Dear World

How do I explain to you the gravity of that which I am about to tell you? How do I explain in a way that you will understand? Odds are I can't. You'll never understand the depth of sorrow you should be feeling. Or that twinge of silent relief because there is no pain.
But I shall certainly try.
Because you need to know.

When I first came to the Military Museums over a year ago, there were many new things to be introduced to. But the one memory that shall forever stand out in my mind on my first day, was a smiling woman who told me to take a candy from her jar and warmly welcomed me "to the family". That is how I first remember Lynne. I soon become one of the "adopted Museum grandchildren", and Lynne became my "Museum Grandma".

To be honest I've rewritten this post a few times. Trying to think of how to tell you about Lynne. It's rather hard to put into words. I supposed the best way I can think to put it is that Lynne would do anything for the people she loved.

The last thing I will always remember of Lynne was my wedding day. I thought she wasn't going to make it. She had chemo treatments and was slowly getting more and more tired. As I walked down the aisle and out the doors with my husband I remember everything was a blur, until I noticed Lynne was there. She had promised she would come, and hell or high water wouldn't stop her. All I could do was say "Lynne!" and my smile widened. As people filtered out Owen and I gave her a hug and told her how happy we were she was here. I remember she told Owen she loved him and was proud of him, and told me how beautiful I was.

I will always remember Lynne as the first person to greet you when you came in, the woman with the jar of sweets, the one who would bring that piece of vanilla cake for those who don't eat chocolate, Lynne with a different pair of earrings everyday, the one who kept the museum running and kept our sanity, the woman who always gave a smile and wanted to know how your day was, Lynne who loved Elvis and had her desk covered in pictures of her family and the rest of her "family".

As I write this it's another beautiful day. Lilac flowers fall from the breeze and the sun is warm. I like to think Lynne pulled a few strings on the other side; to make sure we got nice weather through these sad days. The "Museum Grandma" wouldn't want us all sad though. So when I go home today, I will hug my husband, tell him I love him, and next Friday I shall go to the Museum. And I shall be with everyone as we laugh and cry and remember our Lovely Lynne. The woman with a big enough heart to love us all.

xoxo

p.s. I'm sure she's already met Elvis.

I Come From A Home...

