Making a break for it

Tomorrow morning, the mister and I are getting on a plane and flying westward across Canada into the Rocky Mountains for the wedding of one of Joe’s best friends. I’m pretty unreasonably excited for a couple of reasons.

1. Joe and I haven’t been properly away together – alone, in years and years. Even a few years ago when we were married, we went to a hotel for one evening and reported for brunch the next day.

2. I love British Columbia. It’s a beautiful province, but we are going to the Slocan Valley, which is particularly stunning.

3. The company will be wicked good.

4. I AM GOING TO KNIT ON SOMETHING OTHER THAN THE BLANKET. It’s going in my suitcase, because I really can’t quit on it entirely, but it’s at a size where it’s an unreasonable thing to take on a plane and expect it not to a) take up my entire carry-on and then some, or b) annoy people with its unreasonable measure of wool.

I haven’t decided yet what my plane knitting will be, but I am giddy beyond all reason at being forced to abandon the “all blanket all the time” rule, especially since I didn’t cop out. (Yes. I believe that. I believe that I have no choice but to knit something else. Don’t burst the bubble. I’m being forced. I wouldn’t knit anything else if it wasn’t for the plane. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.) Maybe I’ll knit a pair of socks. BC is far. Suggestions welcome. (Can you even believe that with all the Sock Summit stuff I still like socks? Stunning.)

For now I’m off to wade through the stash to find a candidate yarn, tidy the house enough to be able to tell if we get broken into while we’re gone, and pack a reasonable set of clothes for a wedding. (I think that the threadbare pair of yoga pants I’ve been wearing for a week aren’t going to cut it. Maybe I’ll hunt up my bra.) Before I go though, I want to say an enormous thank you not just on behalf of Megan and Pato, who are thrilled and grateful that they met their goals (and are continuing to kick arse in that department) but to thank you as a mother. It is the goal of every mum to raise good people. People who like other people, contribute to society, care for those around them and have empathy and understanding for those who need help, and that isn’t a job that parents can do by themselves. I really think that human beings are simple creatures. Largely, although there are a few sainted examples, we do things because it feels good to do them.

If you could have seen Meg and Pato yesterday, when they got back in from fundraising and saw that their efforts combined with yours had earned them both spots as top fundraisers who will be wearing the gold jersey on the ride, then you would have seen what I saw… and you would have been just as moved. Yesterday afternoon, you guys created something that it’s valuable for a society to have. You created people who like to fundraise and help others. They were good kids already, and good kids do good things, mostly… but yesterday you helped me teach these two something that will stick with them for the rest of their lives.

You taught them that it feels good to do good, and they were encouraged and supported in a way that will make them do-gooders for the rest of their lives. No question – and as Megans mother, and someone who cares for Patricio, I really want to thank you for it. Changing the world – a couple of teenagers at a time.