bike trails to and from downtown.

With Steve having changed jobs, we now currently both take the bus, as taking our car is just nonsense when trying to cross the provincial bridges. So currently, it takes us each about an hour, door to door, to take the bus to work. It’s not all bad actually. It’s a fairly pleasant route, our bus passes are tax deductible and it’s nice to let someone else doing the driving for a change (especially through rush hour traffic). But as nice as it is, the marathon runner in me finds it an absolute waste of time to go anywhere within 15km without getting in a workout!!

So, our mission proved to be quite successful! Much to our surprise, it turns out that if we bike to work, it actually takes half of the time that the bus would!! Granted, it requires 20km of biking a day but hey…hello bikini season!!!! We also discovered that we actually have either bike trails or bike lanes almost the entire way. Kudos to Ottawa’s urban planners!!

Upon completing our mission, we sat in the grass at Dairy Queen, chocolate extreme blizzard in hand, and tallied our list of pros and cons for the upcoming summer season of commuting. Pros: it takes half of the time as the bus (hence, I get to sleep in a bit longer); we save money of bus passes and bus tickets; we get a fantastic workout every day; we save on the potential wear and tear of our car as well as avoiding soaring gas prices and; we make our family a little greener by being environmentally friendly. Cons: I have to have everything ready the night before…which really becomes a pro because it requires me to be a bit more organized. So really, there is no con.

This clearly seems like a no-brainer to me.

That being said…watch for our bicycle fit bodies coming to a bike path near you!!!!

It’s Mother’s Day; the day of tulips and brunch and hand-drawn pictures for all of the mothers in our life.

Two or three years ago, I would have encountered this holiday with much trepidation. For the last number of years, my relationship with my mother has been tumultuous at best and during the last year or two, it’s been nothing short of non-existent. Much to my surprise though, this year, I was okay. This year, I was able to look back on my mother with the same fondness I did as a little girl and remember what it was like to be her daughter again.

While the last decade hasn’t been easy between the two of us, it wasn’t always like that. There once was a time when we shared a very unique and special relationship that only comes from a single parent raising an only daughter. We were a team. We were in it all together. Before things started to fall apart between us, there was no place in the world that was safer than being with my mother.

When I think of my mother’s very best qualities as a parent, they are numerous and plenty but, my favourite quality of hers was her unwavering support and belief that I could do anything. I could have walked up to my mother and said “I want to fly to the moon” and she would have said “well, you’re going to need better shoes than that”!!!! And that was how she was about everything. She believed…and she believed with every fiber of her being that I would change the world one day. This enabled me to grow up as someone with very big dreams and more importantly, someone who loved to dream.

Having a mother who unconditionally supports you and believes in you is one of the greatest gifts that I could have ever received as a child because things weren’t always easy for my mother and I. We endured financial challenges and social challenges and health challenges but, we seldom ever saw our world as limited by our present circumstances. Life may have been difficult at the time, but there was so much more to do and so many more dreams to live out.

Mother’s Day isn’t just about taking Mom out for brunch and thanking her for all that she “does”…but it’s about looking at the person that you have become and acknowledging that your life, right now, was likely her dream. The person that you have come to be and the qualities that you share with the world are a product of someone loving you and believing in you and wanting you to see the world differently than they may have seen it.

And so, we raise a glass to our mothers for a job well done.

Happy Mother’s day Mom…wherever you may be…

Today is a really big day for Steve and I…

Five years ago today, Steve and I had our first date!! It was two days before my first half-marathon and we went to the Royal Oak along the canal. We spent the evening on the patio eating nachos and drinking beer and when the cool night air rolled in, we moved inside and spent another couple of hours talking the night away in there.

(The following week, we had our second, third and fourth date!!!)

I remember exactly what Steve was wearing and the weather and the exact table that we sat at…and yet, I had no idea at the time that from that day forward, my life would change forever.

