Oh happy day !

The weather in Montreal today was absolutely perfect. 20 celsius, beautiful sun - a gorgeous fall day and nothing on my TO-Do list. Except all of the weekend chores and the summer-is-over-get-ready-for-fall stuff. So I put away my summer dresses and took out the wool, dark ones. I went grocery shopping and took Matis to the park and went to the beauty parlor and dropped off my dry cleaning. Then I picked up Morgen at Kelly's soccer game and got lost in Montreal construction traffic on the way home. Rita and I went for a run; I had not gone in a week and I struggled. I had to stop often to catch my breath - how quick endurance fades! But it was a gorgeous day to run through the woods, and with Rita moving away in less than two weeks, I find myself cherishing the girl talks and the last few occasions we have to pound the pavement together. How I will miss my running buddy! After the run, I invited Elliot over to play with Matis. Elliot's parents just had their third child, a little girl. You will remember that when his mom got pregnant for the third time, it had a weird emotional impact on me. It wasn't a rational envy, just an emotional one. And then the years pass and you have to let go of the ideas and grand plans and realize that this is it, there won't be any more. And so I spent the day enjoying and cherishing the kids I do have. Morgen and I baked maple scones and sinful chocolate chip cookies - I can smell them now through the entire house. Dinner is almost ready, Jean is playing Wii with Matis, and when I try real hard to stay in the moment, and not think about Monday, and not worry about next week, then there is peace. Jean brought me a Desperados - my favorite beer- It's French and it has tequila. I don't normally drink beer, but I like the sweet taste of this one. I find it endearing that he remembered I liked it and got me one - he came over on his bike - not the easiest way to transport beer! I thought it was so very thoughtful of him. But one small beer makes my head spin. A great thing that happened today is that I got the first printed copy of my book assembled and shipped to me. This is what they call the proof. It's the one copy they will make, and the one I need to check to ensure that the formatting is accurate and that the book is ready for mass production. I should receive it in seven days. If there are no changes to make, it will be ready for publication in early October. Oh Happy day! The picture I have attached to this blog is the one which will be on the back of the book cover. I am not sure I like it, but it doesn't look like me, and Anie thinks it looks good (she took it) - and so it's the one we picked. Time for some Oysters and dry white wine. If only time could stand still....