Birthday Soup

On February 6, 2014February 8, 2014 By Anna EastlandIn Family Life, Friendship, Marriage2 Comments

This is my handsome husband. It’s his birthday today, but here are some pictures from when he recently took me out for mine. He’s grinning rather mischievously because he has taken me out to a Malaysian restaurant and has ordered among many yummy things, clam soup. Like in-the-shell-steaming-bucket-of-beach-water-and-assorted-refuse clam soup. For wimpy, picky me.
Ugh.

Of course the romantic has to share everything, so no escape for me. “Drink the broth out of the shell,” says my gourmand, “It’s delicious that way.”

He gives me a demonstration and beams. I wrinkle my nose, screw up my courage and slurp. Salty….

It’s actually not that bad. Except in my head. But then my mouth is in my head, so hard to tell the difference sometimes. The little clams taste like button mushrooms, instead of squishy aliens, so that’s good. Daddy and baby are proud of me.

My sweet other half just likes to make sure life stays a bit of an adventure, like on our first big date, when we went for Ethiopian food and ate with our hands.

So have any siblings?

Slurp. Lick. Lick.

A sister, and yourself?

Stuffing spongy injera bread sopping with curries in his mouth.

Three brothers, actually.

Dip. Stuff. Lick.

You get the idea. Delicious, though. Who knew?

Anyway, I love how he likes to try new things, how he gets excited and passionate about stuff, how he has 50 rants I know by heart, how he likes to share everything (except maybe his Starbucks drink), how he’s totally honest but also affectionate and sweet. He’s helped me grow so much, and at the same time, to remain young at heart.

Here’s a little selfie of us from Christmas:

So to my husband, a very happy birthday, and to all of you,
I wish you all as much joy and fun in your marriages as I have in mine!

Live Free: Smash your Fears

On February 6, 2014February 13, 2014 By Anna EastlandIn Family Life, Marriage, Ponderings4 Comments

The wise Aristotle once said,

He who has overcome his fears will be truly free.

Today I want to share an amazing true story with you. It’s the story of a woman who was expected to die, but lived instead. Her name is Heather.

Her husband Cameron shared her story with me:

Eight years ago, my wife Heather was diagnosed with mesothelioma; a rare cancer that kills most people within 2 years of diagnosis. She had just given birth to our daughter Lily, and was only given 15 months to live. After a life saving surgery that included the removal of her left lung, LungLeavin’ Day was born. On February 2nd, we celebrated 8 years of Heather being cancer free.

The purpose of LungLeavin’ Day is to encourage others to face their fears! Each year, we gather around a fire in our backyard with our friends and family, write our biggest fears on a plate and smash them into the fire. We celebrate for those who are no longer with us, for those who continue to fight, for those who are currently going through a tough time in their life, and most importantly, we celebrate life!

Marcus Aurelius wrote long ago in his Meditations,

It is not death that man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.

Heather wants to encourage all of us to truly live. To see life as a great gift and a joyful adventure, rather than something to be feared.

So what is it that you fear most? Rejection? Loneliness? Failure? Weakness? Poverty? Suffering?

Or perhaps responsibility, commitment or even success? What fear is holding you back?

Can you imagine if an eagle chose to sit in a cage because it was afraid of heights? It would never experience that glorious feeling of flying!

We are made for greatness, made for happiness, made for love. Sometimes these things scare us so we hide behind bars of fear we mistake for control. We convince ourselves to be stoic, to remain steady and unattached, to not get sucked into life lest it involve suffering.

But this is not freedom. This is not truly living.

Life is so much more of a beautiful adventure when we let go. Our real stories are more amazing than the ones we would write for ourselves; it’s the struggle and the suffering that makes the other moments so precious.

So what fear would you like to smash? What small step can you take today to face your fear and win your freedom?

It’s said that sometimes we fear what we desire most…

Since I was a teenager, I’ve had great desire to write, but I used to be so afraid of people reading my work. It was too painful. One great step to overcoming my fear was starting this blog. It was really hard to press publish that very first post. I literally had to force myself.

But what I feared as a source of rejection and failure has turned out to be a source of joy, encouragement, and liberation. I am more inspired and write more easily than ever before, because I gave myself permission to smash my fear and live. I feel part of a community and can rejoice in the successes of my fellow writers, because I too am pursuing my dream.

Sometimes if we ask for miracles, they really do happen, many little ones all the time, and sometimes big ones too. Our job is to be grateful and enjoy them!

Please visit Heather’s page for more of her story and links to more info:
http://www.mesothelioma.com/heather/lungleavinday/

Helping Heroes: 10 Reasons It’s a Good Thing to Accept Help.