It’s always humbling to me to look back on how dramatically life can change sometimes. My old friend, Chris, and I once had a very interesting conversation about the concept of happiness. Chris now lives in Victoria but, shortly before he left…he taught me how to drive!!!! And as everyone knows, all of the best conversations happen either with wine or behind the wheel of a car (but hopefully not both at once!). Anyways, we were discussing his future move to Victoria and how happiness is really something that you seldom experience at the time. Instead, it seems to be more something that you look back on and notice in retrospect. You suddenly wake up one day and think “geez…I was really happy when I was [insert location/person/occupation here]…I should have paid more attention!” I think that it’s a natural flaw of being human to overlook the moment but, it’s also a gift to have such an ignorant understanding of time. Imagine how long our work days would be without it?!?!

All this to say that, prior to meeting Steve, I always thought I was happy. And I probably was. But really, the happiness that I have with Steve is unlike any other happiness that I’ve known in my whole life. I know it sounds cheesy but, few things compare to loving someone so much that you are willing to stand before God and commit your life to them…no matter what!

It’s amazing to me to think of all that we’ve done in our five years together. The holidays spent together, the very large life changes that we endured to together, the dramatics that we’ve lived through together (who hasn’t?!?!) and of course, the glorious moments of simply living life together.

If I knew then what I know now…I wouldn’t change a thing!

A tribute to the legacy of the most successful first date ever…

Our first dance at our wedding ~ "Wonderwall" by Ryan Adams

Heather & Roberta's Wedding

Calabogie triathlon with Christina

"Down Under" on our latest adventure!

I think that our bathroom at work is haunted!!

For nearly four years now, I’ve been working at the Gallery and for nearly four years now, I’ve been quite certain that Moaning Myrtle actually lives in the 5th floor bathroom of the Director’s Wing.

Our small little department is very fortunate to actually have our own bathroom. Given that there’s only seven of us, it’s quite an indulgence, especially given that we have a shower as well. Every now and then though, when I feel the need to go for a little walk and stretch my legs (usually at least once a day), I’ll walk down the hall and use the washroom in the Director’s Wing. It’s tucked away along the side of the Boardroom in this little unknown hallway. There are two stalls in the washroom and during my entire (nearly) four years here, I’ve seen another person in there maybe only a handful of times. However, every single time that I walk into that washroom, I’m always very sure that I hear another person in there. Every time!

It never fails that I whenever I walk in there, I’m positive that I hear someone walking. I’ve even gone so far as to check for feet under the door once or twice to confirm that I’m not crazy. Sure enough though, I apparently am! I’ve even checked to see if there was a meeting happening in the adjacent Boardroom in which the sound might be carrying over, but no…nothing! There is never anyone there. The toilets randomly flush and the door to the washroom always opens all by itself. It’s kind of disturbing actually!

And most recently, I’ve started noticing little puddles of water in places that don’t have water anywhere near them. So strange! I don’t know of any mysterious deaths that have happened that may have provoked a ghost to live there but, who am I to say where they should or shouldn’t live?!?!

Anyways, all this to say that, the more validation I receive that this washroom is indeed haunted, the less compelled I feel to stretch my legs in that direction!! I’m more than happy to stick with our own quaint little corner of the Gallery that is not yet inhabited by spirits of the dead!

If anyone has any idea how to rid ourselves of this little inconvenience…please do let me know…I’m open to suggestions. Going pee in peace is high on my list of priorities!

Every morning, I receive a daily devotional by email from The Purpose Driven Life, a book written by Rick Warren who is also the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in California.

This was my devotional this morning and I found it so thought provoking that it compelled me to share it…

How Do You Develop Self-Control? by Rick Warren
God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid but a spirit of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7 (NCV)
*** *** *** ***
Successful people have one obvious trait in common: personal discipline. They are willing to do things that average people are unwilling to do.
It’s my observation that successful people express their self-discipline in six ways:

· Successful people master their moods – They live by their commitments, not their emotions. They do the right thing, even when they don’t feel like it. “A person without self-control is as defenseless as a city with broken-down walls” (Proverbs 25:28 NLT).

