Blog or white ... because it never is.

Almost everyone my age seems to have a sweet little old lady that they feel obligated to check up on periodically. I have one.  Her and my mother were close friends up until my mother's passing.  I don't feel obligated to check up on her, I do it with gratitude because she did so much for my mom.  She doesn't have much of a support network so I call her atleast once a week.  She declines any offer of assistance so I sometimes show up with a meal to share with her.  I wish I could do more for her and it is difficult watching her slow but steady decline. I also have another little old lady that I feel obligated to check on periodically.  This one isn't so sweet.  This one is not satisfied with a phone call, she wants a meal out.  So, once a month, I take her to McDonald's.  She complains every minute about how cheap I am.  I indicate that she is welcome to pay.  Of course, she won't pay because she wouldn't buy anything at a fast food establishment

My first adult job (one with a pension plan) was as an out-patient addictions counselor.  It was so many years ago and before I started colouring my hair.  If it wasn't for pictures from that period, I would have no idea what was my natural hair colour. I knew I wanted to work in addictions but at that time, conventional wisdom was that the only people that could work as addictions counselors were recovering alcoholics.  That is when the AA model was the only path to recovery.  I was frustrated but kept trying and then landed my dream job.  I was a hospital employee but I counseled people on an out-patient basis.  It was in a small town that was fairly affluent and progressive.  On my first day, I was worried that I wouldn't have enough work and they would cancel my program. Aside from me, there was one other addictions counselor in town and he worked out of the Friendship Centre.  I was in my 20s.  He was in his 60s.  I had a degree.  He had 30 years sobriety with AA.

About 10 years ago, I went on a date with a guy I met online.  We had planned dinner and a movie.  We had been chatting online for over a week and had talked on the phone a couple of times.  He seemed like a stand up guy and I would be taking my own car so I had no safety concerns.  We met at Tony Romas by Polo Park as we are going to watch a movie at Silver City afterwards.  While we were devouring the appetizer, the onion tower (which I highly recommend), I decided we didn't have a future.  He seemed to have a little bit of a short fuse. He had some strong opinions about things that I didn't think warranted strong opinions. Also, he ate about 75% of the onion tower.  Now, I realize that based on my size, I obviously don't need the calories, but that is beside the point.  On a first date, you are trying to impress, he should have at least shown some restraint and only ate 50% of the appetizer.   Anyway, our entrees arrived.  I don't remember what I ate but I kn

When I was about three years old, we moved from the gas station to my White House.  At the time, it was a stately home and despite the colour, when I said I lived in the White House, people knew which house I was talking about.  It was on Main Street and even though it was decades ago, it was the first postal code I ever learned.  In our current lives of electronic bills and statements, I rarely use my current postal code.  When asked, I have to think because I still am tempted to give the postal code for my White House.  I was three doors away from the library and was allowed to walk there by myself.  I lived across the street from my Nana Grey and my Auntie Eileen and Uncle Jim.  I loved that house.  Now, it is green and has been renovated a few times.  I loved everything about my childhood home, but I mostly loved my bedroom.  It was huge and my mother had an eye for interior design.  Most rooms were all painted or all wallpapered at the time.  My mother was ahead of her time in

  I was blessed to grow up in a family of laughter.  My mother loved a good laugh, but, my dad was the real instigator of laughter.  He had a dry sense of humour and he had a way of looking at life that found humour in mundane things.  April Fools Days was a big holiday in our family.  We played minor pranks on each other if it falled on a week day.  If April 1 was on a Saturday or Sunday it would be pretty epic.  My dad was so good at getting us, my mom and I had to partner up to even get close to his level.   It wasn't just holidays, my dad just loved to tease.  If you lived or visited my house, you would be teased.  If you weren't teased, it probably meant that my dad didn't like you.   Growing up, my dad made fun of me for being grumpy in the morning. I remember the morning that it started.  My dad and my brother Mickey were already up and at the breakfast table.  I got up and when I came in the kitchen, my dad said enthusiastically, "Good Morning Spit.&

Well, it is Monday morning, so I am doing the same thing that I am doing every single Monday for the last four decades.   Every single Monday.  There have been Mondays during the last four decades that I have been of healthy weight and I have still started a diet.  Media and body image and all that.  What have I tried?   Well, I have tried Weight Watchers (several times); slim fast, TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly); rice diet, cabbage soup diet; cayenne pepper diet; apple cider vinegar diet; hypnosis; Atkins; The Zone, Canada's Food Guide, I have been a member of several gyms, no carbs, fit bit, my fitness pal, low carbs, mediterranean diet, cardiac diet, weight loss counselling from a dietitian starvation, you name it, I've tried it. I've also been on the Biggest Loser diet, as well as that one, that you send them a lot of money and they send you different tupperware containers that you could have gotten at the dollar store.  At one point, a friend and I spent a ridic

Like everyone in the world, at times I have felt hopeless.  Like everyone in the world, at times, I have expressed that I have felt helpless.  But, I decided that were just words that I used every now and then, but, I never felt genuinely helpless and hopeless.  I have been blogging in support of the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre being located at the site of the closed Vimy Arena.  I also have been sincerely trying to understand the opposition to this from the "white people".  That has been a challenge.  So, I had this plan.  I was going to be "homeless" on the downtown streets of Winnipeg for 48 hours.  I was going to spend that time doing research.  I was hoping to get a sense of what it was like to feel helpless and hopeless.  I also hoped to interview some homeless people, perhaps some of them dealing with addiction, to hear their stories and to understand their needs better. So, I thought I had a good plan.  I wasn't going to use any resources that were

