Tall, Dark, and Handsome

Until recently I’ve been in a deep funk. This Covid 19 pandemic is dragging on, and on, with no end in sight. This past summer we experienced another depressing season of wildfires and choking smoke, reminding me that our planet is crying in crisis. I’ve been reflecting on whether global warming can even be reversed at this stage and it weighs heavy on my chest, like a hopeless stone.

Little things have been happening though, like small electric shock treatments clearing the dark fog from my brain. Another of those happened this past weekend. It was supposedly a Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. I have to say that I can’t feel very thankful however for how our country has and continues to treat our indigenous people. Instead of celebrating Thanksgiving this year, we chose to welcome fall into our midst. We also celebrated my husband David’s birthday.

This year his birthday fell on Saturday, October 9th, 2021. While he and our our oldest daughter Alyssa, and our three younger kids. Will, Kate and Victoria went for a long walk through our nearby Kalamalka Provincial Park, I stayed home making a four layer, chocolate cake which I call, “Tall, Dark, and Handsome.”

For two hours, I was home with just our Siamese cat Ryuuki, who was curled up, sleeping on the window seat in our kitchen. Other than the whirring noise from our mixer, our house was still and quiet. In the silence, it occurred to me that I’m seldom alone these days. David started working from home two years ago, when he and his partner bought their engineering company. Every day I hear him in our den participating in Zoom meetings and looking intently at the drawings on his computer. He has jobs all over B.C, Alberta, Saskatchewan and they even have a job down in Alabama. The project manager working down there calls it,”the Red Neck Riviera.” Long before vaccines were being rolled out here in Canada, they were readily available at any pharmacy down there but the majority of the population refused to be vaccinated. They claimed there was a government conspiracy to control the south and tracking devices were in the vaccine. David always comes out of his office at the end of the day full of interesting stories, even though he never leaves the house.

Anyway, as I was icing Tall, Dark and Handsome, I wondered if the lack of alone time was perhaps the cause of my slow funk into oblivion. I’m one of those people who likes their own company and I tend to be an introverted person, so perhaps this was the reason for my current mental state. Or it could be that everyone but me has a useful purpose. David heads into the den each morning and is our main breadwinner. Our older daughter Grace is enrolled in University and even though she is largely taking those classes from her bedroom, she has a life. Our younger children, Will, Kate and Tori are now back to school and are busy members of the Kokanee swim club. Also, they have their respective music lessons and instruments to practice. I have the endless task of doing laundry, and other chores like icing this cake. With this thought, I finished the cake, topping it with luscious, maraschino cherries and sparkly white sprinkles.

While wrapping David’s birthday gifts, I started to relax into the quiet, breathing in the peace of our home. Once all the presents were wrapped, I whipped through the house straightening things and when everything was done, I sat next to Yuuki on the window seat, sipping some peppermint tea and stroking his soft fur. Someone was wind surfing on Kal Lake below our house, and the colourful sails flew across the white caps without a care in the world. Just as I was wondering whether David and the kids were ever going to come home, I heard the rolling hum of our garage door opener. Moments later, noisy, rosy, red cheeked children spilled into the kitchen. My tall husband, his brown hair messy from the wind, smiled at me. He poured a cup of coffee and the kids oohed and awed over the cake sitting on the counter. As they pulled out the hot chocolate and boiled some water, they talked over each other, telling me about all the sights and sounds from their walk. Each had their own story to tell.

A little piece of gratitude flashed into my heart and I gave thanks for the perspective of quiet, and the joy of happy noise. Of course, the sight of Tall, Dark and Handsome didn’t hurt either…and I’m not talking about cake!