Small things.

Two weeks ago (I think) @JenBanksYEG started #makejensday. It seems to have taken the world by storm and I am beyond inspired by it. 

This weekend when I was at ball, my whole family came to watch. It was my dad's 54 birthday on Sunday & I was so happy they were coming, even if I'm not that great. The day before, my thighs were really bothering me and it hurt to walk. Sunday came and I still couldn't walk, so I decided to only hit, not run, and play catcher.....on a day where my mum, dad, niece, nephew, cousin, and nephew-cousin were there to watch. A midst me feeling sorry for myself a male teammate of mine joked with my niece about giving her his autograph. She was all of a sudden enthralled. I don't think he realized how much it would mean to her. Well, after coming back to the bench after every inning, my niece would run up to me and say "aunty, is it time for autographs yet? When can I get them?" I'd have to tell her that the game wasn't over yet, but that they were coming soon. Finally, the game ended and Tia ripped her gum package open so that the boys could sign it. I've never really seen her so excited and happy. I realized that I should quit being such a wiener and spoil sport - I may have had a shit game, but my niece's day was made simply because some people I knew gave her autographs. 

I realized that it isn't the big things that always make a difference - it is the small things. The little things that make people's days. Tia's day was made by guys giving her their autographs. How simple is that? It took 20 seconds for them to bend down and give her their signatures. 

How easily could you make someone's day today?!

Love & smiles

-S

#makejensday

It's been a little while....

Well, I suppose it's time for me to update my blog - apparently I haven't done that since Mother's Day!

A lot has happened since May: I took 2 summer classes at school, I staffed summer camp, I reconnected with old friends, I made new friends, went to two different weddings for people I love, I worked (this really is new!), and I've learned a lot.

This spring/summer I took abnormal psychology & biology 108. I took Bio back when I first started university and got credit, but didn't technically pass my course. I only got a D+ & I need a C- to move up in some biology courses. Abnormal is a prerequisite for so many higher level psych classes, I figured I would take it just to get it out of the way. I was in class Monday to Friday from 9-12 for three weeks with an exam every week. I was terrified, but super excited at the same time as this is really my passion. Apparently, I'm pretty good at it - after many hours logged studying, I walked out with an A, which is a 4.0. I really needed the 4 to boost my overall GPA as it took quite a beating a few semesters ago. I got a week off and had to start biology. That class has a lab component worth 40% of the mark, so I was in class from 9-230 Monday to Friday. Honestly, my goal for that class was just a C- (memory isn't my strong suit and biology is basically all rote memorization). Surprisingly, I walked out of that class with an A-. After those two classes, my GPA is now at 3.022 overall. Just a little farther to go and I'll make it! Also, I only have 2 years left. If everything goes according to plan, I will be graduating in the spring of 2014 - exactly 8 years after finishing high school. I suppose slow and steady wins the race.

Summer camp was a blast -as always. Every camp has difficulties and roadblocks to overcome, and ours was no exception. Overall, the 8 days that I spent out there were absolutely wonderful ... and absolutely exhausting. I love it, but I really need my sleep and out there, you really do not get a lot of it! I had the pleasure of staffing some of the participants over again from a previous year and met a lot of new faces. I hope that they come back and staff next year!!

In June, I had the absolute pleasure of going to a real ranch wedding with my best friend Chelsea. The wedding was my dad's business partner. I didn't get to make it to the actual ceremony, but I heard it was beautiful. I saw the dress & such at the reception. Donna was an absolutely STUNNING bride. I hope to look at least half as beautiful on my wedding day. I learned at the dinner that me and wine ... we don't mix too well. Let's just say it was an interesting night. The next day was the dance, and I was much more careful with my alcohol consumption. Chelsea and I danced for almost 6 entire hours - even if we were the only ones on the dance floor.

A few weeks ago, my dad's brother got married in a gorgeous outdoor ceremony. I had the pleasure of having Dean with me, which was a ton of fun. I got to hang out, dance and drink  at an open bar. Rain clouds started to roll in during the dance (which was held in the barn!) so everyone started to move inside.... except for 2 of Uncle Mark's boys. They decided to stay out in the rain and dance for everyone. (They're only 9!!) As the night went on, people started dancing in the rain and laughing at the puddle splashing. It was an absolutely wonderful night!

So, this whole work thing ... I haven't been working a lot & just recently started to pick up more shifts. After three years of working for Corus Entertainment, I finally got to work in the JOE FM studio doing behind the scenes work. I work in the CISN studio whenever I can, but have never really moved next door to the JOE side. It's been pretty spectacular over here the past 2 days!

Anyways guys and ladies - you're probably much too tired to keep reading my rambling on life.Speaking of tired - I am exhausted. I haven't been sleeping well. Hopefully this week I can get back on track and not be up until 430 every morning!

