I love January. Darryl mentioned that January is his favourite month too, but we didn't know why. We were trying to put our finger on it, but we summed it up by agreeing that it's because we watch most of the Oscar nominated movies and eat a lot of sushi, which is fun, and the kids have a lot of playdates with cousins playing with new dolls, games, Christmas gifts etc. and are entertained for hours, plus by the time Jan 1st comes around, we are soooo done with Christmas entertaining and travelling, and a regular schedule of school is a welcomed change. And just when you start to miss being on holiday, boom, you get a snow day! I love a good snow day.
But I don't always love my birthday, but this year was probably the best birthday that I ever did have. It somehow turned into a week-long celebration and I was spoiled way more than I deserved. To start off the week, we were given AMAZING Raptor tickets that a friend of ours couldn't use. They have had such a FREAKING AMAZING season, our best ever, and it has been so awesome watching them play. It's also the Raps 20th anniversary. So on Monday, Darryl, Matt, Dylan and I watched a real heart-breaker of a game in fantastic seats where we lost to the Pistons. We had been just 3 days before with my family to see them play the Bobcats, so we were really lucky to have another chance to go.
Then on Tuesday, my 2 lovely sister-in-laws treated me to lunch. (Side note: These two women are really are my sisters. We can talk for hours, have taken turns helping one another through our toughest times and supporting each other in all the good things in life too. We watch each other's kids, listen when someone needs to talk, laugh, cry, and we are always there for each other. I remember reading a journal entry I wrote while Darryl and I were dating where a wrote about how much I loved him, but how at that time, I thought I almost loved his family even more. I did love Darryl, but I knew I wanted to break up with him and date other people while he was on his mission, but Kim, Oscar, Matt and Sarah were like these cool older siblings I had always wanted and I wrote about how I wanted to be a part of that Regimbal family so badly. Turns out I got my chance, and I'm so grateful)
Tuesday night we had Regimbals over for a French/raquleqte meal and the kids had a blast cooking their own food. My thoughtful father-in-law gave us money to try a great sushi restaurant and my wonderful mother-in-law made me 70 mini cheesecakes (my fave) and I was nice enough to share one or two with the rest of the fam. Wednesday was my idea of a perfect day. Darryl and I spent the day together, and we went to meet Char, Cabot and my most beautiful, adorable, sweet niece, Daisy Mae for lunch and a movie. Can I just take a moment here to say how amazing it is when your sister has a baby??? I love all my nieces and nephews, but when Char had Daisy, it was like the next best thing to having a baby myself. Cause your sister's baby kinda looks like yours, and smells kinda like yours, and you can kiss, love and squeeze it like it's yours. It's really the best of both worlds. My sister is such an amazing mother. I always knew she would be, but it's really awesome to watch. We went to see Selma at Stars and Strollers and had Kelsey's for lunch. Char and I both had the same amazing turkey burger with stuffing and cranberries and it was absolutely delish. We laughed and ate and talked and loved up baby Daisy. After we were stuffed, Darryl and I headed to see the Raptor's play the 76ers. Yes it was our 3rd time going to the game in 6 days (maybe that's why 2015 has been so great thus far?) and it was the best. It was the closest we have ever sat together, and I was kinda in awe. I had sat court side years ago, but I had almost forgot how awesome it is to see these players up close and personal. We won which made it even better!
The next day was maybe my favourite. I went to lunch with my mum and dad. Just the three of us. It was so nice and I don't think we have ever been in a restaurant alone for a meal before. No siblings, no spouse, no kids. We laughed and talked and taked some more. My parents are hard working people. My Dad works 4 overnights a week at Walmart and does 5 days a week as an EA for the York Region board. My Mum works 5 days a week at the YMCA Before and After School program and is a supply EA for the Simcoe County board a couple days a week. Being an EA myself, we had tons to vent/talk about. It's tough helping kids who struggle. Sometimes you don't want to be spit on, kicked, hit or sworn at. Sometimes it's really frustrating helping a child do the simplest of tasks day in and day out and see no progress. There are lots of diapers and you don't get the respect that a teacher does. You don't really have a voice in the system. Even though you spend more time with these kids than anyone, nobody shows you an OSAR or an IEP or asks you how you think they can help your students. It is a thankless job a lot of the time. But I know it's an important one. The three of us have been doing this for over 10 years now and some of the kids we've helped have been part of our regular family conversation. My mum fell in love with a student from Argentina who was loved soccer, and she has got his accent down pat. My dad helped a kid for years who was obsessed with The Fabulous Mr. Fox movie. He has lots of boys he has helped over the years that tease him about his chain wallet and his 15 year old Nokia cell phone. I had a boy for 3 years that was convinced he really was a sheriff and wore a fake badge and my family still says "You know the law!!!" like he always did. My grandma used to come into our class to do crafts and she fell in love with that sheriff. She would sneak a Coke in her purse for him every time she visited. We have laughed and praised these kids over our Sunday dinner conversations for years.
We have also shared their sadness. Sometimes the kids who struggle the most are simply products of their environment. My dad had a really hard time for awhile after his student had a tough Christmas holiday. This student's dad and brother had been in a knife fight on Christmas day with a machete in their home that the student had witnessed. The student, unable to fully understand what had happened, just kept referring to Christmas as the "bad day" to my dad over and over again. One of my mom's favourite little girl's mother ended up in jail because of drug addiction. I had a boy for a year who's brothers were so cruel to him, child services removed them from their home. This 10 year old boy took all his anger for his brothers out on his classmates, biting, hitting and even cutting off a girls ponytail. A beautiful boy who was in our class for 4 years, was in a wheelchair and almost completely brain dead because he crawled away from his mother who was gardening when he was 18 months old and was ran over by the next door neighbour backing their car out of the garage.
We all agreed there was more good than bad. We all agreed we were blessed to be the "constant" in these kids lives. We felt lucky that we get to laugh and sometimes even cry with them. And we all agreed we loved our jobs.
Friday was also awesome. We went out for dinner with Ryan and Laina at Shoeless Joes and ordered waaaayyy too much food, as we like to do sometimes and had a lot of laughs like we always do. I am really grateful to have them in our life. They were our first "couple" friends and we have been close even before any of us were married. We are their children's' guardians if anything ever was to happen to them and they are 2 of our dearest friends. Afterwards we went an saw American Sniper which was intense and awesome. Bradley Cooper can really do no wrong in my eyes.
I am really enjoying the "thirties" more and more each year.
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