3 Ginger Snaps

This is Hil.

This picture of Hil was taken on the same day as the solar eclipse. August sometime. We had left Ottawa earlier that morning after a last minute summer road trip to satisfy the ever hungry adventure seeker that lives in both of us. It is a very memorable day for me. I really wanted to be at the cottage for the eclipse. For me, celestial movements are as close as I get to a true moment of spirituality. Hil made it happen.

Hil is a remarkable human being. She’s making a lot happen these days. Including many thankless tasks.

Hil and I spent the first half of 2017 running down a dream. This is us on our flight out of Toronto flying 28 hours to Siem Reap, Cambodia, January 12, 2017. To say that we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into would be an understatement.

Ancient temples and cooking classes. Picnics on beaches, in bus stations, and markets. Sea turtles and elephants.

We spent the last half of 2017 figuring out the new normal. Play dates and gymnastics. Dinners cooked from scratch in the Instantpot. Halloween costumes, Winter concerts and Santa Claus parades.

Over these past few days of the winter holidays, I’ve spent a lot of time with Hil and I couldn’t be happier. We’ve been walking around the neighbourhood in the snow. At night. Thinking and talking about the future. Our path. What may and may not come to pass. Career choices. Living arrangements. House purchases. More travel plans. Run of the mill middle life stuff that is simultaneously daunting and stressful and insignificant and trivial. More than anything, We’ve reminded ourselves that while sometimes life is a Boat ride to Battambang –

or a train ride to Unawatuna

more often, when we’re together, it’s a waterfall in Mondulkuri.

or ice cream in Copenhagen

or Singapore

Or Hue

(Hil loves ice cream…)

Or a bike ride through the Sri Lankan countryside

Or the vista at World’s End

And if the last year has taught us anything, we know that we just have to stick together and everything will be fine. This is us boarding the return flight, London to Toronto, June 15, 2017.

It would read as odd if I were to say that I spent 2017 realizing just how smart my wife is. The thing is, I think I spent 2017 realizing just how smart my wife is. It’s not new news to me – it’s that I realized she was brilliant in ways that I had no idea about before. Maybe even in ways that she couldn’t have been brilliant before and she is now. Maybe I should say that I spent 2017 realizing how my wife is getting more amazing all the time – with every new thing she does – whether she is navigating the insane traffic congestion of Colombo from the back seat of a tuk-tuk or landing the kids softly and soundly in a new community or helping me keep my head together when I am flipping out about buying a new car… she knows how to be in the moment – and that is just one of the things I love about her.