Wednesday, May 9, 2007

After a month-and-a-half of the days just flying by, time seems to be standing still now. As I typed the date in the title box, I thought to myself, "It's only Wednesday?" Maybe it's because of the sheer number of things we've done this week, but man, I feel like it should be Friday by now. Not that it makes a difference--when you're unemployed, every day is the same.

Speaking of that, I had a very strange moment today when I think it finally set in for me that I had accomplished something pretty major in getting my degree. The boy, after having an off night due to cutting two more teeth, was down for his nap earlier than usual, and the wife decided to catch up on some of her missed sleep as well. That left me with the proverbial run of the house, the ability to do whatever I wanted. And I had nothing to do.

I couldn't believe it. For the first time in five years, I had no deadlines, no assignments, no looming projects, absolutely nothing better that I could be working on. It was bizarre, and it made me surprisingly antsy.

The good thing about this current down time is the chance to finally explore some hobbies. For whatever reason, it's seemed that since we've been married, I haven't really been able to squeeze hobbies into my life. Maybe it's because all my free me-time was spent with my nose in a book or an essay. Regardless of the reason, my pursuit of my hobbies has been spotty at best. Today, I picked up a book on gardening and just started to read it. I've had vague plans for the back garden at the townhouse (and the "backyard" that we have) since we've moved in, but I've never been able to put any flesh on those plans. Now I can, and will. I came up with some great ideas today, and it's nice to have the time to work through them. Of course, without a job, I don't have the money to actually pull them off, but hey, one thing at a time, right?

Moving on. How about a travelling story? Sure! I'll pick up where I left off yesterday, which was Saturday night. On Sunday morning, we began to pack our boxes into my father-in-law's trailer in a very serious fashion. I was (and continue to be) blown away by the amount of stuff we've accumulated, but I'm sure I've mentioned that already. After we packed for a while, we took a trip out to Drumheller with the whole family for a look-see at the dinosaurs. Only my mother-in-law had been there previously (and us, of course), so it was a good experience for everyone.

On Monday, it was time to hit the road. We left at around 10:30 in the morning, after a frantic final clean-up by my mom and my wife's step-mom, and several last checks around the house to see if we'd forgotten anything. And then it was time to leave Three Hills for the last time.

You know what? It was sad. My wife cried. Heck, I almost cried (but, as a man, I forbid tears from coming to my eyes). I had that characteristic lump in my throat as we drove away, not so much because I'll miss the town itself, but because I'll miss the lifestyle. We left behind good friends, but we also took with us many memories. The Three Hills chapter of our life is full of major milestones (especially as it relates to the boy--first teeth, first steps, first word, all sorts of things), and we'll always remember it fondly. The sad feeling lasted until we hit the west side of the Rockies, though, after which we got excited about coming home again, and we really did leave Three Hills behind.

On the way home, we stopped overnight in Golden and Kamloops, taking three days to travel instead of two. As much as I really just wanted to drive through the night and get home as soon as humanly possible, it was good to take it a little bit slower. Golden was great--we were originally going to camp, but realized it would probably be too cold (especially for the boy), so we ended up splitting a hotel room with my parents. The wife's dad and step-mom stayed in a campground just up the road (they have a camper with a furnace and walls, as opposed to a tent, which is what we would have been staying in).

What a beautiful spot. As we drove into town and turned toward the campground, we found ourselves right in the middle of a flock of bighorn sheep. It was wild. Later, one of the males came into the campground and started ramming a nearby tree with his horns. It was pretty amazing to be that close to nature, especially for the boy, who tended to look at the sheep as large cats, but then, everything's a cat to him, so I guess that's cool. We'll work on distinguishing the animals from each other a little bit later on.

The drive was good all the way--no snow or major trouble to worry about. There sure is plenty of construction, though. Just outside of Golden, the road is really windy and steep, so they're building a new overpass that looks like something out of The Lord of the Rings. It's breathtaking, and a marvel of engineering, as my engineer dad says--it'll probably be on the cover of an engineering trade journal when it's complete. I don't know, that doesn't sound all that prestigious to me, but I'm not an engineer. They're all a bunch of nerds anyway.

Good times were had by all, and it was good to finally take the turn into Langley again. How we missed it. And how we've just jumped right back into our routines since we've been here. Amazing. I even remembered where we stored the measuring cups. Not bad for having been away so long.

In other news, I went to the Giants game tonight. They're in the WHL final against the evil Medicine Hat Tigers, and the Tigers got the best of us tonight. It went to OT, but it only took 32 seconds for the Tigers to win it. I felt a little ripped-off by that; here we wait an entire 15-minute intermission, and they score 32 seconds in? Come on! We want at least 15 minutes of extra hockey. But it wasn't to be.

The Giants are a good team, but they didn't come out with any fire at all tonight. The second period was especially disappointing--their play reached a level of futility matched only by the Canucks. In fact, I think their power play was worse than the Canucks, if that's even possible. Oh well, the series is only 2-1, so there's plenty of time to pull it out. Plus, we're guaranteed a spot in the Memorial Cup anyway (by virtue of the fact that we're hosting it), so it really doesn't matter all that much who wins this series, although bragging rights are great.

Speaking of the Memorial Cup, I'm really looking forward to this year's tournament. My parents have been Giants' season ticket holders since the very beginning, and as such, they were able to buy their seats for the whole tournament. It's going to be pretty special, because I get to go to a game and bring the boy to his very first live hockey game. I'm so excited about it that I'm getting goosebumps. I can't wait to take him to the rink, let him breathe in the recirculated air, and smell the alcohol seeping from the pores of the guy who sits in front of us (whom we affectionately call "Mr. Six-Beer"). It'll be amazing. Songs will be sung.

Anyway. That's it for tonight. Tomorrow, it's a trip to great-grandma's house for a visit, as well as many other fun and exciting things that I'm sure you're anxious to hear about already. See you tomorrow.