· Successful people watch their words – They put their minds in gear before opening their mouths: “Those who control their tongue will have a long life ….” (Proverbs 13:3 NLT).

· Successful people restrain their reactions – How much can you take before you lose your cool? “People with good sense restrain their anger; they earn esteem by overlooking wrongs” (Proverbs 19:11 NLT).

· Successful people stick to their schedule – If you don’t determine how you will spend your time, you can be sure that others will decide for you! “So be careful how you live, not as fools but as those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days” (Ephesians 5:15-16, NLT).

· Successful people manage their money – They learn to live on less than what they make, and they invest the difference. The value of a budget is that it tells your money where you want it to go rather than wondering where it went: “The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get” (Proverbs 21:20 NLT).

· Successful people maintain their health – That way they can accomplish more and enjoy their achievements: “… control your body and live in holiness and honor” (1 Thessalonians 4:4 NLT).

Now, where do you need to develop self-control?

The disciplines you establish today will determine your success tomorrow. But it takes more than just willpower for lasting self-control. It takes a power greater than yourself. Think about this promise from the Bible: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7 NLT).

The more I accept God’s control over my life, the more self-control he gives me!

*** *** *** ***

Any thoughts...??

Every morning during the week, I wake up and rely upon a very well planned out routine to start off my day; I read my book on the way into downtown, I stop at Starbucks and get my morning coffee, I usually run into co-workers along the way for a chat and when I get into work, I always give myself enough time to check my email, check the paper and read through my favourite blogs. This gives me an opportunity to catch up with some of my favourite people who are too far away for me to catch up with in person.

Lately though, I’ve started to branch out from my usual blogging suspects and have begun reading some different blogs that I don’t usually commit as much time to. I have to admit that there’s some pretty terrible stuff out there in cyberspace but, there’s also some really fantastic blogs that I’ve really enjoyed reading. One of them, forgetful.ca, is by some old friends of ours from when Steve and I just started dating. While time and history has managed to come between us, every now and then, I’ll check in and catch up on where their road has taken them. It’s been beautiful watching the blessings of their life unfold and seeing how we’ve all changed.

When I read about our past friends though, I can’t help but reflect on the different turns that we’ve all taken. It’s certainly unfortunate that fate wasn’t kinder to all of us but, I have to believe everything took the course that they needed to take. All the while though, I’ve loved seeing so many wonderful things happen to them.

Five years ago, we were all in our twenties, dating and working and meeting up for beers. Now, we’ve experienced marriage, children, new homes, new jobs and so many other things. It makes me wonder what kind of friends we would have been had we met at this point in our lives instead of five years ago. Unanswered questions aside though, their blog is great! Shannen does most of the contributing but, she does it well and her pictures are fabulous! It’s so great that it might even become part of my regular morning routine if I can get over the feeling that I might be an “unwanted lurker”!!

Also, they have a friend living in Bermuda whose blog is HYSTERICAL!!! I don’t know who this girl is but, I often find myself laughing out loud at her humour!! I always have to be careful though not to succumb to the temptation of reading it while at work…because once I start, an hour easily goes by getting caught up on the latest happenings of her life.

I just love cyberspace!

It's A Boy...!!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the newest addition to the Smyth family...

Baby Tugger!

He needed a home...we needed a fur ball...and just like that, we fell in love!

Sixteen hours is a long time. In sixteen hours, you could drive from Ottawa to Tilbury and back. You could watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. You could work two full days in the office. You could listen to our iPod and never hear the same song twice. Sixteen hours is a long time.

Sixteen hours is how long Steve and I slept the night that we returned to Canada from Australia. Sixteen hours!! And I’m not talking with a few wake up calls in between or even a pee break for that matter…I mean that Steve and I went to bed at 11pm one night and woke up at 3pm the next afternoon. Do you even realize how much work that takes?!?! Even back in my teenage days, I’d never slept that long!

