The Long Night

Day 1,859, 20:55 Published in Canada Canada by Ralph Kline

Canada is a land of great natural beauty, but it is also one of extremes.

Long nights and sometimes, bitter cold. Tonight is just such a night, -20 C, -30 with the wind chill. My poor dog did not even stop while relieving herself, sort of a run, squat/walk for 10 feet, then dead run back to the porch, to do a 4 legged 2 step while looking at me with great contempt at my relaxed approach. I would like to find a better way, but my wife assures me this is the only option.

Our day started in darkness, as most days do this time of year. We were off to get our son at the airport. The roads were terrible, icy with blowing snow. Even so, we arrived before his flight did. My wife was anxious, she has missed him terribly. He is first of our 3 children to move a long distance away and it has been difficult. When he walked through the gate, she ran to hug him, sobbing and shaking like he had returned from a war. This was no surprise to me, as she is a emotional woman, part of what I love about her. What did surprise me though, was the reaction of those all around them. Total strangers, but they were choking back tears of their own, several women and a couple of the men. This was only for a few seconds of course, they looked away and down and I was happy to see my boy also, so the moment slipped away.

I thought about it the rest of the day though. I mulled it over as we made our way to the West Edmonton Mall. Good grief, if there was ever a greater crush of unhappy humanity a few days before Christmas, I'd be amazed. We weaved through the crowd and I looked at the unhappy faces, a few eyes met mine, but not many. I considered how stressful life is this time of year, how we struggle and hurry to buy presents. We worry how to navigate the changes in our routine. We pursue the goal of the holiday at the end of the long cold dark night, when we can finally celebrate and enjoy our life. So, I realized why that bit of emotion at the airport caused such a stir. We are all just played out by life ordinary and this break comes not too soon.

I look forward to these days off with family and friends, and yes, even some time to write a little bit on erep. I have been away for a while and I have missed eCanada. Although a lot of faces have changed, many are still the same. We still have all the over-optimistic idea brokers getting beat down by the snarling pessimists. We still have those who live on IRC 24 hours a day, I won't mention any names *coughonious*. Although, I must confess to tanking while, well, iphones are just awesum. The eCanada forums are still going strong and I have to say they are so much better than the eUSA forums. I mean a lot of them are pretty cool people but there is just too much stupid nonsense shit going on there. I couldn't even understand half of it. Home is the same, but it's somehow ironic how memory forgets bad and remembers good.

After a few days, I am happier here already.


Well, that's all for now.
Safe travels and Happy Holidays

Ralph Kline