If you came by our place yesterday, I would have met you at the door and been quite presentable. Since Marie-Hélène’s day starts at 7, I can’t very well sit in my housecoat perusing Kirtsy’s Most Popular picks. I would have told you not to mind the Internet cable running up the staircase wall and into the kitchen. Then I might have asked you to babysit while I finish proofreading two essays due that day. The feeling of sending them in is a high.
If you consider that for quite-a-few hundred dollars, you get four or five of these trips from September to April, during which you suffer piles of reading and papercuts on stacks of printed notes, only to experience 4 or 5 days of the elation of striking another project out of the ballpark – well then, University is your drug.
But about that Internet cable… We hosted a Saskatchewan camp-out in our basement. And before you admire our pluck, I’ll just say, it was quite easy. You see, it was Festival week here in Winnipeg, the only week which John is willing to sacrifice his pork-farm job for, in order to participate all the way. (He didn’t though… have to sacrifice his job, that is.) Two of his friends came from Saskatoon, and were I not a stay-at-home-mom, I might not have known what they looked like. Festival conveniently coincides with the University spring break. Could there be any better excuse to go out every night? It would be 11 in the morning, I’d hear the shower, then the dishes in the sink. I’d change Marie-Hélène’s diaper, our screen door would slam, and John’s friends would have disappeared for another day. Can you manage Internet deprivation like that for a week? Christian couldn’t even check the weather across Canada before leaving for school. Yep, we’re pretty steady users.
On Sunday, the last day of Festival, John was a guide. And hey, why don’t you come by Jazz? And just then, being a party-pooper nearly broke my heart. I have an essay to finish for tomorrow… If I’d have thought about it earlier, maybe… Maybe we could still go. But those invisible essay hands were choking my neck… Oh the conflict! Oh the regret! I should have organized myself better… (You want a translation? I shouldn’t have watched Lost on Friday night, then on Saturday night too. Did you know we were fans? No, neither did I. Not till a few weeks ago. Season 6 premiered with a short synopsis and Christian and I happened to be watching long enough between flicking channels to realize we’d been missing out! Rather than watch second rate movies on Friday night, we decided to catch up on Lost and have since finished the first season. No spoilers allowed! But if you ask us, that’s the way to watch a tv series! Wait until it’s almost over, than catch up on all the seasons over a few months!) But even though I didn’t end up going to Festival, John became the subject of a professional photo shoot for the Winnipeg Free Press.
The photo was taken by Trevor Hagan. The caption reads: John McAvoy, 20, has decided to ditch his shaving kit while working as a clerk in the trading post. He is thinking about entering the beard-growing contest taking place during the Festival du Voyageur.
Now, that last part isn’t entirely accurate, simply because it would take John over a year to grow a beard any length beyond a chin-covering. However, if there was a contest for “hadnsomest voyageur in costume” – or something like that – he might have a chance. Girls, I’M screening your calls…
