Where I am from ...

I am from tea cups and saucers and coloured sugar, from shredded wheat and public radio.

I am from the hills high above a peat bog, the squishy sponge dirt filled with stinky ponds, wet-land vegetation, beasts and bugs, and long since conquered by miles of blacktop and fast-moving metal dinosaurs.

I am from a pile of boulders and a transplanted California redwood that grew so fast its tip touched the heavens, far above.

I am from small family feasts and a pathological need for non-exposure, from Brenda and Anita and Carmen.

I am from righteousness and sincerity.

From gifted and undeserving.

I am from the Catholic Church, a place that is so far behind me it is gone.

I'm from a short but very teary stint in Ottawa, Ontario and a blood so mixed nobody knows its provenance; perfect pies and overcooked bitter greens.

From a man who, at 80, is still mourning the death of his father some 70 years previous and a woman who has felt completely isolated since birth, despite having created a large and devoted family. From an exclusive club of a sisterhood full of acceptance, cooperation and support, despite all odds.

I am from a collection of family slides, carelessly or deliberately lost in divorce by one bitter side or the other. My personal pictures are instead stored in my mind's eye, but have been newly relocated in a bin of slides taken by my long-dead grandmother, recently spirited from a garage and digitised to create a new story of my family's collective past for our children.

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I may have mentioned a blogger I follow who's writing moves me to no end. She recently posted about bathing suit season in a way that expressed everything I've always wanted to say about the subject, in a way that will change how I feel while poolside this summer. Her childhood sounded pretty hardscrabble, but her chosen life appears real and blessed, not because she deserves it but rather because she has found it and commits herself to it, and to her beautiful family, on a daily basis. Amanda inspires me.

Today she posted something called "Where I am from" ... and included a link to a template anyone can use to create an interesting telling of their history. The above is my "Where I am from". Why not create your own, and leave it here or on your blog? Either way, let me know so I can learn from where you come.

Housekeeping ...

I never do it. I should, I attempt, okay, I do it when I am desperate. But I never do it here ... or I never did until today.

I haven't even been able to post a 100 word entry for a couple of weeks ... We've all had a nasty summer cold, which has been thick and everlasting, but it is waning, or so I'd like to think.

With the end of school fast upon us, there are sports days, spring flings, butterfly releases, teachers gift-collecting and making ... so many little things that must be done. And of course Georgia's birthday party had to be squished in there! After all, it had to be done before the end of the school year, seeing as her actual birthday was last February!

Also? We sold our car! Which means that it is twice a day by foot or bike/trike. Have y'all seen my trike on tumblr? Seriously, I have to figure out how to use that tumblr-thing, it is apparently not the same as blogging so may be complimentary? Guess that will be one for the summertime.

Anyway, the real reason I am doing housekeeping today is to tell you all that ... er ... I've been doing a bit of blogging somewhere else.

You see, there's this site? It's like a group blog. It is the brain/lovechild of a blogger, Aunt Becky at MommyWantsVodka. I fell in love with over the radio, of all places.

The group blog is called Band Back Together, and you have to see this place for yourself to know what it does for me. It brings me hope, it brings me joy, it triggers some of my insecurities something awful once in a while, but it brings me alive. And today? Band Back Together brings us all a host of Father's Day posts. Some happy, some angry, some (like mine) pretty much just plain resigned.

Please join me at The Band. And if you feel so inspired, please pull up a comfy chair and stay. For a short time or longer, or like me, forever. It is a great place to be.



And by the way? Here's my trike on tumblr. Blogger would not let me link it earlier so ... Gah!