An emotional day, Bahamas pics, my father in law

Well, it has been a very emotional day all around. My husband has been pretty quiet on the whole. A fair number of teary calls to Canada, the kids have been upset, and are also pretty worked up about starting school tomorrow on top of everything else. On the whole, the family is a little touchy. Pretty much everything is setting off the youngest daughter, the elder is holding steadier, although she is having trouble going to sleep for the third night running. The double hit of her grandfather dying and starting school is taking a toll.

The Polly Pocket's went bungy jumping today, and they scared a neighbour's dog! Walked in the hills again, so lovely and warm. Someone was burning leaves, I love that smell. I know, it's full of all sorts of different toxins, but it does smell great.

Then we made ourselves homesick watching these videos of sailing in the Bahamas. They are made by a friend of ours, and we can actually see my husband in one pic of the traditional racing yachts. You've got to know where to look though. If you've got the time, these are slide shows of friends of ours, and we have been to many of the places they have featured. It also gives a nice feel for what the water and the sea are like. I particularily love the photos of the sea..it is the most ethereal blue....I love it and miss it so much. The video's are here, and here ,and finally here.

Lots of heavy sighs all around. I also am developing a sore throat and I have a muscle in my back that won't quit hurting. Like it is all cramped up. The joys of stress. I am supposed to try to set up a job interview tomorrow. I am worried about my husband, sad about my in laws, and my sisters in law who are so worn out, and who have done so much and continue to do so much, and uptight and worried about my kids. There ya go. Sometimes things suck, even when your living the dream.

My father in law, like my mother in law, lived through the Spanish civil war, which was by all counts absolutely brutal. He was in the Spanish Marines during World War II, which the Spanish didn't join. He was stationed in Majorca, so it cannot have been all a hardship. I am told that the Spanish marines had a swimming course. They marched everyone down to a pier at the sea, and asked who could swim. Everyone who could were told to jump in. Then all the non-swimmers were all forced to jump in too. I guess the idea was that the swimmers who hadn't been injured by the falling non-swimmers could save them. Fortunately, my Father in Law was one of the ones who could swim. Seems a harsh system.

He and my Mother in Law moved to Canada with at three year old, an 18 month old, and my husband's Mom was 6 month's pregnant. They didn't have a job lined up, and all they knew of Canada was from the movie Rosalie - which I understand involved axes, trees and a lot of snow. Montreal was a darn site better than that fortunately. They did well, they both are fluent in 4 languages and are interested in the world, and music and books and mathematics, and history and science.... He painted quite a bit and quite well, and had his own quirks... the most noticeable being his complete unwillingness to eat ANY fruit or vegetables in ANY form EVER. Well, he is rumoured to have drunk orange juice sometimes, and he would eat red sauce on pasta. Must have driven his wife nuts.

His daughters probably know lots of good stories about him that I don't. My husband summed it up though. He was a good man.