...Where the walls are yellow, and I come from a town where you always hear hello.
And that's where I have always felt most comfortable. Living in a tiny little town where you wave to everyone who passes you by and it should only take you an hour at most to walk the town but it takes almost all day because you stop to talk to everyone. It's a small town, friendly place and you never feel like a stranger where you go and you always feel welcome. It's home for me. Even when I went to school, I went into the 'city' of our area, a half hour away from home. You still see everyone and you haven't really left. All my family was down south, and my friends and school and all the crazy awesome plans I had for summer. I had friends coming home I hadn't seen in years and it was going to be the best summer of my life. I was going to go bridge jumping everyday, get a good job at the local museum, set off fireworks, buy a car, rollerblade everywhere with my friends who were all going to be back.
But, life is a funny thing, and it never turns out how you think.
My life has always never gone as planned really. Not to say it hasn't gone well, because I have a good life, but the last year had been a tumultuous one to say the least and I just wanted an easy summer to coast through and be relaxed and laugh. But I found myself dropping my bags in front of my aunts house in the big city wondering how on earth I ended up here.
Truth be told, The Military Museums was a job I didn't really think or care about when I applied for it, I didn't even know where it was. I thought I botched the interview too and was busy trying to find a new job when they called me. Part of me really wanted to say no to their offer and just find some other job here so I could stay, but I found myself saying yes and moving to the "Big City".
Now, I'm a close knit kind of person. I'm close with my family, close with my friends and my town. I'm used to living in a place where I know everyone and feel safe. I can walk the streets at 1 am and not worry about anything. So moving somewhere where I don't know a single person I walk past and I can't go out after dark in most places, little unnerving. Not to mention when I found out I was working for the Department of Defense, and read my job description finally. I nearly tossed my cookies. I realized I had just signed up for a job with a lot of responsibility, a lot of stress, and I was in a city where I knew 1 person; my aunt who I was staying with, and that was it.
But first day of work came around and I was there. Ready for anything. Or, at least so I thought. I thought I knew something about the military. We have an army, an airforce and a navy right? I'll be good. Uh, no. There's different regiments, battalions, service cors, etc, etc. I was absolutely overcome with all the things I had to learn in a short time. I had no clue what CADPAT was. Wasn't camo just camo? It's green, brown, black and more green, right? I didn't know what a corvette was. It's a car right? And all the things I thought I knew from University classes on World Wars, well they obviously don't cover enough because I found myself saying "What battle?" or "We did what?" or, my favorite "I don't even know what you're talking about." I was working with two girls who already knew what they were doing, they had been working there already. My bosses were smart, but I found myself working with a boss with a personality I had never encountered before. Someone with military background who had high expectations and I was feeling very sink-or-swim. It had to be the most intimidating job I had ever had. Ever. I had no clue what was what, what to do, where anything was and by the end of it I was getting home and flopping on the floor wondering if I was going to make it.
By June 6th, the huge D-Day Celebration, I was almost at wits end. And that day, nearly put me over the edge. So many people, so many questions, such a rush to get everything done and it felt like a very strange organized chaos. Kids would ask me if their uniform was WWII or Cold War and I just had to say "I have no idea, you guess" practically. By the end of the day, I was literally ready to quit my job and move home. My friends had just flown in from where they had been, they were partying back home and I came home to an empty house and just sat down and cried. I had no idea what I was doing. What on earth was I thinking, I could not do this job! I didn't know anything and it was so high stress I felt like unraveling. 
But, I went to work the next day, because my parents didn't raise me a quitter.
And that was probably, the best thing I could have done.
Because you see, though I came to this job knowing nothing. Thinking it would be just another tough summer job and I would leave at the end of it, wave and hug goodbye, get a few facebook friends and promise to visit again. It turned out different than I thought, like everything else this summer.
It was going to end up like that, but life kinda went sideways. My department at school filling and my without a school to go back to. For days afterwards it bothered what I would do. Everyone at the museum was trying to help though, and I was amazed at how much at home I was feeling. My family was far away and only on the phone, giving their love and advice. And I could have felt alone with only phone calls, but I had these crazy people I work with caring too. I was still thinking about leaving back home and staying and living there, the thought of staying in Calgary crossed my mind too, but it's a city where I don't know anyone. I have never felt welcome in a place where I don't feel at home.
I finally realized how wrong on was one day though. I can't even remember what was going on, truth be told. I was getting something from the Collections cages, probably a screwdriver, or ruler, or tape measure or something. As I left I called back saying something like, "I'll be back to bother you later" as a joke when I heard Tucky reply "Don't worry, you're always welcome here."
I work at a place with crazy people, who I honestly adore. Most people think I'm weird for how much I talk about it and love it, but it's hard not to. My contract may be over, and I may get lectured that I need to a find a new job and move on but really, no job is going to measure up to that. I find for once, there's a job I can't seem to leave. Granted, Lydia has told me that if I tried she would tie me up downstairs and never let me go! Hmm, yeah.
Because really, it's like I have an entire other crazy family at the museum (as it one wasn't enough!) But it's okay, because you love them even if you don't know what to do with them half the time.
In one way this summer did turn out how I thought it would.
It was probably one of the bests summers I have ever had.
And it isn't over yet.

"The kids at the museum, they're really like my grandkids..." - Lynne
“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years” – Abraham Lincoln

What a Lovely Morning...

To wake up to the sound of a weed wacker beneath your window. *cringe* No amount of pillow over head and rolling over makes that sound go away.
So up I be, having slept in! Yes! One of the few good things about your job contract ending is sleeping in, bad thing is finding a new job. But that doesn't mean I'm not still hiding out down in the Rat Cages. Because really, as Deez put it, I can try to run but they'll just drag me right back and tie me up in the basement and never let me leave. Ever.
Yes, I love you all too.
So yes, my job is done *sniffle* and I'm stuck finding a new one. How dismal. But I'm staying because really how could I not? It's a good place to work, with ridiculously awesome (if not insane) people. I feel I fit in. My craziness is about par. For example, story time. I'm sitting downstairs between the two cellar dweller students Tooky and Heleness when a normal conversation comes up.
Heleness: You guys I wrote cuffles.
Me: Uhm.. what? What are cuffles?
Heleness: It was supposed to be cuffs.. It came out cuffles.
Me: Uh.. are you feeling okay?
Tooky: No, that's just her.
Heleness: *meow*