<3

Mums and Mother's Day

Many people often comment, "any man can make a child, but it takes someone special to be a dad." Now, after this weekend, I believe that the same thing goes for mothers.

Firstly, my mum is someone who happened to give birth to me. While this is probably the most common conception of what a mother is, I certainly do not think it should be limited to that.

This occurred to me this weekend, when a man who is like my 2nd dad came up to me, amidst mothers, children, and fathers and said, "Happy Mother’s Day." This man knows me well enough to know I have not given birth to any children. (not yet, one day though!) I reminded him that I was not in fact, "a mum." His response was simple and stuck with me all of yesterday and it was this, "but, you kind of are like a mum to all these kids." Side note - the kids he was referring to were his own, my niece and nephews, and friend's kids.

It is certainly not the first time that someone has referred to the fact that I seem to do well with children. I revel in joy when they like me, when they are near, and when I can be myself around them. Two weeks ago, I was fondly given the nickname "Ovaries" as I always exclaim, "my ovaries are jumping!" when I am around children. My mum has said that perhaps it is because I am not guarded around children and so they see the "real me." Whatever the reason, I have never, in my life, been wished a Happy Mother's Day.

This brings me to the point of this all. Why are the mums that get celebrated the ones that have just given birth or adopted children? Why is "adoption" such a narrow term? The man that said that to me has essentially "adopted" me into his family. I don't live with him and his family, nor do I call him dad. Yet every father’s day, I send him a card.

Mums are EVERYWHERE. Perhaps they are like me - they do not have any "real" children of their own. Perhaps they immerse themselves in lives of children they know. Perhaps they're your best friend's mum. Perhaps they have adopted pets that they have fondly made into children. Perhaps they ARE the ones that have given birth.

Whoever the mothers are in your life: an adopted, biological, parents of pets or women that are just ... There. Wish them a happy mother’s day too.

-S

Just for future reference

My font is not actually Comic Sans. It is different, but shows up as CS on some browsers. That's yucky & I apologize in advance.

My visit to the hospital ...

So, background information on the whole hospital situation....

My ears have a tendency to have a heavy wax build-up and then become impacted. (gross, I know) However, I just get them flushed every once in a while (which isn't the most comfortable procedure) and I'm good to go for another little while.

Saturday night I was at my parent's house out in Armena (by Camrose) and we were watching the hockey game. I went to bed shortly thereafter and laid down on my left side. Boom. Lost all hearing. It has happened before so I didn't panic too much, but it is really awkward and makes me dizzy if I'm walking around because of the different hearing in both ears. So, nothing helped and I reluctantly went to bed.

Sunday morning (Easter Sunday) I woke up and I was really dizzy from my ears and in some pain. It was an odd feeling. My mum looked at them and could not do anything, so the only thing close by was the hospital. I figured I'd go in and it wouldn't be a big deal as it is a quick 4-8 minute procedure and then they send me on my way. Technically, I think an LPN/RN could do the procedure as well, although I could be wrong on that.

This is where it gets interesting - I get to the hospital, deaf in one ear, dizzy and in pain and I ask information where I should be heading. She pointed me in the direction of the EMPTY emergency room. A nurse sticks her head out the door and asks what I need. I told her that I needed to get my ears flushed and that information sent me here. Her response was "we don't do that here (what?!), and this is an emergency room - this is not an emergency." She then told me that I could go to the clinic that opened up on Monday at 2PM. I looked at her and said "I understand that this is not urgent, but I can't hear anything. Are you telling me that there is not ONE doctor here that can help me?" She said to have a seat and that she would call a doctor.

I texted my mum at this point saying that an emergency room did not want to help me because this was not deemed an "emergency." She was pretty upset and asked if I wanted her to send my dad down. I said no and that I'd deal with it. I was currently watching 2 nurses flirt with the security guy that was standing at the desk. I could hear murmuring about me and could see them glance at me every now and then, almost as if to see if I was still there.

So by this point, I'm pissed. I waited forty minutes to even be spoken to by another nurse. I finally get to go back, they take my vitals, blah blah blah, and although the nurse did it with a smile (she was not the original nurse that refused to help me) I could tell that she was upset about either me being there, or her being there. Either way, this is her job. Not my fault that my ears decided to shut down and leave me in pain on Easter Sunday.

Another side note - had Camrose had any other option for clinics or help on Easter Sunday, I would have utilized them instead of going to an emergency room, a EMPTY emergency room.

So, I get put in a room and finally a doctor comes in. She lectures me for a few minutes saying "the nurses are not happy that you are here. This is NOT an emergency." I just restated my case that this was bad, it was making me dizzy, I was in pain, and that I understood it was not actually an emergency.