Both of us were caught quite off guard by our bodies’ sudden need to such extreme amounts of rest but, when we began to talk about it a bit, we both felt like we weren’t just coming home from a month’s vacation…we were coming home from a three month whirlwind. This is would actually be the first time in almost four months in which we weren’t packing or moving or travelling or changing jobs (this is Steve’s last week at the NRC), and at the risk of sounding too much like a mental health ad, for the first time in 2008, we get to come home and just “be”. We get to come home and enjoy our new house, enjoy the nice weather, settle into new jobs and take a breath.

For all the moments in which we wish we had more vacation time, nothing reminds me of how much I love home more than being away from it.

Diaries from Down Under

Chapter Seven

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

It’s 3:47am and we are flying somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. The passengers are quiet, the lights are dim and the winds are turbulent. It hasn’t been a very smooth flight so far. I’m not a very nervous flyer but, every now and then, at moments like this, I am reminded that I have put my life in someone else’s hands and that, regardless of the circumstances, there is absolutely nothing that I can do to change that. What happens on this plane is out of my control…and that is a feeling that doesn’t always sit well with me.

As I think about it though, I find it interesting that we tend to notice the circumstances out of our control far more often than the ones that are within our control. So often, we fall victim to hopelessness and feel the necessity to surrender our choices. Sometimes, we do so for the “greater good”, other times we do so because we are too afraid of the alternative but, the bottom line is that we, as humans, can do a lot with our lives.

I’ve had a lot of time to think during this trip. Many hours spent on planes, driving in the car and sailing on the ocean have provided me with the solitude that I often can’t get in my day to day life. I’ve thought about our life, the future of our life and the contributions that I may or may not make to it. I’ve also thought about other people’s lives and the significance that they have on my own. We tend to be very frivolous and selfish about our relationships, often taking for granted the very ones that mean the most to us.

The past two or three years has been an incredible time of growth for me regarding the most important relationship in my life…the one I have with myself. A lot of time and effort has been spent on my part to sort through many things and make some very important decisions. I’ll be the first to say that it was really difficult and upsetting most of the time but, I’ve changed more in three short years than I have at any other time in my life. Up until that point, most of my decisions were made to accommodate other people and to manage their needs. The concept of making decisions that meet my own needs is a bit like Australia…foreign territory. When you’ve spent a life neglecting your own needs, making the decision to do otherwise opens up a whole new realm of possibilities and interests. The happiness that has come from it has encouraged me to take every opportunity I can to reflect on where I am relative to the life that I am living.

This trip has provided the unique opportunity to take a step back and see our lives from another perspective. Being on the other side of the world and outside of our element brings about a lot of emotion. It changes you, it changes how you see the world and most of all, it changes how you see the things that you’ve left behind.

Steve and I have made choices over the course of our time together that has led to this moment…to this plane ride home in the dead of the night. We chose to travel across the world to see family that we can’t bear to be away from for too long. That is a significant decision to make. It’s been an investment of time, energy and money, and yet…we chose to make it happen. And it was amazing!

This realization inspired me to look at what other things I could choose that I never have before because of the overwhelming feat of doing so. I concluded that my life is so filled with blessings right now that that in and of itself overwhelms me most of the time but, I still feel the best way to live life is to love many things. And I do love many things…but I don’t necessarily surround myself with those things as often I could.

I love animals but I don’t have a pet. I actually really do love mornings but I don’t get up early. I love candlelight but I never want to use up my candles. I love the French language but I’m too self-conscious to speak it. The list goes on but, hopefully not for much longer because life from the other side of the world has taught me that it’s not enough to want to sit under the Southern Cross...you have to see it and marvel at it and let it transform your life. Anything else is not a life spent living…it’s only a life spent wondering.

Wondering doesn’t make you fall in love…sitting under the Southern Cross does!