About a week ago, I blogged about the upcoming Civic Election.  Turn-out in civic elections is historically abysmal so the primary purpose of the blog was to get people excited enough to vote.  I also gave my thoughts on the three candidates running for election in my Ward.  One of the candidates is opposed to the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre being located on the current Vimy Arena site.  (The arena has been vacant 2013).  The other two candidates haven't publicly gone on the record with their position on this matter, and I believe they should.  I think there are many voters like me, who think how they feel about this issue is a measure of their character.  Shortly after I posted that blog, an anonymous person commented that the second candidate in the Ward was strongly supportive of BORC.  Since there are three people running and one candidate just recently submitted his nomination papers, I am assuming he is the third candidate.  I know one candidate who is publicly opposed to

Shortly after my parents married, my father was transferred to Dauphin, Manitoba.  Both of them had been life long residents of Saskatchewan, so my dad was worried that my mom might have difficulty meeting people and making friends.  Like I said, my parents were newly married so they didn't know each other that well.  My dad didn't need to worry.  My mom was the kind of person who created a party wherever she went.  Regardless, my dad thought that it would be great if they bought a gas station/convenience store.  My mom could operate the store during the day and my dad would help out after work and on weekends.  There was small living quarters in the back of the store, so it seemed perfect.  When we owned the store, it was bright yellow as opposed to the current grey.  The two gas pumps are long gone.  It was named "Sandy's" after the previous owner.  My father was married prior to my mom.  He had four children.  When my mother got married, she not only bec

Some one had the courage (nerve) to write a letter to the editor in the Wpg Free Press today to oppose the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre.  The letter was confusing but their point apparently was, she is not opposed to the Recovery Centre, just doesn't want it in her backyard.  That was the title of her letter, "Not in my Backyard".  As I discovered on my walk last Sunday, the site is not in anyone's backyard.  The last picture is taken on someone who may make the claim that the site is in her "backyard".  If you look over the right eye in the picture, you will see a little bit of brown.  That is the exterior wall of the current Vimy Arena.  Notice how prominent it is, as in not.  August 31 is Addiction Awareness Day.  Be at the site at 3:00 pm wearing purple.  Don't worry.  You won't be in anyone's backyard.

The last civic election was held in 2014.  I took notice of the Mayoral race.  How could you not?  There were two clear front-runners who got a lot of attention from the media.  There was a definite contrast in their platforms.  It felt like a referendum on the future direction of the city.  I really agonized over my choice.  In the end, neither front-runner won.  I see the Mayor's job as Chief Cheerleader for the City.  I think he has done a good job. I wish I had a clearer idea of what City Councillors do.  Many of them have been in the news over the last four years for the wrong reasons.  Either we don't exercise good judgement in voting or once City Councillors are elected, they feel a sense of omnipotence and normal rules of good character don't apply to them.  I have a dear friend who is running for City Council.  I am confident that he will be elected in 64 days.  He has excellent character so I will be answer the question if Council changes you. In my Ward, t

I decided to go for a walk today.  It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  My quest was to understand the home owner's opposition to having the closed arena site being converted to a much needed addiction treatment facility.  I took some pictures on my phone and want to explain what I found out.  The first picture was taken while I was standing on the immense green space at the back of the old Vimy Arena.  You can see in the background what is the closest residential development.  It is a town house complex.  In order for someone who was participating in treatment at BORC to interact with someone living in the complex, they would have to walk and then cross a creek, and then get through the trees.  I would think the residents living in that complex would be more worried about the drainage pipe that leads on the creek.  I would be concerned about a wandering child being trapped in there.  The second picture is just a shot of all the green space al

It is estimated that 1 out of every 10 people has a chemical dependency.  This is an addiction to a chemical. This doesn't count people who have eating disorders or have an addition to gambling or internet video games.  So, 1 out of 10 people have an addiction to substances.  The number used to be predominantly male but females are closing the gap thanks to prescription pain killers. Of course, in some socioeconomic groups that number is even higher.  These groups include the indigenous people, new immigrants, people experiencing poverty, people struggling with mental illness; people vulnerable due to heredity, people experiencing multiple stressors, people struggling with losses, etc.  In other words, everyone in the world. Regardless, one of ten does not seem like a huge number.  However, when you think of that person suffering with addiction, that one person usually has parents, siblings, spouses, partners, children, employers, neighbours, best friends, etc.  Usually, t

I felt compelled to attend an information meeting of the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre.  Compelled because it will be, not in my neighbourhood, but in my City Ward.  Compelled after reading Bruce's story and his family's wish to make this recovery centre his legacy.  Compelled because of the opposition to this centre.  I wanted my voice to be a positive one. Since the land has already been rezoned, the BORC is going to happen and the meeting was to update the community on progress and get input on a few minor details.   I didn't realize that it would be one of the saddest days I have experienced in Winnipeg.   When I arrived, I experienced the "white people". They were people dressed in white who were there to oppose the Centre.  In order to get in to the community centre, I had to pass two "white people" who were at the door with placards in opposition.  It was intimidating.  They didn't deter anyone from entering but those signs didn'