The Ying and Yang

It's odd how the universe has a sense of humour, isn't it? Oh sure, some say it's random, some say it's spiritual, some say it's the natural order. I say, it's one big cosmic comic fest...

Last Friday, after 10 months, countless hours on the phone dealing with slightly maladjusted and utterly clueless immigration officials, faxes and emails to various representatives and a delayed/missing permanent resident card, Ren has finally been deemed worthy of Canadian citizenship by the powers that, unfortunately, be. Yup, he should now be able to properly say "aboot", belt out the theme song for Hockey Night in Canada (ya, the original and not the new dorky one) and smugly tell American visitors that we have socialized health care.

But, the universe see, wanted to throw a little ying into the yang. Can't be all fun and games after all - gotta make sure the balance is right. So, on Friday morning, we received the citizenship papers and on Friday afternoon, Ren and I celebrated with a jolly old time at the children's hospital emergency room watching paint dry. Can't ya just hear the universe giggling?

It wasn't anything too serious - a respiratory infection brought on my a cold virus. A few shots of ventalin and they sent us off with a puffer, and thankfully, instructions on how to use it. But we had to stay for a few hours to make sure that Ren's breathing had stabilized and that he wasn't going to have another asthma attack (that's what they called it, although he probably doesn't actually have asthma, just a very persistent cold and cough). And he's pretty much kicked it now. In fact, we celebrated the termination of our relationship with Citizenship and Immigration Canada with a good ol' fashion sugaring off - complete with maple taffy on snow. Next week, we may even apologize when someone bumps into us!

But that there universe just couldn't resist forcing the balance in a rather unsubtle way. Now, if it would only do the same thing - a natural rebalancing - with respect to the impact on my thighs of the multiple chocolate chip cookies I just scarfed down while writing this post.