Diaries from Down Under

Chapter Six

Friday, April 18th, 2008

Two years ago, when we first started considering this trip, it was because Jeff was hopefully going to be posted here for one year to do staff college. Sure enough, he got his wish and now, two years later, we are finding ourselves having family dinners around a table in Australia instead of in Ontario.

Families are complicated and large, extended families can be even more so. It certainly goes without saying that it can sometimes take a great deal of work to manage relationships within a family unit but, at other times, you are fortunate enough to also find yourself with friends and it makes the time of building lives together a completely different experience. Intertwined among the Smyth family is just that…a bunch of friends masquerading as “in-laws”!!!

When I was young, all of my mom’s family would go to Cypress Lake together every year for the May 2-4 weekend. We would pile kids, dogs, tents and marshmallows in our cars and head out for the woods where we would spend the entire weekend getting mosquito bites and scaring each other into oblivion around the campfire!! Rain or shine, that annual weekend has always been one of the highlights of my childhood.

As I got older though, I began notice the dynamic of certain relationships among my mother’s family and realized that many of the people I adored as a child really didn’t get along very well. Now, they seldom even talk to each other and family gatherings like those of our younger days are simply unheard of. This made me wonder if they actually got along during our annual camping trips or if they just tolerated each other for the sake of being a family. Or better yet, if they tolerated each other for the sake of all these little kids that would maybe (hopefully) grow up having a different relationship than they had??

It intrigues me when I think about how hard that must have been for some of my family; to be trapped in the woods together and having to endure each other’s company for entire long weekend. The diplomacy that must have been required to keep the peace in an otherwise hostile environment…I can only imagine. The thing is though, that when I do imagine it…it makes me sad. I don’t want that for our children (one day!) or any other of our nieces and nephews, as I truly believe that one of the best things that we can do for the children of our family is to love each other.

As I write this from the Smyth family house in Australia, I think that I may have uncovered the key to my own family’s lack of longevity; As I mentioned, families are complicated and there is simply no way around that. You can’t bring people together from different experiences and expect otherwise but you can become a part of each other’s experiences. All relationships require time and energy…they require a genuine interest in each other’s lives and they require shared experiences in order to exist beyond the superficialities of holiday dinners. And that is the very reason that Steve and I are here in Canberra right now…so that we can share in this experience with Jeff and Monica and allow it to become part of the relationship that we already have with them. It’s not just about traveling the world and seeing new together…it’s about living together for a week and sharing in each other’s anxieties about the possibility of that becoming a motive for homicide. It’s about enduring the grumpy days with the happier ones. It’s about being reunited after four months and having to say goodbye again for another six. It’s about enduring a wine-induced night of watching Borat with too much chocolate!!! It’s about expecting less of each other and accepting more of each other.

While our families may be one of the biggest challenges that we face in our lives…the relationships to be had within them is worth all our efforts. After all…for better or for worse… "we are family"!

For more pictures from Canberra, click here.

Diaries from Down Under

Chapter Five

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008

Just before we left for Australia, Julie bought me Jane Austen’s epic novel, Pride and Prejudice. The avid reader and book lover that I am had never read any of her works before and Julie’s literary mind simply couldn’t comprehend this. Actually, Julie is not the only person that has been surprised to hear this! For many years now, when people inspect our book collection (aka. The Smyth archives!), they are often puzzled to not find a well loved version of at least one of Austen’s novels.

Growing up, few things agitated me more than having to read the likes of Shakespeare, Margaret Atwood and yes, Jane Austen, only to find myself having to dissect the very story that I fell in love with. The writer in me understood the importance of such analysis but, the reader in me cringed at the very thought of it. Books were meant to take your imagination away and open you up to a whole new world. English literature classes betrayed this very covenant that I had between my self and my beloved bookshelf.

At long last though, thanks to Julie’s undying love for Jane Austen, I too have fallen in love all over again! I’m in the final moments of Pride and Prejudice and I can’t get enough of it. It’s so beautiful and romantic, and for the first time, I understand the passionate love affair that occurs between Austen and her readers.

