crossed wires
Alex asked me yesterday "what is your favourite animal?" He believes he has settled on becoming a vet when he grows up, "a doctor of animals that swim and animals that don't swim".
After mentioning some animals off the top of my head, Alex tells me he would like to see a baby koala. I asked him if he remembered the ones that frequented our yard in Australia; apparently he did. I told him there were no Koalas in Canada, unless they happened to have some in a zoo - the Vancouver zoo doesn't.
Then Alex started asking all these questions about Australia and then told me what he remembered about living there. Then he asked if we will go back there ever. "Maybe", I told him.
Alex was so excited about this possibility that his enthusiasm ran away like a horse bolting from an unsecured stable. Now he has simply become obsessed with everything Australian and life with us living back in Australia. He has asked us about our favourite things about Australia, what we liked best when we lived in Australia and what things we can take back with us when we [hypothetically] moved back there.
Before we moved, some wonderful friends of ours made us a little home video of a day we spent with them at our old place. It was just us hanging out as a family, having a lunch with our friends and showing what our home was like while the kids played in the yard. We love that movie, it was the best thing anyone could have done for us as a farewell present. Alex loves watching it, and wanted to see it again yesterday. This time he announced that he wanted to arrange his room exactly as it had been in the "green house". He also noticed that the 2.5 year old in the picture [him] had a flat hair style. During the movie he ran out and came back with a hair brush; "brush my hair flat" he demanded, "my hair wasn't spiky in Australia." When he was a baby his hair grew straight up like a Mohawk, much to the amusement of most people, so I told him that his hair was also VERY spiky in Australia. Ooh, then spiky hair was suddenly still alright (eye roll).
I was a little horrified when he told me that he had announced our apparent departure back to Australia to his pre-school teacher, who initially got the impression that we were leaving immediately. But Alex told me he assured her that he would see out the pre-school year - gee, thanks! I guess I have some record straightening to do Monday morning.
It seemed that Alex imagines that if ever we go back to Australia, life will return exactly the same way as when we left. So I thought I should explain some things to him, starting with reality.
- "Things CAN never and WILL never go back exactly as they were before we left. Things change, people change, you have changed, and circumstances change"..
- "There are many things we love about Australia, friends and family being number one. There are some things that you love about Canada that are not present in Australia...like, snow".
"What?....No snow! But why?"
"It is too warm in most parts of Australia, in Adelaide we NEVER saw snow."
Alex loves snow.
- "There is no Halloween" [unless, of course you, live in Alice Springs, but I didn't want to complicate the point].
"Why?"
"It is not an Australian custom".
"Can we still take our costumes to Australia?"
"Errr....yes, I suppose so" [that was not really the point].
"Will I see my pre-school friends in Australia?"
- "Not unless they happen to visit, which I doubt".
"Well, we can write to them or talk to them on the phone?"
"I guess..."
Last night it began to snow, it snowed buckets. In fact, it is still snowing - there is possibly a foot of snow over Ladner - the town where it "never snows". The locals have assured us that the amount of snow is very unusual for this area. One guy in his 50's couldn't remember such a big snow and had lived here all his life. Consequentially, Australia was only mentioned about 10 times today, instead of 2,000 times as it had been in the past 48 hours.
The snow really is beautiful. I know the North American readers can tell me the negative aspects of snow, and I know it can get pretty gruesome on the roads, and the snow shovelling is an awful chore, but unlike the rain, which darts from the sky like arrows being plucks from God's bow, the snow flakes in the street lights swirl and dance, caught up in a symphony orchestrated by the wind current as it falls, resting on the ground, the trees, the rooftops; almost as if each flake were set down by gentle loving hands.
The landscape soft and white, Christmas lights beacon brighter; exaggerated by the contrast of dominating white...and there is a silence, like the fog, as if winter is saying "hush now, it is time to sleep" as it pulls a neat fluffy white blanket over the restful earth.
There will be snowmen and snow angels made, snow balls fights and perhaps tobogganing in Diefenbaker Park...yes, not much mention of Australia while the snow remains.
Should we ever go back, I feel certain that such snowy memories will be romanticised, idealised, perhaps even yearned for, but will forever be etched in precious memory - child AND parent alike.
