I finally got around to documenting this experience after my kitchen disaster at baking eggplants. I know right, how difficult could it be. I thought the one thing that could go wrong is me accidentally scarring myself with a knife. I seem to have solved that by never sharpening my knives. However, today as I was baking my eggplants, I thought I would bake some tomatoes and add some parsley, then I brought out the oven dish to put the tomatoes in it, apparently because it has been in the oven and was super hot, it smashed into pieces while i held it, it's a miracle how I survived that unscathed. The fatigue from my fasting left me immediately and I have been picking up glass pieces ever since. It made me think, we don't know how lucky we are when the most mundane things works smoothly. Anyway, I managed to have my eggplant with the tomato soup I didn't want to have it with initially, the mozzarella cheese must have helped as it tasted better than I expected. I should really stay out of the kitchen but they say cooking for oneself is an expression of self love which makes me want to do it often. Anyway, I digress, this is about the ski trip to Lake Louise!
This year I wanted to go to the Grand Teton but I have been meaning to come back to Lake Louise since the time it offered me solace at one of the most difficult time in my life and the decision could not have been more perfect. I chose to do my ski trip in January this year as I would be spending time my mother in February and I needed to detox from my busy schedule before I received her.
My trip to Lake Louise was 3 days long, 2 full days of skiing, then I had planned to stop over in Banff to see an acquaintance of mine whom I met on my initial visit to Lake Louise. Ski trips are my favourite to plan as it doesn't require a lot of effort, you pretty much have everything at the resort except when you have to go to the Ski village, apres ski activities are dinner, drinks then stare at the majestic views of the mountain. Usually, my day is mostly done by the time I'm back from the ski village, I just want to rest my feet from those uncomfortable ski boots, plus it's a lot of sloping down the mountain.
Lake Louise was as stunning as I remembered it, the weather was perfect around -4 to 1 degrees, it does get colder on top of the mountain but it was nothing compared to the -40 degrees brutal weather from my ski trip last year Also, the crowd was amazing. I can't tell you how many times I kept giving thanks to God for the gift of sight. I made sure I took as much moments as I could take in. I'm reliving those moments as I journal this experience. Canadian Rookies are just so picturesque and I consider myself fortunate every time I experience them.
Spending February with my mom has been fulfilling, I haven't lived with my mom since she last visited me in 2018 whilst I was living in the Middle East. We have our banter and I live for them, my mom has got jokes too, we make each other laugh effortlessly and this time was no exception. Once we got over the initial "when are you getting married" yada yada, it was smooth sailing. I was happy being her daughter/maid for a month, I haven't cooked so much in five years like I did when I had her around, she literally sat and gave me instructions on different recipes. I couldn't even mess it up out of embarrassment, the last thing I need is her bringing that up in an extended family discussion and have everyone dish in their 2 cents, ahh God no! so I played by the script. Although, it was stressful but I constantly reminded myself of how lucky I was that I get the opportunity to live with her again. Other days, we just banter, then listen to her favourite fuji music. Sometimes, we danced together and she clown me about how I get my wobbly dancing skills from my father. For the record, I'm a better dancer, my mom just want to be right all the time.
Also, given my mother enjoys watching movies, that allowed me get through a couple of books. This was how we spent our time when we are not in each others business. The books I read in february were:
- How to win friends and influence people -Dale Carnegie
- The mountain is you - Brianna Wiest
- Never Split the difference -Christopher Voss
They were all such good reads, I'm trying to diversify when it come reading and include at least one self help book in my in my monthly reads. I only read two books in January which were Psychology of Money and Seeker of Nothing. Again, both were phenomenal reads and I see myself picking them up again.
Overall, we made a lot of amazing memories together and that experience thought me selflessness and what it means to live a life of service to others. Moreover, I compartmentalize by default. Dedicating all my time to my mom was not going to be a big deal. The one thing she could not wrap her head around was how I have my extracurricular activities scheduled within work week, despite my already busy schedule. I must admit that sometimes she ask if I could cancel and spend time with her. Then she makes me feel "parent guilt" but I go anyway. I miss her now that she's gone back home, I wish she could have stayed longer but my life isn't set up like that at this time as I have other life commitments.