Most of my books have very important significance to me. Beautiful stories aside, each one reminds me of a specific time in life, a season, an emotion, a person and sometimes, when all else failed, I clung to those novels as a life line anchoring me to a world a little less turbulent than my own.

This being said, not only is Jane Austen going to have a permanent place on my book shelf and in my heart, but Pride and Prejudice is going to be the common thread that followed me through a less than common adventure! While we have changed seasons four times, taken nine different flights, changed time zones seven times and changed our lives eternally, I’ve also found myself rooted in the romantic life of Elizabeth Bennett at the turn of the century. While I’ve been out chasing kangaroos and dodging snakebites, she’s been juggling the likes of Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham. I find it amusing that even back then, men still managed to cause us so much grief!! I’ve found myself living so many alternate lives this month, and I suppose, in the end, that’s what experience is really about…stepping outside of yourself in order to broaden your peripheral vision.

Like most of my books, I never want them to end. It takes me the same amount of time to finish the last ten pages as it does the entire rest of the book. Like so many other things in my life, I tend to have a hard time letting go. While I’m eager to know what happens, I’m also sad about not being lost in the language anymore.

Ms. Bennett and Mr. Darcy…I reckon that you should call of upon your carriage and join me in a fortnight in Ottawa! I hear that the weather will be simply splendid!!

Diaries from Down Under

Chapter Four

Sunday, April 13th, 2008

Anyone who’s done any degree of long distance running knows all too well the concept of hitting the wall. It’s that crucial moment in which the mind no longer functions with the body and your hamster inevitably falls off the wheel. For so many things, mind over matter is the ultimate deciding factor but, when you hit the wall, your ability to rationalize and see the light at the end of the tunnel minimizes drastically.

On the long distance, stamina requiring marathon that is our discovery of Australia, day ten was most definitely the moment in which I hit the wall. Our final day in the Outback took its toll on me and luckily (or perhaps unluckily) it did so for Steve as well. A certain degree of stress comes with any vacation but, in our case, this trip required a great deal of planning and organization. We’ve been really busy since our arrival in Australia in an attempt to see as much as possible during our short time here. With so much to do and not a lot of time to do it in, nearly every day here has been planned ahead of time. In our first two weeks, we’ve stayed at four different hotels, taken five different flights and changed time zones with each one. All this to say that by the time we left Central Australia, our stamina was running low and our mental health was depleting with it!

Fortunately (yes, there is a bright side here!), amongst our exceptional planning, we also anticipated this very set back!! Steve and I know each other and ourselves well enough to know that ten days is usually our limit before we start to feel a little homesick and worn out. This time, we took prevented measures…

A month ago, we booked ourselves into a beautiful resort in the small town of Port Douglas. We decided it was time to let someone take care of us for the day!! So, early on Saturday morning, we drove one hour along the coast from Cairns to Port Douglas to the very luxurious Sheraton Mirage Hotel Resort. Surrounded by seven acres of saltwater lagoons, this hotel is simply legendary! We proceeded to spend the entire day napping in the sun, swimming in the lagoons and walking along the beach. After a lovely dinner in town, we returned to our room for a rest in our Jacuzzi, watched Harry Potter and ate Australia’s 84% cream chocolate! It was just the rest that we needed after ten amazing days of adventure!!

With the break under our belt, we are now set for the last stretch before we head home. We took a train ride today to the small village of Kuranda, located high up in the rainforest and made our way back down via the rare commute of taking a cable car! Tomorrow, we are hoping that the weather will cooperate for our reef tour and our last day in Cairns. We are due to visit two areas of the reef and spend a good five hours of snorkeling. The clouds were rolling in tonight around dinner time but, we are keeping our fingers crossed that we will have one more day of adventure conducive weather.

