A fair number of my discussions these days are about community. How we don’t have it as a society, how to build it, how it is different in other parts of the world.
For me community starts with family. It has been 25 years since I have lived in the same city with so many of my family. I’m really enjoying it.
My brother and his family are in North Vancouver. We go through fits and spurts seeing them depending on how busy our various lives are, but it is so special to have them close.
And of course the biggest change is Rebecca living in the same city. It has been a few years since that has happened and we are all appreciating the time together. (Rebecca’s mom and her wife have also moved to Vancouver!)
I’m particularly appreciative of the effort Rebecca has made in the last year to connect with Annie. I don’t know if Rebecca always thought it was so great to have a younger sister, but right now she is amazing with Annie. A few weeks ago they went to a comic book convention together. Rebecca is very much into Anime, and there is a mad scientist character who is very short and has red hair and blue eyes. In the comic, the scientist creates a life-size doll with a windup key. Some paper mache and a few trips to Value Village resulted in this:
Don’t ask me about the cat ears. I have no idea…but they were pretty cute! They spent 9 hours together at the Vancouver Convention Center! That was one tired little scientist at the end of the day.
More recently…it was Rebecca’s 19th birthday on the 28th, so we had a small celebration complete with sparkling, as 19 is the drinking age in B.C. (Although Rebecca has been drinking legally since 16 back in Austria.)
Dad is sure glad to have his two girls nearby. He even let Rebecca dress him up for Halloween.
Who doesn’t have at least one zombie in their family?
I’m settling quite nicely into a more normal Canadian life. Things aren’t perfect, but having family around sure makes it seem like the right decision. At least for now…….
