Warm winter greetings to
you, family & friends,
The Christmas playlist is
on shuffle, a log crackles away on the TV merrily and rumours of snow are in
the forecast. It must be time for the
annual holiday letter! 2016 has been quite the year; politics aside, I am not
sure I will ever be whole again after the loss of both Prince and David Bowie! Following the death of Leonard Cohen, I bemoaned
2016 as the worst year. Ever. This
declaration garnered me no less than a skeptical eye-roll from Chris and
prompted a discussion about being of a
certain age when one’s idols begin to die off, and how the despair of it is
probably less the actual state of the world and more one’s own fragile
mortality whispering in one’s ears. Nothing screams holiday cheer quite like a
rude awakening, am I right? But seriously, the writing of this missive always
has been as much an inventory for me as it is a catching up for you. So I shall soldier on, as I have yet to
disappoint my inner lover of happy endings with my holiday letters.
Around this time last
year, I was particularly concerned about Jordan. Every day, when I picked him up from school,
he would come to me with tears in his eyes, he would climb into my lap and
cling to me and I would do my best to soothe him. But I didn’t know why he was sad, because he
wouldn’t tell me. But something was
definitely wrong. I was afraid that I would have to take him in to a
psychologist! Turns out, he wasn’t
hearing as he should. They sent his
hearing aids in for repair and then we figured out that his hearing had gotten
worse in both ears. Eventually we got in
to see the specialist and he noticed a lot of fluid behind both ear drums, so
we made an appointment for a tympanostomy to relieve some of the pressure. You can read all about it
on our blog post from that day, but in the end, we only put a tube into the left ear, and the
right ear’s hearing deficit grew from moderate to severe, even without fluid
putting pressure on the ear drum. We
always used to say, “Even without hearing aids, Jordy hears a lot!” But there
is a remarkable difference in his hearing now.
We now have to confirm frequently whether he has heard us or not, and he
is learning to ask speakers to repeat themselves when he doesn’t catch what
they are saying. Why has he experienced
a sudden hearing loss, after six years of consistent test results? We don’t
know and probably never will. The good
news is, we were able to adjust the amplification of his hearing aids and he is
a much happier boy. No more tears after
school! We continue to book appointments
with the ENT, in hopes he will be able to tell us if this hearing loss will
continue to get progressively worse. In
the meantime we are trying to stay on top of his hearing aid function and using
the FM system at school so that he gets as much information in class as he
can.
Speaking of class, Jordy
now attends a mainstream public school, just a ten minute walk from home! He is
always positive about going to school, he knows all the teachers and is
generally doing well. Birchland is a
very welcoming place, and it gives my heart a lift to see kids from all classes
greeting Jordan with hellos and high
fives as we walk into the building. He has made some good friends and though we
were a bit trepidatious about moving him from the shelter of his tiny special
school in Vancouver, we know now that we made the right choice. This year, Jordan discovered a new love for
building with Legos, riding his bike without training wheels and has lost his
first four baby teeth.
Cygni is now attending the
same school as her brother and couldn’t be happier! She loves Kindergarten, her teachers and all
her classmates. Last week she was sick
with a cold and was mad at me because I made her stay home on the day they were
going to start gymnastics in PE. She is so good at making friends and
connecting with kids of all ages. She greets
many of the grade 5 kids as we walk through the school yard every day and,
don’t tell her I told you, but there is a lunch monitor who has stolen her
heart named Connor. Cygni’s strength continues to be all things crafty and
artistic. She loves to paint, draw,
colour and sculpt, and she has turned out some really cool pieces. She was inspired by Jordan learning to ride
without training wheels, and decided she would do the same; one summer day
Chris went outside to check on her and she was riding her friend Owen’s bike
without training wheels – without help!
Cygni loves Pokémon, anything spooky or creepy and currently aspires to a
career in law enforcement.
I am sure you are
wondering, now that the kids are both in public school nearby, what on earth
does Deb do with all her time? Is she
working more? Is her house immaculate and is there always a lavish home-cooked
meal on the table? What fills her days? Well, I am still working about twelve
hours a week at Starbucks, and I do pick up the occasional extra shift here and
there. The house is usually slightly tidier (though I wouldn’t dream of using
the word immaculate,) and I do try to
have a good home-cooked dinner on most nights, but you might be surprised by
how full my days are with errands as well as housework. I still attend book club every month, but
haven’t been participating as much in the reading because… deep breath… I have
begun my own creative writing project and it takes any spare time I have! Only a few select people have been privy to
that morsel of information until now, mostly because I am somewhat insecure
about it! I’m one of those people
irrationally afraid of failure, and consequently never gave writing a sincere
try, until now. I have no pretensions to the next great Canadian novel or
anything like that, but I have come farther than I ever have on a project, many
being abandoned after a few thousand words or so, and this is the first thing I
have started at all in over a decade. I
even took a picture of the screen when my word count exceeded 10,000! It’s a
Regency period romance; you know, swoon, croon, the moon in June….? I like to
think of it as a sweet bit of doggerel which takes place amid the Peninsular
campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. My
current goal is simply to finish writing the thing (currently untitled.) I’m about three-quarters through the
story. After that, perhaps I will look
to publishing, and if so, I will certainly let all of you know! Sure, the dream
is to one day make writing my paid occupation, but I’m not sure if I will be
fortunate enough to realise that. For now, I am simply proud of how far I have
come. Wish me luck!