On February 4, 2014February 4, 2014 By Anna EastlandIn Family Life, Friendship8 Comments

Accepting help is hard to do for many people…it’s something we need to learn in life, or perhaps relearn after losing our childhood ability to reach out and take a helping hand without shame. Often as grown-ups we feel the need to be a superhero and do it all alone, but aren’t the Avengers much better as a team?

If we can see our fellow human beings as cooperators, instead of competitors, we’ll be a lot more willing to offer and accept help. After all, aren’t we all trying to do our little bit to make the world a better place?

It can be hard to swallow our pride and ask for assistance, so here’s ten reasons why it’s good to ask for help:

1. You need it. Come on, no one is perfect. Everybody struggles. To pretend otherwise is to pretend to be a robot. People are much more loveable.

2. You give others an opportunity to shine. Let someone else be the hero for once. You don’t need to take all the credit. Everyone has special talents, and getting to use them helps people feel useful and important.

3. Being vulnerable enough to ask for help allows others to be honest about themselves with you and deepens friendship. It opens the door for them to ask for help or advice, too. You come to know each other better.

4. You teach your kids to do the same. Do you want them to tough it out alone when they really need help, or to know how to lean on others in hard times? They will imitate you in this.

5. Doing stuff together is way more fun. Whether it’s a big shopping trip, cleaning the garage, trying a new recipe or artistic endeavour, life is more fun when you have someone to share the load and laugh with.

6. You allow others to love you. We all show our love in different ways, but many of us show our affection by acts of kindness and generosity. When we say no to these things, we are saying no to love.

7. Accepting help enables you to practice gratitude, which makes your life more beautiful and happy. Moreover, knowing how to accept help gracefully is attractive.

8. If it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes one to be a good parent or spouse. Think about this. Becoming the best person you can be doesn’t happen in isolation.

9. You’re not alone. There are probably ten people who would drop everything to come help you, if you just asked. When we open our hearts to help from others, we receive so much more than we imagined; unexpected goodness keeps coming when we open this door.

10. Cause I said so. So there.

Now wasn’t that helpful? 😉

First Snowdrop: Tiny Signs of Spring

On February 1, 2014February 1, 2014 By Anna EastlandIn Family Life, motherhood, Ponderings4 Comments

This beautiful delicate snowdrop, pushing its way out of the rubble of mushy brown leaves, sticks and manure, to let its little pure white head glow in the sunlight, is a sweet sign that spring is slowly coming, that hope for renewal after winter is alive. A sign that even when life makes us face our worst fears, such as the death of a loved one, we can come out of the haze of sadness with eyes that still see the beauty of the world.

I dedicate this picture to my great friend and fellow blogger Monique Leblanc, the one who inspired me to begin sharing my adventures in Crazyland. I offer it for her especially, because she recently passed the due date of her son Hilary, who was born asleep half way through her pregnancy. His appearance was like this snowdrop, brief and achingly beautiful.

I offer it also because she has recently moved from the balmy west coast to the frozen (but friendly!) fields of Saskatchewan, and is much more likely to be seeing snow ploughs than snow drops at this time. The great thing is that she thinks this is fun! 🙂

I want to honour her unfailing friendship, her joyful sense of adventure, and her great dedication to her family. She has been for years, and always will be, a wonderful inspiration for me. She embraced me and believed in me when we first became friends, and has never ceased to love and encourage me. Cicero said so poignantly:

What sweetness is left in life if you take away friendship? Robbing the world of friendship is like robbing the world of the sun.

I was afraid of losing her closeness when she moved away, but instead feel closer to her than ever, thanks to the phone, and her uncanny ability to know when I just really need to talk to her. As Anne Shirley said so well: “True friends are always together in spirit.”

Blogging has also helped us to stay close as we try our hands at writing and jump into this wonderful online community together. Check out the awesome blog she writes with her husband Ryan at thelasttimechange.blogspot.ca/

Life can be tough, but if you have a good friend to laugh and even cry with, everything is ok. It gives life a stability that can sustain you through the roughest waters, and help you laugh over your little daily disasters with someone who knows you better than you know yourself. Our old buddy Cicero agrees:

Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief.

I hope all of you have friends like this. Have you told them lately how much they mean to you?

