The World Needs More Canada

I spent President's Day weekend stalking Canadians in the streets of Vancouver with my camera.

I started by running up behind people and taking pictures of their backs. Some I secretly followed for blocks until I got just the right shot. Then I got bolder and held up my camera as Canadians walked passed me, hoping they thought I was photographing the scenery behind them.

Finally, I started approaching random strangers and asking for photo opps directly. In typical Canadian fashion, every single person smiled and said of course. At first I thought they were being so friendly and gracious because they were trying to be good Olympic hosts. Then I realized the real source of their generosity: they have free health care!

It was all an attempt to capture the random and creative uses of The Great Maple Leaf that have made the streets of Vancouver come alive.

I do love being American, but all weekend, I really wanted to wear a red maple leaf too. It's kinda . . . hip.

Go Canada Go!

(Thank you, Laney and Christy, for being so patient with my incessant photo stalking, and thank you Cassie for working your photoshop magic to create this collage.)

Baby Picture Therapy Part IV

Final baby picture epiphany: I am lovable. Not in a narcissistic way, but in a theoretical way - the way everyone is lovable.

Once, a therapist put an empty chair in front of me and told me to visualize my six-year-old self. As soon as I could "see" her, I started to cry. I felt overwhelming love for that little girl; I could feel her worth.

That feeling was accompanied by the realization that, as a child, she had done absolutely nothing to merit love. She had not dated anyone or won any auditions or memorized the states in alphabetical order or earned her Young Womanhood medallion. She was just a regular kid who deserved to be loved because she was inherently good.

Then I thought of all the mean things people would say and do to her. But what hurt the most was realizing that I was the meanest of them all. I told her how sorry I was for all the lies I fed her, for the years when I called her fat and ugly, for the times I berated her for failing. It was a difficult conversation.

In the past year, I have fallen in love with a lot of babies. Thank you Libby and Sarah, Thorvald and Astrid, Schroeder, Gracie, Ramona and Lyle for reminding me once again that you don't have to do anything to be lovable. I love you because you are.

While I had that experience in therapy years ago, my little collection of baby pictures reminds me of that moment. They make me want to treat this little girl well - to encourage her, to cheer her on, to tell her nice things, to give her the best, to help her live up to her potential.

Everyone deserves that.

Baby Picture Therapy Part III

Baby Picture Epiphany #3: I heart Tupperware.

As a lover and eater of leftovers, I've always appreciated Tupperware, but I never knew our connection ran so deep.

Maybe this explains why I really enjoy eating soggy leftover salad.

Maybe it also explains why I still get so frustrated when there are dozens of plastic lids and containers in the cupboard and NONE of them fit together. Yesterday I resorted to wrapping a Tupperware container in plastic wrap. Seriously, where do all the matching lids go?

This appears to be a mystery that I've been trying to solve since I was two years old.