Writing of Courage

Earlier this week my youngest son completed a writing assignment at school about courage. That night he brought his writing book home so he could work on his homework. While checking over his spelling and sentence structure I flipped back and found his courage assignment. I admit, it made me cry, for reasons it would be hard to explain unless you knew him and me and his dad and his brother and what our family has gone though over the last three years. There is something courageous about writing from your heart, about writing in your own voice, about writing what you know to be true in your world. Kje has struggled with being a good writer and he has been working on it with his teachers and me for a few years. I think he has nailed it on this one and I had to share it with you.

Courage is not giving up on feeding a cat for 1 to 19 years.
Courage is cleaning a toilet after someone went poo in it.
Courage is saving someone from a disease.
Courage is jumping off 10 metres into water.
Courage is going to a new school.
Courage is resisting temptation to eat the cookies while your mom and dad are in the hot tub.
Courage is not giving up and getting modifications on Minecraft when you're new to going to it.
Courage is helping your brother when he's sad.
Courage is not playing the world's most addictive game.
Courage is being friends with the most popular kid in school.

While driving him to school that morning (yep, I was being lazy and didn't want to walk in the rain) I told him what a great job he did and how proud I was of him for expressing himself so well.

"A few of those are lies, " he said.

"Oh?" I replied and waited for him to say more.

"They're not all true. I play the world's most addictive game."

"And have you got cookies while we were in the hot tub?"
"Ya," he says with a chuckle. "That too."

I chuckle with him, telling him it's okay without having to say anything. I think courage is telling your parents you lied and then telling them you did something you weren't suppose to.

There are these amazing moments in life, when you know your child will be okay, good, honest and courageous. Kje still has lots of writing assignments left in life before he becomes an adult, but for now, I can't help thinking he's on the right track.

Ferns and Flipping-Fun Family Photography

I love this family. While most of us are putting on slippers, turning up the heat and hunkering down to watch the season opener of some new fall TV series (or in my case, hopping in and out of the hot tub), these guys are packing their truck to go camping in the backwoods, in a tent! Turkey schnitzels over the campfire for Thanksgiving dinner, anyone?

It was only fitting their family photos were taken in Mount Douglas Park, in Saanich, BC, with an abundance of ferns and towering Douglas Fir and Cedar trees. Not to mention an abundance of fun!

Belly!

I admit it, my favourite photo of me being pregnant has me wearing a wrap-around brown patterned skirt from Fiji, a brown crocheted bikini top and a fur Russian hat. (Picture that!) Yep, I raided my Mom's dress-up clothes and had a little fun. Needless to say, I did not look as graceful and beautiful as Ashley does in these photos, just a few days away from her due date.  If I could do it all over again, I would want to look like her.

Esme

I loved taking Esme's photo. She has this magical face that wavers between looking grouchy and appearing peaceful like a blissful angel, and the slightest movement would hide one expression and reveal another. She kept wanting me to take pictures of the shed in her backyard. And the leaves. And the dirt. I just kept the camera on her tranformative face . . .