Being In Canada

Do you ever have those unguarded moments when you do a double-take to ask yourself: "Am I really here?"  Then a split-second later you give your head an imperceptible shake and bounce back to reality. "Yes it's real. You're here now. Carry on." Or maybe it's just me... and you're wondering what the heck am I talking about. :-)

Well, last week I took my little girl to her skating lessons for the first time.  Looking at the ice arena with well over 50 children learning to skate, seeing the instructors go about patiently helping the tottering kids, feeling the chill as I sat in the stands....it was like a dream sequence.  

Then, it hit me. "I am in Canada."  The realization was quite visceral.  I had been born and raised in a tropical country and while growing up, never in my dreams had it occurred to me that I would be in a country where the winters were 6 months long! :-)  All these thoughts and feelings passed through the synapses in my brain in less than a second probably. The moment was a blip in the timeline of my life but at the same time it felt suspended in mid-flow...like someone hit the pause button. 

Then, I saw my little girl, doddering along in earnest.  Pretty soon she'll be skating on ice the way she eats popcorn...effortlessly and without a second thought.  This is her world now. She is in Canada.