Only Stillness

On January 29, 2014January 29, 2014 By Anna EastlandIn Family Life, Poetry2 Comments

!!
All of a sudden
the lights are out
at 7 pm
just as we’re starting dinner

It becomes a candlelit meal
peaceful
our family enclosed
in a small circle of light
my children’s faces
illumined by the tiny flames

There is nothing else to rush to
no dishwashers or dryers
no email or phone
so we linger around the table laughing
as our three year old
makes up silly stories about babies
and bunnies and when she was little
and used to be a toy and a chocolate

The kids pile easily into their new double bunk beds
with the LED lantern lighting up
their imaginary campground

The baby gives up
cooing at the candle
and lets me rock him to sleep

It is so quiet
there is only stillness
and this small circle of light

“Poèmes en Route de la Poubelle”

On January 28, 2014January 28, 2014 By Anna EastlandIn Family Life, Poetry2 Comments

You know when you’ve been stuck inside for a few weeks with sick kids, and your world has become very small and stuffy (yes, we’ve been keeping the window open, but still…), and you almost forget that anything exists behind your front door? And then you have the chance to emerge, even briefly, into the sunshine to take out the trash, and everything is so fresh and crisp and incredibly beautiful that you start spouting poetry? Well, that’s been happening to me lately.

The neighbours must shake their heads as I gaze around like a love-struck mole emerging from her tunnels and start blabbering ecstatically:

It’s so beautiful! There’s a whole world out here! The sun is so shiny and the birds are so chirpy! My soul rejoiceth whilst removing the rubbish…

Aha, there she goes again. The garbage poet. It’s pathetic. Always writing about trash.

Well, as long as my poems don’t actually belong in the garbage…

Perhaps Oscar the Grouch and I could write a book together. One of those great debate books…two opposing figures hash it out about life, love and excursions to the garbage can.
We’ll be fancy and call it “Poèms en route de la poubelle.”

I had been feeling a bit like this:

So I took a brief back yard escape:

And saw green and growing things like rosemary:

And winter kale:

A pretty statue:

A little escapee who flew over the fence of her coop:

The others watched her so longingly as she grubbed for worms that I released them, too.

They made such a mess mucking about in the fresh manure in the garden that they had to return to their confinement, and me to my duties…Meanwhile my three year old had snuck upstairs to my friendly neighbours, wailing in search of her missing mummy, whose aforementioned excursion outside was of unacceptable duration…

Ah, but it was beautiful while it lasted…

Happy and Healthy Again

On January 23, 2014January 23, 2014 By Anna EastlandIn Family Life4 Comments

Today I’m happy to see my little one rosy cheeked and smoking again after several days of feverish flu and coughing. His nap has done good and he agrees. He keeps saying distinctly, “Yeth.”

Ok, not smoking. Ha! Silly autocorrect on my iPad trying to spice things up a little…

“Who needs sleep?”

On January 21, 2014January 21, 2014 By Anna EastlandIn Family Life, motherhood2 Comments

Tonight the lyrics of a Barenaked Ladies song come to mind:

Who needs sleep
Well you’re never gonna get it
Who needs sleep? Tell me what’s that for?
Who needs sleep…this guy’s been awake since the Second World War!

It’s 2:30 am and with my kids sick it’s been a night of musical beds, coughing, crying, and administering Tylenol and ear medicine. Bit of a long haul lately. Good thing I had that last slug of coffee around 8pm, cause I’m holding up ok with a catnap here and there. I was hoping for a cosy evening with my husband, maybe watching a funny show together and falling asleep holding hands, but that was not to be. To prove my point, my two year old just crawled out of bed and brought me a Dora sticker book. Super!

“Dora…she can say map instead of saying map, Mama. Baby can’t have a show right now.”

“True enough.”

I’ve been playing Nurse Mommy for quite some time now, as I’m sure many other moms are this January. Post-Christmas-sugar-crash-cold. My house might feel like Slime Central Station, but it’s only one stop on the Flu Train. So cheers to all you other parents who are pulling crazy night shifts with sick kids…I’m with ya!

One buddy requested a poem of the soundtrack of our house right now, so here goes:

Cough cough achoo
Whaaa, whaaa!

Cough cough achoo
Whaaa, whaa!

Muuuummmy!

Muuummmmy!

Ok, now repeat. 80 times. And intersperse with requests for vitamin C, apple juice, Kleenex, new blankies, another show, another chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and new diapers. You get the picture.

It’s made reading The Hunger Games trilogy even more suspenseful, if that’s even possible:

“Oh, no Katniss and Peeta are out of luck this time for sure…wall of poisonous nerve gas approaching…starting to convulse…”
“Achoo! Mummy! I need a Kleenex! And my sister has a bare bum!”
“What?! Coming!”

Peeta leaned towards her and spoke quietly, ‘Katniss, if we don’t make it back…’

“Mummy, I’m too hot. My tummy hurts. Why do we have to get sick? I need a bucket.”
“Coming!”

And so, my kids have ensured that this rare indulgence of reading a novel for fun has been sliced up into tiny little portions, lest I get a sick tummy from overdoing it. How thoughtful! 😉

Of course, when I do need to escape from my escape, the treacherous world of Panem, with it’s ruthless Capital and sadistic gamemakers, it’s so nice to have those little lovely faces to burst into bright smiles after a few tickles, and throw their little chubby arms around my neck and hang on for dear life. Then, slime or no slime, there’s nothing better to warm my heart than a little snuggle with my wee ones.