Come Tuesday, it’s off to Canberra to spend our last week with the real reason that we came here in the first place…to see Jeff, Monica and the kids! After this huge Australian Adventure, I can’t think of any better way to finish it off than with four of our favourite people.

Monday, April 14th, 2008

I got to touch a sea turtle today! How incredible is that?!?! We were out snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef when I spotted the turtle. I swam over to him, reached my hand out and just then, he rose to the surface and the tips of my fingers grazed the outside of his shell. He barely even seemed to notice that I was there.

The ocean never fails to blow my mind! Seeing creatures like a sea turtle in the open sea is very humbling to me. It is a vivid reminder of an unseen world that that lies all around us. I love being in the ocean but, every now and then, I get awakened to its vastness and power, and startle myself into praying that it doesn’t eat me alive!!!

Our day on the Reef was fantastic! We woke up at the crack of dawn to head out for the pier. Our sailboat, the Passions of Paradise, took us two hours out into the ocean for the tiny destination of Michaelmas Island, a bird sanctuary and our first snorkeling site. The waters were rough and for a good chunk of the morning, we thought that the tail end of the Eastern Coast’s rainy season might unleash upon us but, sure enough, the clouds parted and left us with a spectacular day.

We had lunch on the boat, met new friends and headed out for our second site along the Reef. Being in deeper waters this time made for an entirely different perspective of the Reef and a different appreciation for how fierce the ocean can be. While Michaelmas Island was very shallow and easy to manage…the open water of our second site was similar to the continental shelf; once the you reached the edge of the Reef, you also felt like you had reached the edge of the earth!!! The vast darkness that loomed beyond the Reef was haunting and while I admire the scuba divers that braved its elements, you would never find me venturing off the edge of that cliff!

By the end of the day, we were exhausted yet energized. Exhausted for the sun and the swimming and the all the excitement of the day. Energized from having seen one of the most beautiful natural wonders of the world and gaining a new appreciation for the need to protect it.

Someone asked me today what I would remember most about my trip here and I told them, “the colours”. Every time I look at something, it seems to have the most vivid of colours; the birds, the fish, the sky…they all have a vibrancy that I’ve never experienced before and may never see again. Perhaps it’s the more observant side of me having the time to notice or perhaps it’s genuinely the various elements that make up this phenomenal place but, either way, I have found that when I close my eyes at night, not only have I seen the world a bit differently, but the colours have seeped into my dreams as well. I can’t possibly think of a better souvenir than that!

Good Night and Sweet Dreams…


For more pictures from Port Douglas and Cairns, click here.

I may be in a hockey-less land...but I still believe!

Diaries from Down Under

Chapter Three

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

We left Sydney this morning for our adventure in the Outback of Central Australia. Also known as “The Red Centre”, the Outback is considered one of the most treacherous terrains on the planet. For anyone driving into the Outback, visitors are encouraged to register with government officials both on their way in and on their way out as a means of monitoring everyone’s safety. I read a shocking statistic not too long ago that said that an average of 400 tourists die in Australia every year. That includes car accidents and heart attacks, but still - it seems like a lot!!

We flew into a town called Alice Springs and were doing the five hour drive to our resort from there. For the brief amount of time that we spent in Alice Springs…I couldn’t help but think that it left much to be desired! Close your eyes and picture the hottest, dirtiest, smelliest place you can think of. Then, give everyone there a cigarette…take some broken beer bottle pieces and sprinkle them on top…and then you have Alice Springs! Delightful, isn’t it?!?! Like I said though, our time there was very brief and I’m sure that there is more to it that we’re not seeing but, as far as first impressions go, I was really glad to be heading out of town as quickly as possible.

When we first arrived into Alice Springs, the Australians were very kind in welcoming us to the Outback. What they really meant to say though was “Death looms in the Outback…we hope you enjoy your visit”!!! Everywhere you turn, someone is trying to tell you how nuts you were for coming out here in the first place! Our car rental has a little sticker on the front window that says “Arrive Alive” and every rest stop (if you can call a little hut in the desert with a bench under it a rest stop) along the highway has a sign that says “Rest, Revive, Survive”. Even at our hotel, amongst all of the wonderful little booklets regarding hotel amenities and excursions, there is a separate little flyer that says “Don’t Risk Your Life”. Really…eight hours into it and I already want to turn back!!!