My writing aside, I’ve
had the opportunity to see a few great concerts this year! A couple of weeks
after Prince’s death I went with a friend to a tribute show which was enormous
fun, and I now deeply regret never seeing the actual man live when I had the
chance; Ritchie Sambora of Bon Jovi also made a surprise guest appearance!
Chris and I also went together to see The Cure at the end of May, we skipped
the eyeliner and red lipstick though. And then for my birthday, that sweet
husband of mine sent me to see Paul Simon with a girlfriend! The fellow can
still rock! If money were no object, I
would go see whomever I wished to live, in concert. Young people, my advice to
you is to travel as much as you can and go see as many shows as possible while
your income is disposable!
Chris has probably had
the least change to talk about in the last year. He continues to work on a data and analytics
team at Electronic Arts, though he did change to a new manager as part of a
larger analytics organization within the company. Oh, be nice, he loves it. There has been little overtime and a lot less
stress in the last year, which has been good to see. He did add to his stress a bit by taking the
plunge and upgrading my 1998 Toyota Camry (that we got from Nanny when she
moved to Newfoundland) to a brand-new 2016 Honda Odyssey minivan! Yes, we are now mini-van people. Seven years ago when we bought our Toyota
Matrix I wouldn’t consider a mini-van, lest I have to accept my fate as a
soccer mom. But now I love driving the
van! We can take groups of people with
us and carry everything we need when we go on vacation. Also:
HEATED SEATS!
This summer we finally made Nanny Mary happy and braved a plane ride with our
children to Newfoundland. Our big
concern was how Jordan would handle not being able to move around much for
nearly ten hours of flight time. We packed a knapsack full of toys, activities
and snacks for each leg and both kids were great! This trip is where Jordan really fell for
Lego, because he had a mat that fit perfectly on the tray table and he happily
built houses and space craft for nearly the whole time in his seat. And Newfoundland was gorgeous! We adore the
funny down-to-earth people and the kids loved splashing their toes in the cold
Atlantic while beachcombing. Chris and I
both got Screeched-In (that’s a hilarious ceremony for becoming honourary
Newfies!) amid the beloved Cousins, Aunts and Uncles of the Gunn clan, many of
whom I met for the first time on that trip.
It was pretty chilly for a good chunk of our time there, but on days
when we really needed it to be dry and sunny, it was. We ventured north to Twillingate and stayed a
couple of nights in a beautifully restored historic saltbox house, and saw some
icebergs up close. Another time we drove out to Friday Harbour for a few days in
breathtaking Gros Morne. Chris and I
would like to take the kids back to visit L’anse aux Meadows and St. John’s
someday, but agree that it would have been too much to try to squeeze in on
this trip, and likely wasted on them at this age anyhow. So I imagine we will be back to “the Rock”
sometime when Jordy and Cygni are older.
You can check out some amazing pictures on our blog post from
our fabulous Newfie holiday if you’d like
to learn more.
We also made our annual pilgrimage
to Osoyoos in August, and thankfully there were no wildfires this year! The region got a
much needed respite from the extreme heat this season. We met up with the Crawley family while there
and it was extra fun for the kids to have their cousin Bella to play with at
the beach. Michelle and I took a little
winery tour while Chris and Jerry watched the kids, which was a nice little
treat! About a week after that we hosted the best Beer Fest yet! There was lots
of good food and a fun crowd to enjoy tasting beer on a lovely storm-free
summer evening. One of our Beer Fest
traditions is to place the empties along the top of our fence, and this year we
filled two fence panels (plus a bit of another!) We are looking forward to
seeing if next year can top it! We’re
planning on moving Beer Fest VI up to the BC Day long weekend, so mark your
calendars!
So looking back on 2016,
it was far from the worst year ever. At any rate the Dumaresqs of Port
Coquitlam have much to be thankful for; not the least of which is the love and
friendship that you share with us,
dearly beloved. Naturally, this line of thought brings to mind lyrics sung by
the late, great Prince:
Dearly beloved,
We are gathered here today to get through
this thing called ‘life,’
Electric word, life,
It means forever and that’s a mighty long
time
But I’m here to tell you…
If you don’t like,
The world you’re living in,
Take a look around,
At least you’ve got friends….
Yes, at least there is
that. And the small joys of day to day life can cheer us too: a high five on
the playground, a colourful drawing of Pikachu, growing numbers in the lower
left hand corner of your screen where the word count is tracked, a lovingly
executed spreadsheet, or the sunset reflected in the rippled surface of your
favourite summer lake. I hope that when
you take stock, you also find things are perhaps a little brighter than you
first imagined. Also that you might have the courage to be the change you wish
to see in the world.
With Love.
Deb & the Family
Merry Christmas, Everyone!
(photos by Caitlin @ Gingersnaps Photography)
