It Begins/Project Edit

Before I begin with the first short segment, I must say that after speaking with my Dad, who's wisdom I greatly respect, I will be editing my project slightly. Only some tidbits will be posted on here, sorry to disappoint, but I don't want to hurt someone in the writing of this project.

And It Begins

Surprise, surprise, guess where this is all going to start? In order to start off from the beginning we have to start with none other than CONCEPTION...just kidding! We will start with my birth. I won't go into any gory details, nor will I torture you all with stating how tired I was of womb service, or talk about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, that would just be tacky after all! It was a very special time for this lowly planet we call Earth, the world's greatest, most brilliant mind was about to come into existence. The funny part is that you think I jest again. The clock winds down in anticipation, oblivious to the screams of a young woman and her husband. December 18, 1987. Finally the hands click the much awaited time and I come screaming into the world. For those who know me best you would probably say that I didn't stop screaming until years later, but by then I was so busy talking people's ears off that I didn't have time for screaming, and guess what? They'd be right!

Ah the sweet smell of Chilliwack, BC smog, so...disgusting. Good thing they were taking me to Agassiz, and not remaining there. Here we lived in a small house near my grandparents dairy farm. When I was six months old my parents divorced due to differences. Growing up this was traumatizing, but now I see it as one of God's blessings. 

Most of the time we would be with a babysitter, but there were times when my grandparents would watch us on their dairy farm. I will tell what little memories I have of the dairy farm later in this chapter.

I was less than a year old when I actually had my severely herniated belly button stitched back into place, it was sticking out quite a bit, wish I had a photo of it on me to show you all.

It wasn't long before we moved to a small two bedroom apartment. Not too many memories of this home I am afraid. Will mention a couple of apartment memories after I mention my two favorite babysitters who stuck by us through thick and thin in the seven years of my life that were spent in B.C. The first was Mrs. Fersten (I likely slaughtered that last name, and I apologize for that), she was also my hairdresser at that time. What a blessing this must have been for her, a real honour, who wouldn't want to watch the most brilliant mind mature and develop? I remember helping with the chickens she had in her backyard, and making playdough from scratch in her kitchen, as well as playing video games with her son. And for some reason playing with trail mix in her toy cash register sticks in my mind as well. Later one of Mom/Kim's houses would be right across the street from this house.

Her daughter Anne, just happened to be the other babysitter I remember. I remember putting her through the ringer many a time, yet she still stuck around, and we sure missed her when she went to “see the Queen” as we put it. She went away for a couple weeks to visit England. I remember in the apartment she would help us make paper airplanes and we lost one behind the fridge, so she made a race out of us moving the fridge to get the airplane out before my Dad got home, not that he would have cared about a paper airplane behind the fridge. I also remember after my Father was remarried to a wonderful woman, we moved to Logan Road and Anne still babysat us there. Alvin convinced her that we were allowed to have brown sugar on toast, and he warned me to keep my mouth shut. So with my big mouth I mentioned this the moment my Dad got home, and Alvin got in trouble. Also remember we were playing hide and seek with her, and I was going to beat Alvin back to safety and I ended up with a pencil lead in the back, of course with my big mouth again I told my parents as soon as they came home, so guess who got in trouble again? And during the Stanley Cup Playoffs when Vancouver was playing the New York Rangers, she allowed us to stay up late and watch the game. Of course she quickly rushed us off to bed after the game, as my parents were going to be home. This was a terrible night though as my 'Nucks lost due to awful reffing. When she went to England her brother watched us, and not knowing what else to do with us, he played Monopoly with us until my parents came back home.

Back to the dairy farm. Only a few memories from here as I was so young. Remember watching Wacky Races on their TV, not sure why that one sticks out in my mind. Also remember Alvin and I jumping off there patio into the back of my grandpa's truck, which we were lucky we didn't break our legs, but boys will be boys. We were smart enough to never talk about that one until years later. Also remember when my Dad left for his first official date/Bible study with Mandy (who later became our wonderful step-mom). My two cousins came over to the farm at the same time. Jen, my eldest cousin, climbed on top of the swing set and was balancing on the top, walking across. Well Alvin could not be outdone by his girl cousin! So despite my telling him not to, he decided to prove he could do it. His foot slipped and his arm caught in the swing chain on the way down, snapping it. Great thing to come home to after a first date! Oh well, like I said, boys will be boys! I do recall a winter past time of hooking up the sled to the back of my grandpa's Tracker. He would pull us along through the field of half-frozen cow patties, all of us four cousins. So much fun!

In the apartment I only have a few other memories that really stick out in my mind. One is that there was a leaky pipe beneath the sink cupboard. It would flash in the light from beneath the cupboard and I was convinced it was a mouse. Also remember Mandy babysitting us while she was dating my Dad, and she took us to the park beside the railroad tracks. She taught us that if we waved to the train drivers they would throw you a bottle of spring water from the moving train. If only they still did things like that. I have to mention at this point that I was a neat-freak and perfectionist from the beginning. This will make the next part make sense. Alvin and I shared a room in the apartment, we had a clear division in that room. My clean, organized half, and his messy, disorganized half. His stuff was constantly creeping onto my half, which I think he did on purpose just to annoy me, and this was a huge deal for me. Many an argument broke out over this, which of course he likely enjoyed!