Life threatening dangers aside though, I can say that the Outback is stunning. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life and I can understand what draws people out here. What makes people want to live out here is a different story entirely but, as for spending all of your savings for a brief glimpse of this hidden landscape…I’d be the first one to step up and tell you to do the same. While the heat may cost you your health and the bugs may cost you your sanity…the view is priceless!

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

I had dinner under the Southern Cross tonight. In fact, I saw the night sky in a way that I have never before seen it in my life and it was spectacular.

Steve and I joined one hundred other guests tonight to experience the award winning “Sounds of Silence” dinner. This excursion is considered one of the top tourist attractions in the country and I can say without a doubt that what Central Australia lacks in tourism marketing, they make up for with fine dining.

A tour bus picked us up at our hotel lobby and drove all of us out to a sand dune in between Ayers Rock and another legendary formation called The Olgas. From there, waiters and waitresses greeted us with champagne and appetizers of kangaroo (sorry Dad!) and crocodile while we watched the sun set in the desert. Shortly there after, we were taken to our tables where we literally had dinner in the middle of the Outback. Beautiful tables with white linen were placed on the red sand of the desert and we spent the next three hours enjoying dinner, literally, in the middle of nowhere. Our “dining room” and the “kitchen” were roped off and that was all that protected us from whatever was roaming the Outback after dark. Our tables were lit with beautiful pillar candles and for the remainder of the evening we feasted on Australian delicacies (and some specialties that were a bit more familiar!) while we were guided through some of the historical culture of Central Australia. Ironically enough, we found ourselves sharing a table with three other Canadians…one from Toronto and one from Ottawa. The rest of our dinner guests were from Brisbane and the U.K. So, in between all of the banter about soccer and rugby, you’ll be proud to know that the Canadians managed to throw a little hockey trash talk around the table by night’s end!!

Finally, just before dessert, we blew out all of the candles and an astronomer joined in to walk us through the night sky…a sky that I am convinced can only be seen from very few places in the world. The moon set early in the evening and the sky was so free of light pollution that we were able to see two galaxies with the naked eye…it was incredible. I wished on no less than four shooting stars and saw the rings of Saturn through one of the telescopes that were provided for us. Our very noticeable winter constellation of Orion is currently sitting quite low on the horizon of the Southern Hemisphere and though he’s upside down, it was delightful have a familiar face join us for dinner!!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

It was 38 degrees celcius today in the Outback and I’ve decided that I have developed quite the love/hate relationship with this place. On the one hand, it’s one of the most outstanding places that I’ve ever seen…It’s beautiful and stunning and mysterious and unique. On the other hand, it’s very clear why it’s so untouched by man…It’s harsh and cruel and demanding and ruthless.

We haven’t had a lot of time in Yulara (the region around Ayers Rock) but, truth be told, I don’t know that I could spend much more time here. We leave tomorrow for the Great Barrier Reef and the very thought of water brings comfort to my soul. The Outback has this quiet eeriness about it that I can’t quite explain. It’s as though the land is very well aware of who calls the shots around here. The Outback is never conquered…it’s only visited. And even then, that only happens when you’re given permission.

We drove out to visit another area today called King’s Canyon. It took us three hours on a road with nothing more than a single gas station only to discover after twenty minutes on the trail that we wanted to go back to our hotel. Numerous animals died along the highway during the night and the temperature soared come daybreak. It left a gruesome display of the power of nature and a swift reminder that man only possesses the illusion of power.

In a weird way though, it’s almost comforting to know that there are still some places on this planet we call home that simply can’t be controlled.

For more pictures for our trip in the Outback, click here.