dual personalities

Yesterday was the funeral of Canadian author, Alistair MacLeod, who wrote one of my favorite books, No Great Mischief. It’s not one of the best books ever written — and indeed, it is over-written in places — but it deals with a lot of things I care deeply about: the importance of family and family history and how the world tends to crush without thought or remorse anyone who won’t keep up with its changing ways or jump on the bandwagon of “progress”. Boy can I relate.

No Great Mischief is all about a community forged through suffering and shared experiences, such as work,  music-making, and story-telling.  Music pervades the novel; there is a tune for every occasion. We live in a world in which everyone has their own soundtrack so if we are not musicians, music tends to separate rather than join us, but it hasn’t always been that way.  Here, in honor of Mr. MacLeod,  is one of the wonderful Scottish laments so popular in Cape Breton and so prevalent in the book.

May he rest well, reunited with his people.

*******

It wasn’t all melancholy and nostalgia this week, however. We had a couple of  happy events involving boy number two. First, on Friday we attended our son’s honors project presentation. They had the humanities honors students and some of the summer fellowship students (including the girlfriend) present at a poster session. It was interesting and fun.

My pics didn’t turn out very well, which is why I am not including one of Nicole’s project.

Then yesterday we attended “moving up day” where Chris received an English department award for ‘contributions to campus journalism’.

complete with sparkly present

If he looks a little bemused, it’s because he was — journalism, really? It’s the same award his brother won back in his day. Hey, I think it’s cool, whatever it’s for.  I’ve never, ever gotten an award (unlike my dual personality).

So that’s about it. I know this post is wildly late, but I have a new computer and Windows 8 is a beast I’m struggling to master. Technological delays abounded. Hopefully, next week’s post will be on time and trouble-free. In the meantime, listen to some mournful fiddle music and think about how blessed we are not to have to do our laundry by beating it against rocks in a freezing stream (see, I do try to look on the bright side of things).

It’s funny but my siblings and I all have birthdays associated with very important holidays. Mine is just shy of Christmas, my brother’s is on July 4th, and every so often — as this year — my dual personality’s birthday falls on Easter. This serendipitous occurrence is both an occasion for joy and a challenge to this blogger. Do I concentrate on the birthday or the holiday? Do I somehow manage to combine the two? Doubtless my dual personality, who is talented in ways I can only dream about (and I mean that), would manage to do both. But given my natural inadequacies and recent devastating computer mishaps, I think I’ll have to bid you all a Happy Easter and share/celebrate a few of the things about the birthday girl that make me love her so much.

1. When we were young we fought a lot. She once pinned me to the ground and spat gum into my hair (by accident). I think that’s what started the ‘no gum’ rule in our house. She also squeezed my face with hot tongs (another ‘accident’) and I’ve always blamed my crooked nose on her. But I gave as good as I got and once bit her on the leg really hard. I didn’t break the skin but the bruise was truly impressive. So you see, when the time came, I was prepared to raise boys.

2. My dual personality is super well organized: she always gets things done on time; her house is beautiful; her yard tidy, and she’s always prompt with cards, letters, and presents. But she’s no soulless automaton — everything she does is done with love.

3. She has an incredible memory for people. She not only remembers who they are, but she can usually tell you what their middle names are, who they are related to, where they went to college, and what activities they did. It’s amazing and completely effortless. She can do the same thing with books and movies. I’m in awe.

4. As you already know from reading this blog, she’s a deep thinker and very spiritual. And for those of us who tend to get caught up in the rat-race, it’s a life-saver to come here and be reminded of what is really important.

5. She’s also my fashion adviser. She has impeccable taste and always looks perfect. Alas, try though I might, I never quite manage to get beyond “professor chic”, which is a euphemism for ‘eclectic dowdy’. Sigh.

Here’s hoping you have a wonderful birthday, dear sister. If I were only there with you to celebrate, we could sing this together:

Here’s hoping you all also have a Happy Easter! Don’t eat too many jellybeans…