Four days into my 45th year...

[catherineldf]

Where to begin? Yesterday, when a local Catholic college contacted Jana about binding some books and such to present to the Pope? That was sort of a stunner all around. Not quite finalized yet but this is about as surreal as it gets.
Except for the day before yesterday, which was just as weird.
Apparently Canadian Customs and border security have decided that I'm a potential enemy of Canada (unfounded to the best of my knowledge). I had some quite unpleasant experiences that I have no intention of repeating unnecessarily so no more trips north for me for the foreseeable future. Which absolutely bites since I've enjoyed all 10 or so of my previous trips up there, with the big exception of parts of this one. :-((((
However the second we got back to Minneapolis (on time from Chicago even), unicorns leapt out of the woodwork and began to frolic with happy bluebirds and Disney princesses and other riffraff. A nice man gave me a train pass because I looked tired (actually still furious about the security incident earlier in the day, but who was I to argue?). We ran into the always charming Pamela Dean and her sweetie on the platform. We got home to find that I had received birthday cards from various folks, including Jana's parents and one of her brothers and his wife. This is where things gets seriously weird. In the 14 years + that we've been together, our relationship has not been, shall we say embraced, by her family. We passed the random wackiness stage years back but they stay in Utah and are practicing Mormons, I stay here and we occasionally grunt politely at each other. The previously mentioned brother and his wife have been swell and supportive and a couple of the others have come around to pleasantly neutral but that's about it.
But here, out of the blue, was an actual card from her mom thanking me very sweetly for my years of devotion to her daughter (and including a nice gift even). I'm still pretty stunned. Jana is very, very pleased about it, which I figure is the most important part. :-D
More on the good stuff about the trip next post. Must go feed now.

Comments

[gypsy1969.livejournal.com]

Wow, families can surprise you. It's always nice to be "in" when you were previously "out". Uh, wait, that didn't come out right, but you know what I mean.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

whoa. go, mom!

[jean-roberta.livejournal.com]

Omigod, you're considered an enemy of Canada?? Blame our current federal gov't, the Conservative Party. I'm really hoping the next election here will change things for the better - couldn't get much worse.
Glad Jana's relatives are warming up. With luck, this process will continue.
I grew up as a "gentile" in Mormon country (Pocatello, Idaho, before the summer I turned 16)- always felt like a lost resident of another galaxy.

[gavinatlas.livejournal.com]

Hey! Happy Birthday o' enemy of Canada. I hope it was fun. Here's wishing you a healthy year and that Canada will see the error of its ways.

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

Wow! Hooray for Jana's family coming around: even if it's been pleasantly neutral, this is still even better!

And happy birthday to you!

[thaedeus.livejournal.com]

Boo for the unpleasantness!
Hooray for the nice surprises!

Seems I am about 8160 hours older than you, SYT.

[But I'm 18 in EmoYears, with a dark side Pink Floyd would envy.]

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

Actually you've done a lovely job of summarizing it. :-) It's making for an interesting week.

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

And to think, I can still remember when she used to weep when I answered the phone. Proof that one can indeed overcome just about anything.

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

Well, I got cross examined on the way in - they wanted the names, phone #s and addresses of anyone I was likely to talk to in the city of Montreal. Which I declined to give them, even if I had had it on me. So there was really half- assed extra searching and general rudeness. Then on the way out, there was lots of rudeness, and much additional searching, coupled with slight mauling and attempts at humiliation. And the threat of confiscating my breath mints. Oooh, scary. Searching my bag of feminine hygiene products was too frightening, however, so that didn't even need to be scanned. In short, it was obvious that I was on a list of some sort and it was all quite infuriating but survivable. But not something I'm eager to repeat any time soon. :-(
Re: the LDS. I'm pretty sure many of them are from a different galaxy. But don't tell J's family. :-)

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

I sure hope so. I wouldn't like to be barred for life. :-)
Thanks very much for the well wishes! And did I see the other day that you had a new acceptance?

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

Thank you on both counts! :-D

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

You'll be happy to know I had to look that up. :-)
Whilst I am full of perkiness and sunshine, of course. What's the wooden thing in the new icon photo (old Catherine needs new trifocals, alas)?

[gavinatlas.livejournal.com]

Yes. An acceptance to a market that doesn't pay anything and a rejection from a market that pays $150. Hee hee. Oh, well. Can't win 'em all. Maybe the acceptance will bring some attention to my humor stories. It's the first time I've placed one. (Although somehow it turned out that the anthology is a horror, sci fi, fantasy work. I'm a bit perplexed.)

[elisem.livejournal.com]

Oh, very cool on the cool stuff! And WTF on the Canada stuff. Oy!

E,
who wants to get together, and will send you e-mail

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

The acceptances will come (no pun intended :-). What kind of humor is it?

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

My sentiments exactly. Yes, let us hang out!

[gavinatlas.livejournal.com]

I don't know how to describe it. Kind of Dave Barry-ish. My collection is called The Silliest Stories Out of Bustleburg: America's Worst City. I have about 150-160 pages. I'm thinking of looking for an agent soon. Don't know if that's a ridiculous goal or not.