Olivier’s bus has been scheduled to be 45 minutes late at the end of the day for the last 2 days. Fortunately we have been able to arrange for him to get picked up otherwise he would be waiting at the school till at least 4pm before the bus even arrives to pick them up. It is a bit ridiculous that it happens but I understand why it happens.
Last night we saw a grade that Olivier had on a test and we were not very impressed. I am never impressed, but the fact that Mel wanted to talk to him tells you something. Remember how we said that we have yet to teach Olivier that snitches get stitches. He apparently also does not know what a white lie is. They had to read some material and then indicate what they learned from the exercise. My dear summer child only identified 1 thing as the rest he had learned 3 or 4 years ago. He answered that he only learned one thing. We told him to just make something up and he was quite taken back by such a suggestion. We told him that he can not write that he did not learn anything because he might come across as arrogant or a know it all. I must confess that I have a reputation for being arrogant and my sister will vouch that she thought I was pretty damn arrogant. I like to think that I just oozed confidence. The know it all comes from Mel. Growing up that is how she acted. Luckily our son gets to inherit both of these qualities and tie in the lack of deception. When Xavier was informed of this he laughed and said just make things up. I have seen Xavier answer things and he just make up the most ridiculous things and people seem to believe him. A trait that comes from both parents. The ability to convince people that what you say is gospel. We ended up telling him that he can lie. This is the start of his villain arc. If he ends up in a life of crime we can pinpoint this exact moment as the turning point in his life.
I have yet to hear back from the hospital about starting treatment. Some times these things are outside of our control but now this will make things interesting for Ottawa. There is the possibility that I will not be able to attend at all and if that is the case we will need to figure something out. We can wait a couple more days and see what happens, but as of now my treatment will extend till the end of that week. On the bright side I am feeling much better these days with much less mental and physical fatigue. The key to dealing with it was thinking that fatigue is for suckers and choosing not to be tired. It was too difficult to do things when I was tired so I decided to not be tired. It was effective for making sure that the cancer was localized and it seemed to work. I think that we just forgot about margins when we were doing the visualization exercises the first time through. If I allow myself to feel tired then i slip into feeling tired. Though I did realize today that after cooking dinner and cleaning up after dinner that I am indeed tired. I ate some ice cream and fell asleep in my chair with ice cream melting all over me. I am lying. I ate all of the ice cream first, but it would have been amusing if that did happen. I just ate a taco and hopefully in an hour I will eat some durian and then finish the night off later with some yogurt. The kids and Mel do not like durian or the smell of it so I will generally eat it when they are not home. But not tonight.
I also need to start writing out Christmas cards to people to get rid of my 1950’s style cards. I will hand write them when I have some time. Perhaps while I am at the hospital during radiation treatment.
I am grateful for my parents moving out of the apartment on Barrydowne to the location where they still love now. We had a lot of friends in the area and my best friend lived next door. Growing up I was quite introverted and he was and still is far more extroverted than I was. I experienced a lot of things because he invited me along to things with his family or got me involved in so many harmless shenanigans. We were like two peas in a pod and at the time growing up, there were not a lot of Asians or minorities in Sudbury. I am lucky because with my circle of friends and their families I never felt like an outsider or that I was different. If I did not experience something they provided me with the opportunity to experience it. I would have never gone camping if it was not for friends bringing me along. I would not have experienced going door to door canvasing for a hockey team I did not play for. I was fee labour and got to hang out with my friends so it was a win win situation. I have a lot of fond memories of my childhood and I think it has shaped me to be the person I am today. So if my sister thinks I am arrogant we can blame my friends. A friend of mine is going to be coming from Stouffville/Markham region to visit me in a couple of weeks and it is going to be like old times. It has been several years since I have last seen him but even though a lot of time has passed we can pick up conversations like it was yesterday. I tend to neglect my friends and if it was not for Mel I would probably not contact people too frequently. That is why I appreciate my more extroverted friends who will send me a message or reach out to me to check up on things. I appreciate the care that everyone has. Hopefully I hear back with a treatment plan soon. Going back and forth from Ottawa to Sudbury for a couple of days is going to be tiring.
Q