JOY

It’s hard to find much of that this morning.

The huge snow piles are turning brown, the crocuses are hiding underground, and a super soaker rainstorm is in the forecast. Doug Ford has won permission to dig a billion-dollar tunnel under highgway 401, while he continues to ignore our failing healthcare system. And, after treating President Zelensky like dirt in the oval office, the Orange Guy is treating Canada like dirt with his tariff plans.

How can we find anything to be happy about in all this mess? I think I’ll just give up and cry somewhere in a corner.

No I won’t, and neither will you. We are Canadians and we will deal with this. First we’ll get out our raincoats and clear the catch basins in our streets. Then we’ll send our $200 Ford cheque to a food bank. Finally, we’ll go to No Frills and buy some Miss Vickie’s made-in-Canada potato chips to drink with our glass of Ontario wine.

One activity Peter and I have found helpful during this long winter is getting together with friends and family. We held a family birthday party with lots of laughter and THREE cakes! We hosted a Chinese New Year party where nobody wore kimonos, but we played Rumoli with nickels as bets, and you wouldn’t believe how competitive people were over those nickels. We invited some friends to an Italian lunch and held them all hostage until we served dessert late in the afternoon. Other friends who are neighbours invited us to their place for lunch and we got to walk all the way there!

Being with friends and family is soothing. Even if we talk about the bad stuff going on, it gives us a sense of comfort knowing that others are feeling the same way. Plus, sometimes we get new ideas. Or new slogans. Or new energy.

Another activity is to check out legitimate media sources. Go on a laptop or an Ipad and read some posts by the well-known journalist Heather Cox Richardson. Turn on the TV and watch Saturday Night Live or Bill Mahr ranting on American stations. Listen to the remake of the Gloria Estefan song: I Will Survive! and sing along. Watch the photo diary, Canada the Beautiful, and view gorgeous pictures of places in Canada that look exactly like other beautiful places in the world:

This may look like New Zealand but it’s actually British Columbia

Best of all, we recently put up a Canadian flag in our bathroom window. That way we get to see it often. And feel almost joyful for all the good things we do have.

Sue

PS One more idea: We will definitely Not be watching any orange guy speeches tonight at 8:00.