Books with kissing; indicative of our personalities

Books I've read that have kissing:

1. Pride and Prejudice

2. My Best Friend's Brother: The Summer I turned into a Girl

Books Natasja's read that have kissing:

"All of them"

A Lesson From The Past

I've been thinking about my grandmother a lot lately. She died last October, and I still struggle with the grief of losing her. Although, by the time she died, what we remembered of her was already gone. She was a terrific woman who succumbed to dementia, but through it all she never lost her faith and she never stopped loving us. So, I guess you can't completely lose everything you are to a mental disease.

Eli can attest to the fact that sometimes I just think of her and... well, it gets bad sometimes. The other day, a little old lady was checking out some large print books. She just reminded me so much of Grandma because Grandma loved reading. I mean, she really loved it. She had only gone to school up to grade eight back in Italy and didn't learn English until she moved here... in her early thirties, I guess. Didn't matter though, she still read pretty much every book Mom had on her bookshelf and more.

Anyway, the old lady reminded me so much of my grandma that that's all I could think about for the rest of that day. That night was pretty brutal for me, too. Not fun.

I remember when I was younger, Grandma used to tell me all kinds of crazy stories from the old country. She told me all about my grandfather, who died of MS a month before I was even a twinkle in my mother's eyes. I can't decide which is a crueler fate: that I never got to know my grandfather, or that I have to suffer the pain of losing a grandmother I did know so well.

My grandfather had a twin brother, who I met a few times. They were fraternal twins and looked absolutely nothing alike. One time, my grandma told me about how after Grandpa died, his twin offered to marry her. Sounds so old-fashioned, I know. And what did she say? No, of course. I mean, she could have said yes and he would have taken good care of her. But she said no.

I have to say, if it had been me in that situation, I would have done the same thing. I mean, if Eli died and Josh, or Izzy, or Tom said, "Hey, I can take care of you," I would say no. It's not because I don't like them. They're all really great, like I'm sure my grandfather's twin was. But I can't just be married to someone for the sake of being married, no matter who it is. I just can't imagine ever being married to someone without being in love with them. Which, I'm sure, is how Grandma felt, too.

I wish I could say I was like her, but I'm not sure I was. She was really a terrific person, and I'm not just saying that because she's dead. I'm saying it because it's true. There are things I know I can still learn from her. She married the love of her life, she was faithful to him through all those hard years where his sickness slowly made him fully paralized, and she never turned her back on his memory. I'd like to be that kind of wife.

What is it like to live in Canada?

People ask me, "what is it like in Canada" (no they don't, but its a great way to start talking about what I want to talk about). And I tell them that its a lot like it is in the States. Truly, the culture shock would be greater if I moved to a place like New York or California. Its so similar, that when you notice one of the differences you're like "whoa, this is like the twilight zone here!" Imagine everything is the same in your sweet American life, then you wake up one morning and everyone's milk is in a bag. That's it, nothing else is different. You don't even notice it until one of your friends says, "hey honey, could you pass the scissors, I need to cut open this milk."

You know those powerful special interests in America, like oil companies and teachers unions? Well, apparently Canadian scissor makers lobbied to keep dairy products in bags. Canadian usage of scissors is at least 400% higher than American usage. And a higher frequency of accidental foot stabbings keep doctor's wages high!

One day you wake up in the morning, and everyone says zed instead of z. You know that cartoon anime you used to watch? Well now it's called Dragon Ball Zed. You know that couch you sit in? Well it's a Lay-zed-boy. Oh man! you got the zed in scrabble!

One day you're at a movie theater, and your friend asks you if you'd like a smartie. And you're like, "sure", but then you put it in your mouth and it is chocolate. Yeah. I know, trippy isn't it. No joke has been played on you. Smarties are little M&M like candies. And what Americans call smarties are called Rockets in Canada. A few pictures to illustrate the difference:

Rockets in Canada

Smarties in America

Smarties in Canada

Vogue

After having looked through the tons of pictures we took on our honeymoon, I have chosen one that I feel is better than the one Eli picked. Because in this one, we look like we're auditioning for Madonna's "Vogue" music video.

Vulcan Nerve Pinch

I would just like to say that after searching through lots of pictures, trying to decide which one to post for our first blog entry, I had to pick the one that looks like I have Tasj in a vulcan nerve pinch.

Hello world

Hello world.