"Nature reigns here in all her wanton luxuriance, adorned by a thousand wild graces." Frances Brooke

Hey y'all, it's been a while! Many, many moons ago there's was a date known as July 11th. This was the day that I was supposed to return to the 'real world' from my vacay away, finish up some "minor" schoolwork and then have the rest of the summer to putz around Bankybear. But then July 11th arrived with a strange expression on its face. And then that 'rest'? That didn't happen. And then I got my ass kicked.

Moozh and I departed to the Land of Plenty in the middle of a distance course that I was working. Canadian Literature, I thought, 'Pssh, no biggie. I've read Atwood and Munro and a little bit of Cohen. I wrote a friggin' feminist rant on Ondaatje's 'Cinnamon Peeler'. I'll be fine." And then my teacher and all the course work laughed and said, "Ha! Oh NO YOU AIN'T!" So July 11th rolled around, a day I may here forth reference as The Rapture, after which I had taken a leisurely day of wine cocktails, sleeping masks and examining my tan lines to recuperate from my 'jet lag'. I planned to return to my course work with a fresh mind and some pithy anecdotes to use to introduce myself to new classmates and to endear myself to friends. My last course of the summer, Modern Jewish History, began on The Rapture, and that would be a uniform and convenient date to move ahead with everything. And then the jazzy tan faded on my rose coloured glasses as I sheepishly realized that I was in for more work that I was expecting. A HISTORY CLASS -what the frick was I thinking!!?? And then on top of that, I realized that missing over a third of the distance course I was working on, even though my teacher didn't get to see my vapid expression everyday, was a serious incident.

And of course in the midst of this is always interpersonal stuff. Moozh and I made a serious course correction. Moozh is doing culinary school! His Sommelier and Cicerone course starts in the fall and then his culinary arts course starts in January. He has a pretty pretty set of special wine glasses for his wine course that I am not allowed to touch because I break EVERYTHING. And 'My wife broke my wine set' doesn't really hold up. Sounds kind of like "My dog ate my homework." Our life is so empowered now. The idea of 'vision' or 'direction' was totally foreign to me. I'm not the kind of person that plans out my whole life. But the past month has shown me that vision is not about that. It is about having something that your life is pointing towards. Regent, as holistic and beautiful and considering how many gifts it blessed us with, was not that vision. This decision, this redirection of Matt's, helped us to envision OUR life, not just my life with writing and Matt's with theology. In the midst of deciding on a new direction for Matt, we were able to decide on a new direction for us.

So when I witnessed the date today I felt a bit out of the loop. It has been over a month since the Rapture. Both of my classes are now finished. My Modern Jewish History class I did actually pretty well in it which is only indication that there is a God. The jury is still out on my literature class but I felt the final exam went better than the entire course. My history course only fuelled my morbid fascination with Jewish people. I stood outside the Hillel house on the Yoob campus after the first few classes trying to convince myself to go inside. I decided not to. I have a fat stack of books on the Vichy Regime of France during the Second World War on my desk and I totally will read them. I will then need to watch SNL or maybe Seinfeld. I watched Defiance the other day and it kind of made me feel better. "See the Jews do fight back! Sometimes." Even though Daniel Craig has his model pout going almost the whole movie. Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell are so sweet in it. Can I say that Jewish names in historical movies are the bomb? Tuvia? Zus? Fiddler on the Roof has Tzietel and Bielke. Cutesters.

And Vic was wonderful. We got to see my aunt and uncle who just relocated there. Their house is amazeballs! And they live in one of the coolest neighbourhoods in the city. But we got to see everything we wanted to see and eat everything we wanted to eat. We saw our old place, Fifth St, Bubby's. And then some of my favourite friends from Vic that I had fallen out of touch with we ran into by accident on the street. Totally sweet.

Well, happy August to everybody. I know it's seriously belated but I just realized I got here.

P.S ~ I start volunteering at the UBC farm this week! I had my orientation yesterday and I am so pumped. I'm starting late in the season but I just want to get my fingers in some ground. They grow so many beautiful things there, including hops! They have their own smokehouse and their own bees. This is on my bucket list!

P.P.S ~ Radiohead could seriously be on the soundtrack to my life. I know that I have previously said that I want the soundtrack to The Assassination of Jesse James to be the soundtrack to my life and that stands true. But Radiohead is allowed to be on there. This was the song my sister and her new moozh danced their first dance to at their wedding. My number one favourite part of weddings is seeing the groom's face when he sees his bride for the first time. But I have decided a serious runner-up is the song they choose for their first dance. I know not everyone puts a ton of thought into it, but I love that moment. I teared up during their first dance as my sister's sang "You're all I need" into her new husbands ear quietly as they danced together. Oy, beautiful. Matzel Tov and all that. Sheesh, getting all teared up writing on my blog.