This week I am celebrating a number of wonderful things. I'm especially glad that I can say that!
Kelt and I recently celebrated our wedding anniversary on August 28, which does not reflect the length of time we have spent being married as much as it commemorates a blessed event. We chose to marry in our back yard, barefoot, with our loved ones, to establish our home as our space of love. We called it a Blessed Bohemian wedding. I still celebrate it as a time when our family of relatives and dear friends celebrated the love and commitment Kelt and I pledged to each other.
My friend and the previous reporter for this paper, Jennifer LaCharite, is (finally) marrying the love of her life, Mike Rogal, this weekend! If anybody knows how to celebrate in style, it's Mike and Jen. I'm so happy for them!
Before Artan was six, I thought it was silly to say that back to school time is the most wonderful time of the year. My boy is, however, quite precocious. So now I can say, I totally get it. He is enjoying his first month in school, full time, as a Grade One kid. As his mother, I celebrate his graduation from being anything even remotely resembling a baby. (I know, I know, I can hear your suggestions about that topic.)
We are also celebrating my husband Kelt's success in finding the best-suited job for him. He is working in the hospitality industry, which is ideal because he is a customer service hero.
One full year ago, I started my job as Reporter for Weyburn This Week. I can't believe it! Annual events are recurring for me now and I can almost finally say I might even know what I am doing. More importantly, I have met and reconnected with dozens of people I am so glad to know!
I am celebrating my harvest of tomatoes and spaghetti squash, beets and peppers. One way I do so is to stand in the tomato jungle and pick cherry tomatoes and eat them right then and there, like a bear.
My celebration style isn't typical. I like to make something to commemorate milestones, like a piece of art or, before mp3 players, mixed CDs and before that, mixed tapes.
Blessingway is a rite of passage celebration, given prior to any life-changing event, such as a coming-of-age, retirement or even a housewarming.
I like to help families to celebrate their soon-to-arrive babies by facilitating a Blessingway ceremony. This particularly spiritual event has been gaining popularity in recent years and some consider it an alternative or a supplement to a baby shower.
Back in Canmore, I had only a Blessingway, no baby shower. My friends gave me symbolic, pampering and practical gifts. We sang and prayed together and afterward, we shared a potluck feast with our husbands. The great thing is that the event can be just for the mom or it can include the dad, especially if they are going to be parents for the first time.
The creative options are endless. When I lived in Calgary, I did raw chocolate blessingway events for women who didn't want to have showers for their second or third babies. I took my henna tattoo artist friend along, who painted the baby belly as well as the hands or feet of the celebrant's friends.
Just like with any celebration, you don't have to be ritualistic but it's nice sometimes to include a certain element of formality. To state a purpose, to carry out a certain custom, to allow for sharing and then to conclude, this is the general formula for any celebration. How we make it our own is infinitely our own choice.
Soon we will be celebrating the winter holidays and I am, like a child, already getting excited! Although we are not Jewish, my really cool mom has been known to provide Hanukkah presents to us 'kids' in the past. Last year, Artan and I tore through all of ours in one night, while Kelt opened one per day for eight days as the custom goes. So, I must assure my mom that if we get eight crazy nights' worth of presents again this year, I won't open them all at once. We always love the thought put into them! I am growing up, I promise. In fact, that, in and of itself, might be something to celebrate.
