Moving Around, Moving Forward

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Sunday, I drove way the hell & gone into the wilds of the mysterious dark continent - South East Surrey to be specific - to visit Terry & Sab and see their new house. Then to see Uncle Stan in White Rock. T&S moved into this rancher / farmhouse that was built in 1910, with a huge yard, huge deck, and little teensy doorways. Since the place is so old, one can only assume that there were no building standards; door-width-wise speaking, and no-one had thought to measure the interior doorframes. They are tiny, like 2 feet across, and built right into the ancient wood moldings, so there is no way to pop the frames & jams off. Terry & Sab also have the HUGEST furniture in the western world, so, this is apparently an issue. None of it can fit upstairs where they had everything planned out. However, they do have the nicest assortment of big, expensive, comfy furniture on their covered patio that will probably will ever see in those parts for years to come. But I saw the kids, and friends of ours and Terry's had come into town for that weekend to contribute various babysitting duties / moral support. I was just there for the comradeship, to kiss their kids and have a cold beer or two. I also used the old "I've just had some major hip surgery, so I can't help move anything, but I will sit on your porch and drink your ice cold beer while I watch you unpack". Suckers.

After that? I kept on driving south through the country en route to my weekly Sunday visit with Uncle Stan. It was beautiful actually. I drove past orchards and organic farms, up and down rolling hills via country roads, past llama and alpaca breeders, and huge swaths of forests & meadows that are bursting full of critters and things that fly.

After sitting with Uncle Stan, I was on the way home when a long lost, very important person called from Indiana, and we had a chance to catch up with a lot of things, I was pleased as punch to hear to hear from her. We talked from Granville & 16th, all the way through downtown back to my home, then through the parkade, into the elevator, and up to my apartment where we finished up on the couch (sounds sort of slutty I know). She's moving on and moving forward and I couldn't be happier for her. It was a long, good, beautiful perfect day. 121 KM's of driving, around 2 hours of travel time, and visiting with friends, family and hearing from old friends. Priceless.

Here's something else about moving on; in 2006, this 30-something slacker named Matt went on a round the world trip sponsored by Stride Gum, and well most of you probably know it already, but he does this goofy little dance set to some pretty cool music, all quick-cut amongst the places he has visited. The 2008 version is below, and my reference to the 2006 version is here (For Those Who Are About To Dance, We Salute You). It's still pretty darned cool.





Lastly, Randy, Drew & Little Jack came by my place yesterday as they were downtown, and all of us had a great visit, while Little Jack ran around and did his best to trash my house and booby-trap my car. Also, while Little Jack was busy smashing one of my rollerblades into my living room wall repeatedly, Randy asked me if I could blade yet (referencing the long running hip issue), I said no, and I lied to him that it would take a couple of months more until I was stable enough. The truth was, that it had been close to two years since I've been able to do it, and I thought that this soon after my surgery, I'd be asking for trouble, and well, I was just a big, fat stinking complacent coward.

So today, I left work early and went for the longest unaided walk since my surgery and it was fine. I walked up and down my neighborhood, then went to the beach and walked along the sea wall, and back again. No pain, no discomfort or anything. I came home and started looking at my rollerblades and thought "Oh, what the hell..." So 3 months and 29 days after having a total hip replacement, I strapped them on, and within 5 minutes I was soaring up and down the street, into Stanley Park and gliding through the trees on a perfect hot summer day. Moving around and moving forward indeed!

I can't wait to see what happens next.