They are our hope for the future and our joy in the present, and even though it’s demanding to care for 5 sick kids, I don’t see it as bad. If the measure of our humanity is in how we care for the weak and vulnerable, I hope that caring for them when they are sick will make me more compassionate and more human. Will help me grow…but hopefully not horns!

The other thing that’s been keeping me going in this flu marathon, is you, my wonderful readers. Just knowing you’re out there, and having other “big” people to talk to, or write to, is really great. Also, my iPad mini makes the most lovely sparkly harp sound every time someone likes a post, makes a comment, or starts to follow my blog, so these little magical noises brighten my day as I’m taking care of the kids. It’s like finding candy to see new notifications from my blogging platform, WordPress, on my home screen when I flip open my iPad.

You’re all awesome! Thanks for visiting Crazyland, and as my herd of wild monkeys has finally settled down, it’s time for me to sleep.

No Elephants In The Graveyard

On January 17, 2014January 17, 2014 By Anna EastlandIn Family LifeLeave a comment

About a month ago, at the ripe old age of 32, I had my third driving lesson. Yup, I don’t know how to drive, yet…

I wasn’t that interested in high school; we literally lived in a village, two blocks from the lake and about four to school, so there wasn’t much need. Then I was busy working, then university, then married and having little kids, and that brings us to today.

My husband doesn’t drive either, but the bus has served us well; we have saved money and paid off tons of student loans, and have met many interesting people. However, now as a family of seven, we take up about half the bus, so it’s time we got our own.

My ‘little’ brother, whose birth I remember as an eight year old girl, and who is now a foot taller than me, is bravely teaching me to drive in his gorgeous boat of a Cadillac. I feel like a little gramma in the low, comfy seat, peaking over the wheel.

We are practicing in the graveyard near my house, as it’s very quiet, and there aren’t many people around I could actually hurt (sorry–it’s hard not to make cheesy jokes when learning to drive in a graveyard).

At the gates there is this funny sign:

I’m getting a little more confident about the basic start and stop, making smoother turns, etc, and do ok if I relax and just feel the road. When I think too much and check mirrors 800 times/minute it gets a little tricky.

“Just be smooth and predictable,” advised my brother, “and try to breathe.”

This was working pretty well but then we added a new challenge: backing up. And then doing a turn backing up. And then figuring out what to do after hitting a small tree while backing up. Which is not gun the break, I discovered.

Oops. There went the side light.

I immediately began to apologize.

“I’m so sorry! I can get out. You can drive. I totally understand if we’re done with lessons.”
“No, it’s fine. You can’t stop now. If you quit now you’ll be afraid. Keep going.”

I’m baffled. My brother is a 25 year old guy with a Cadillac I’ve just seriously crunched on one corner. A guy who really likes cars.

“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. It’s just a car. It’s just a thing.”

No dirty looks. Totally sincere.

“You’re awesome,” I say, thoroughly impressed. I feel honoured to matter more than the car, even right in that moment.

So on we go.

That night after dinner we have a great discussion about fear and confidence, about how being willing to take risks and make mistakes is essential to actually becoming confident. About how many fears are just phantom menaces, ridiculous things we’ve conjured up in our minds, like elephants in the graveyard.

We decide that maybe our example of confidence, despite being imperfect, is one of the most important things we can give our kids. So they can feel free to go out and make mistakes of their own on their way to doing great things.

A few days later he emails me a picture entitled “Duct Tape Victory: duct tape and a hair dryer can fix anything.”

Despite my graveyard smash, I still like driving ok, and obviously want to improve. But my favorite part of learning to drive is hanging out with my brother more often, and getting to know him better. The little sweet toddler I remember is growing up to be quite the fantastic man, and I’m proud to be his sister. Currently, driving lessons are on hold as he’s away for some time visiting our other brother in Hawaii. I’m so happy they can be together. Important bro-time. But when he gets back, I can’t wait to chase elephants in the graveyard with him again.

Yummy Yoghurt

On January 13, 2014January 14, 2014 By Anna EastlandIn Family LifeLeave a comment

Today I’m grateful for for my cheerful little guy who likes to eat and to smile!

Just East Of Crazy Land

Category: Family Life

Birthday Soup

Live Free: Smash your Fears

First Snowdrop: Tiny Signs of Spring

Only Stillness

“Poèmes en Route de la Poubelle”

Happy and Healthy Again

“Who needs sleep?”

No Elephants In The Graveyard

Yummy Yoghurt

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