A Saturday in Very Late May

That being said, Trombone is just developing the language tools to be a great help should I actually feel that my identity has been lost to a band of thieving PIE RATS.

Exhibit A: Breakfast

Me, rubbing eyes: Oh! I am tired!
Trombone: No, you’re Carulla! (his version of my first name) You’re Mommy!
Me: Uh, right. But I FEEL tired.
Trombone: Me too!

No matter how I may feel that my self has been absorbed by my circumstances, by the moment I’m in, by how I feel – I am still me. The same me I have been my whole life. Everything else is just what I’m applying to myself.

We are more careful with our language these days. Not in a “oh fiddlesticks!” when you mean “motherfucker” sort of way, but in a “I am actually thinking about it – am I defined by how tired I am or is it just one part of the person who is experiencing this day” sort of way. Do I mean “buggy” when I say “stroller.” Do I mean “no” when I say “maybe.”

Some might call this “overthinking.” Not to mention “over-quotation-marking.” But it is easier than being corrected by a 2 year old. “Mean what you say / say what you mean / one thing leads to another.” That’s right. I am quoting The Fixx.

We went to the 37th Annual Hyack Festival Parade this morning. I’ve never liked parades but the sheer novelty of seeing more than 10 people at once on the normally abandoned 6th Street was enough to keep me interested. That, and waiting for someone to come by and sell me some crappy food. Damn! I had to walk for two blocks only to realize that all the cotton candy was on the OTHER side of the street, sure, cross the street, you say, ever tried that when the Burnaby North Secondary School Marching Band is marching down the middle of the road, playing “Paint it Black” and wearing viking hats? then I stopped at the dollar store for ice cream (top tip: ice cream at the dollar store: $1, ice cream from the ice cream truck: $3) and only then, just as I was finishing my creamsicle, did the cotton candy vendor come by. I couldn’t quite bring myself to elevate our sugar level any higher (I was washing the creamsicle down with a coke) and it’s Hats Off on the Heights Day next week in Burnaby so cotton candy season is well under way, but damn! Hyacks? Where’s the popcorn? Where are the hot dogs? Why didn’t the River’s Reach Pub Float toss beer into the crowd?

No ma’am, the Pride Parade it ain’t. Everyone was fully clothed and a lot of the float-dancing was performed by young ladies (Miss Daffodil Society 2008! I’m not even kidding!) in strapless, taffeta prom dresses. Likely provided free of charge by the Most Depressing Mall in the Universe which has undergone a bit of a revitalization, what with the addition of one (1) giant, fluorescent dollar store and one (1) more store that sells women’s clothing that no one has ever heard of.

I know this because of all the bus shelter ads featuring a young girl clutching several shopping bags and (I think) winking at me, with text beneath stating, “The new great place to shop! And lots of free parking!” or something much like it.

Where was I?

Fresco slept through the whole thing, even the police drill team and the many pipe bands, thank you sweet baby gods for a baby who appears to love the baby bjorn. (Pretty much the best tool for someone who is looking after a mobile, pedantic toddler [“You said don’t CLIMB down the stairs. I am DIVING down the stairs!”] and a feedy, needy infant.) (do you think I have a parentheses addiction?) Trombone remained reticent until he got a red balloon and then he was positively squirrely with delight. Saint Aardvark and I got a few good zingers in (we do enjoy taking pot-shots at parade floats) and managed not to get our asses kicked.

Many hours and a refreshing beer later, I am watching my baby sleep on the couch as we both enjoy the breeze through our new screen door. The snow tires are finally off the car this is not a metaphor, although it could be without too much difficulty and I think summer might be on its way.

To quote another kids’ book in heavy rotation at our house, this is me and where I am.