Evan’s mom came out to BC and spent the last week with us 🙂 I haven’t seen her since I’ve come home from Europe and we had a great visit. She usually lives upstairs with Ainsley and it’s always nice to have everyone in one big house. We remember to visit each other more often when Mom is there. Unfortunately I had to go to work every day, but we had lots of family dinners together.

And this week I’m in Prince Rupert again visiting with my new nephew Yannick. He is absolutely adorable and I’m making sure he knows his favorite auntie before I leave.

I was at a conference this weekend and the speaker, Ann Palo, spoke about ecological identity. She spent some time in New Zealand and we had to introduce ourselves like the Maori would, e.g. “my river is… my mountain is…” I thought of Vanessa Paki, who came from NZ to be our lecturer in Malta!!!

Ann Palo also talked about the place that her heart loves the most and how it is so far from her home. I can easily relate to that tension of wanting to be in (at least) 2 places at once! While figuring out why it is she loved that place so much, she realized that she loves who she is when she is there. I think of Malta sweet Malta: being a student, being able to walk everywhere, editing papers in a cafe, meeting amazing lecturers, having only a suitcase full of stuff, having beautiful friends, enjoying the sun, doing yoga before school, sharing that life with Evan. I love the person I was in Malta.

So how do I bring that person here to Vancouver? I think this requires a few changes, including seeing my friends after work instead of going home to watch TV with Evan. We haven’t had the TV on all week and instead spent time with Evan’s family, and it’s been so nice! Running in the forest was a good start as well (but now it’s covered with snow). I’m on the right way, just took some detours to figure out what it is I really want.

We had a group meeting with all the children today. These meetings are by far my favorite! We discussed why we have to clean up before we go outside. The kids had lots of great answers. They were very concerned about their siblings who forget to clean-up, wanted to ask parents and teachers for help, and cleaned up the whole room after the meeting. Great.

Last week was Valentine’s Day and a little girl gave me a card. Her mom tells me that I received the only personalized Valentine’s card and that she has been talking about it all week. I don’t celebrate Valentines, but that made my day.

Last year on Valentine’s Day I was out for dinner with Maeve. We went to a small restaurant in Dublin, spent all my student money, and I walked home looking at all those ‘stupid’ couples strolling down the street together. This year I’m happy to have my Evan back and to be in the same city.

Went up to Prince Rupert to meet my new nephew. Perfect way to spend my first ‘Family Day’ in BC, since Family Day was introduced while I was in Europe and I have missed it last year.

We got a new chair for the big brother. He is so proud! And of course my sweet nephew.

My sister gave birth to a little boy last night. Welcome to the world little one!