Normal is so relative.. So I'm off to go play with old, loveable, musty things. Who knows maybe I'll never get a new job. Doubt I could find one to live up to this one. ^.^



"Now I'm finally where I belong
I've been searching for a place of my own.
Now I've found it.
This is Home."
-Switchfoot 'This is Home'

On a Drizzly Sunday Afternoon...

I'm sick in bed.. Wonders.
Seems there's been a bug going around my office, and the girl with a pretty good immune system who doesn't usually get sick. Get's sick. Well it could also be from sitting out on the cold ground for 3 hours yesterday at Global Fest. Which, by the way, the fireworks were fabulous! The first set was done to Nikki Yanofsky's "Believe" the 2010 Olympic theme. Definitely in my top 3 of best fireworks shows I've ever seen!

Photo Courtesy of Richard C.
Globalfest.ca

Yeah. I forgot my camera for once. Good neough
Now, the fireworks were fabulous, as you can see..after the announcers stopped talking! Oh good heavens they kept saying "In a few minutes we'll enjoy the fireworks, but first!" No! No more! I want my fireworks! I don't wanna hear from any more sponsors, I'm cold!
Apparently I get grumpy when I'm cold. But who doesn't?!
All in all though, pretty awesome. The night markey had a lot of cool things from all over the world, even a tshirt I've been looking everywhere for! Pictures to come later :) Also, food from all over the place. Yum ^_^ And chai gelato? That's new. Also, belly dancing style Cinderella? Actually pretty cool, they did dances from India, Egypt, Greece, South America and then apparently she gets married to her prince in Calgary? To a country line dance? It takes a special talent to turn line dancing in to a belly dance. Though.. Maybe not. It was still pretty neat! But the evil step sisters ate her turtle friend at one point! Fiends!
Besides that, my life is a dull one. Though I did buy a bunch of new books on friday, and now I need to decide which one to read first. That's the real dilemma. I may start with Paradise Lost. I'll keep the read up posted.
Now, I haven't talked about work in a while. And I suppose the first crazy story I can start with was actually this friday. Which by the way, was kind of a write off. No one was in the office. So I sat writing up a children's play for my boss while my poor boss was trying to do two jobs. My other manager Deez got sickly, which is bad. So really all the exciting things that happened were that they're redoing the Founders Gallery and moving all the walls around. It's going to be cool when it's done! So work ended and I went downstairs, as usual. I do data entry for the downstairs Collections "Rat Cage" after work. The CFAMS aren't really fun, but the people downstairs are. For example, the computers in the museum frizzled and glitched again so Tucky goes to fix them with Heleness and I slipping out behind too. One of the displays has a false door thats actually a door to Collections dontchya know? So while standing in a display Heleness snapped this:

Yes, that is me standing in the display. Oh so cool. Haha. Now that I look back I should have gone with a scouting pose, but it was spur of the moment.
And after us crazy Kids in the Museum went to the Farmers Market because crazy Asian girl had never been and we got gelato! And then went to Chapters where I killed a lot of money, but also very much worth it!
Trust me, there's more crazier Museum stories than this one. You'll see.
On todays news:
Man would be ignorant to assume we're the only ones in the vast expanse of space.
Does this mean I can blame El Nino for my cold summer? Probably not..
Similarities between Romantic Rejection and Cocaine Craving? Just go eat some ice cream people!
Food that makes you cringe a little. Prairie oysters got nothin' on this..
Lastly, after getting to know a lot of soldiers and veterans. You worry for them. They're everyday guys with families and kids and a life. So when their security and lives are compromised by a bunch of ignorant radicals.. I. Am. Mad. There's a difference between freedom of speech and putting people's lives in danger. WikiLeaks I'm looking at you. Douchebags.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need ice cream.. So mad.. *grumble*