She worked for a few minutes flushing my ears, with the original nurse who refused to help me by her side. I was less than pleased. The doctor even said "this isn't going to be anything fancy, just a syringe and water." Clearly, I wanted the gold treatment with gold-plated shit. Give me a break. So, she states that both my ears are severely impacted. She gets through what I thought was the worse ear and states that there is an infection. She then gets to work on the other ear, which was also severely impacted.

Somehow the last part of my post didn't actually publish...

So here!

After she finishes cleaning the other ear, the one I could actually hear out of, she states that there is a HUGE infection and that my ear canal is actually bleeding. (I actually think the bleeding was caused by her use of the syringe and her impatience of me being there). So, now I'm really upset. She says that she is going to go get a prescription for me. Both nurses leave, and I can hear them LAUGHING in the hallway with the other nurses. Thank-you, thank-you for laughing at my pain and irritation with you. I appreciate it. *eye roll*

The doctor comes back with a Rx and I basically speed-walked all the way out of the hospital. I got out the doors and just burst into tears. I do not take kindly to being treated like an idiot, or being made fun of. I called my mum, bawling, she talked me through it and I went to Shoppers for my prescription. Pharmacist looks at my Rx and says "this is going to cost you about 90$, do you still want them?" .... Uh, WTF? Yes, I still want them. I hate that they're expensive, but you know, yes, I WANT MY MEDS.

That is the story of the unprofessional doctors and nurses at the hospital in Camrose, AB. Less than impressed.

Much love,

-S

It's been a while

It's been a long time since I've posted and a lot has happened since I last did. I figured that while taking a small break from my paper (thanks to @CharmingGrump for the tip) I'd write some stuff down. At least one person (Dean) has asked me to post because they miss reading my ramblings. Hopefully some of you guys feel the same way.

A little bit of background before I tell you what has happened. I met this guy in 2008, we quit talking in ... the summer of 2009 I think, we started talking two Octobers ago and quit talking in March of last year. It's been a roller-coaster to say the least. So, I get this message around Christmas time asking if we could talk again. That he missed me and knew he didn't deserve a second chance to be a part of my life, but wanted to know if I would accept him into my life again. So, I did. Slowly. He said that it was no pressure and that we would talk when I was ready and when things were on my terms, so that I would know he was serious.

So, a few weeks ago he came over to hang out. We talked through most of the movies we had put on, and it was actually the best conversation we have probably had since we started talking in 2008. We were genuine, honest and open with each other. To top all of it off, we hugged at the end of the night and we parted ways. We've kept talking since then, and I am so blessed and grateful that this person is back in my life. We've had our ups and downs, but I am so glad that he is a person that is back in my life, and back in my life to stay. :-)

More has happened.

Last week, I learned that a friend of mine from camp passed away in a tragic snowmobile accident near Wainwright. She was 24 years old. Along with her was her fiance, her unborn child, and an 18 year old friend of theirs. May they all rest in peace for eternity. I was so heartbroken to hear the news of her passing and carefully told a mutual friend of ours. I'm beyond glad that our camp program is taking some time to recognize her this year at staff planning and in the newsletter that we all get.

Also. For those of you who have asked about my new twitter avi (@BuhlerFerris). I have the faux-hawk. The girl next to me is my little sister (@jbuhls). Now you all know. :-)

I should probably continue on with this paper. Speaking of deadlines, this is due tomorrow, I have a 5 page paper due on Tuesday, a final on the 12, and then finals on the 18, 19, 20. Oh, and then I start school again on May 7 for the spring semester. One class in 3 weeks: 9-12 M-F until the end of May. Then, another class starting in June, another class jammed into 3 weeks, plus a lab: 9-12, 1230-330 M-F. If you don't hear from me for May-June, please don't panic. I have either drowned in books and flashcards or crawled into a hole and done the "My Girl"-rock-back-and-forth-singing-the-Witch-Doctor until school was over. I look forward to seeing you all at the end of June. ;-)

Just a different story

I haven't posted in a while - I blame Vegas. My LV post will come. Promise.

I went out for coffee today with a woman I haven't seen in a few years. I reached out and contacted her a few weeks ago and we decided to grab a coffee. We shared what has been going on in the past few years for us both. I shared with her something that I hadn't told anyone (except for my mum) in a long time. Part of the reason I don't really hang out with her group of friends anymore is because I don't feel as though I belong. All of the group is married and/or has children. Last year on Facebook I watched as countless childhood friends uploaded pictures of their children and updated their relationship statuses to engaged or married.

Fast forward through our coffee chat and Bekah said something that I really needed to hear. "You DO belong, your story is just different." I've been thinking about that since I left her at 3 o clock. I KNOW I am supposed to get married and be a mum...just not yet. It doesn't always make it easier, but she is right. This is MY story, and my story is different. I DO belong, just as she does and just as everyone else does.

Thank-you for speaking the words that I needed to hear. I'm beyond blessed to have gone out for coffee with you today.