Family Time

I went to the island to visit my family last week. I have a large extended family, and we try to stay connected, so some of them came to visit me in Vancouver, and some of them met me in Nanaimo. I also wanted to be in Nanaimo to celebrate my parents' wedding anniversary (celebrating their anniversary = sleeping in their trailer and eating their food).

The big day turned out to be pretty low-key. They dropped me off at a record store and celebrated their 30th anniversary in Victoria. It was wonderful. I walked up and down every aisle of that store for hours, eating a bag of licorice and feeling like a kid again -in the sense that my parents looked at that big second-hand music store and saw a free babysitting service. I'm not complaining; I bought some great new CDs for cheap. And I don't blame them at all for ditching me to get some alone time. Here are some conversations we had on the way to Victoria:

me: I lost my phone. If you find it in your truck, can you have it shipped back to Vancouver?

dad: Nah. I'll just forward all your calls from now on.

me: Ok, but I'm moonlighting for a sex chat line, so...

dad: If that were true, you wouldn't be broke all the time.

...

mom (watching me solve a Rubik's cube): Is that a mathematical thing?

me: Everything is mathematical. Name something.

mom: Ballet dan-

me: MATHEMATICAL! Go ahead, name something else. I dare you.

dad: no more talking, Thea.