After mentioning some animals off the top of my head, Alex tells me he would like to see a baby koala. I asked him if he remembered the ones that frequented our yard in Australia; apparently he did. I told him there were no Koalas in Canada, unless they happened to have some in a zoo - the Vancouver zoo doesn't.
Then Alex started asking all these questions about Australia and then told me what he remembered about living there. Then he asked if we will go back there ever. "Maybe", I told him.
Alex was so excited about this possibility that his enthusiasm ran away like a horse bolting from an unsecured stable. Now he has simply become obsessed with everything Australian and life with us living back in Australia. He has asked us about our favourite things about Australia, what we liked best when we lived in Australia and what things we can take back with us when we [hypothetically] moved back there.
Before we moved, some wonderful friends of ours made us a little home video of a day we spent with them at our old place. It was just us hanging out as a family, having a lunch with our friends and showing what our home was like while the kids played in the yard. We love that movie, it was the best thing anyone could have done for us as a farewell present. Alex loves watching it, and wanted to see it again yesterday. This time he announced that he wanted to arrange his room exactly as it had been in the "green house". He also noticed that the 2.5 year old in the picture [him] had a flat hair style. During the movie he ran out and came back with a hair brush; "brush my hair flat" he demanded, "my hair wasn't spiky in Australia." When he was a baby his hair grew straight up like a Mohawk, much to the amusement of most people, so I told him that his hair was also VERY spiky in Australia. Ooh, then spiky hair was suddenly still alright (eye roll).
I was a little horrified when he told me that he had announced our apparent departure back to Australia to his pre-school teacher, who initially got the impression that we were leaving immediately. But Alex told me he assured her that he would see out the pre-school year - gee, thanks! I guess I have some record straightening to do Monday morning.
It seemed that Alex imagines that if ever we go back to Australia, life will return exactly the same way as when we left. So I thought I should explain some things to him, starting with reality.
- "Things CAN never and WILL never go back exactly as they were before we left. Things change, people change, you have changed, and circumstances change"..
- "There are many things we love about Australia, friends and family being number one. There are some things that you love about Canada that are not present in Australia...like, snow".
"What?....No snow! But why?"
"It is too warm in most parts of Australia, in Adelaide we NEVER saw snow."
Alex loves snow.
- "There is no Halloween" [unless, of course you, live in Alice Springs, but I didn't want to complicate the point].
"Why?"
"It is not an Australian custom".
"Can we still take our costumes to Australia?"
"Errr....yes, I suppose so" [that was not really the point].
"Will I see my pre-school friends in Australia?"
- "Not unless they happen to visit, which I doubt".
"Well, we can write to them or talk to them on the phone?"
"I guess..."
Last night it began to snow, it snowed buckets. In fact, it is still snowing - there is possibly a foot of snow over Ladner - the town where it "never snows". The locals have assured us that the amount of snow is very unusual for this area. One guy in his 50's couldn't remember such a big snow and had lived here all his life. Consequentially, Australia was only mentioned about 10 times today, instead of 2,000 times as it had been in the past 48 hours.
The snow really is beautiful. I know the North American readers can tell me the negative aspects of snow, and I know it can get pretty gruesome on the roads, and the snow shovelling is an awful chore, but unlike the rain, which darts from the sky like arrows being plucks from God's bow, the snow flakes in the street lights swirl and dance, caught up in a symphony orchestrated by the wind current as it falls, resting on the ground, the trees, the rooftops; almost as if each flake were set down by gentle loving hands.
The landscape soft and white, Christmas lights beacon brighter; exaggerated by the contrast of dominating white...and there is a silence, like the fog, as if winter is saying "hush now, it is time to sleep" as it pulls a neat fluffy white blanket over the restful earth.
There will be snowmen and snow angels made, snow balls fights and perhaps tobogganing in Diefenbaker Park...yes, not much mention of Australia while the snow remains.
Should we ever go back, I feel certain that such snowy memories will be romanticised, idealised, perhaps even yearned for, but will forever be etched in precious memory - child AND parent alike.
posted by strauss @ 6:50 PM
0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home