a dozen posts in one

Pardon the scatteredness - I have about a dozen blog posts buzzing around in my head. Some I have no idea where I'd start, others where I'd end. So here they are, incomplete, and in complete random order;

• The weather in Montreal is waaaaaaaay nicer than Manitoba. Tobans are crazy. Seriously. According to The Weather Network, Winnipeg was at a -32 degrees this morning, while we were at -10. By the tine I began my walk to school, the snow was melting due to a balmy -2.
  
• Our trip to Manitoba was crazier than ever. Christmas was amazing, we did make it out to the Bakers in time and spent a wonderful few days there, then we zipped back to the city for a few days with the Scatliffs. Then I returned to Dauphin and Tom stayed in Winnipeg. Or at least that was the plan. For reasons not needed to be explained at the moment, Tom returned to Dauphin to pick me up and we were going to leisurely drive to Winnipeg to spend New Year's Eve day visiting and were to fly back to Montreal on New Years day. Then, someone dropped a bomb shell. For Tom and I, it was my mom. In the morning of December 31, 2008 she calmly came into our room, explained that my father wasn't feeling well the night before and he had gone to the hospital a few hours ago. She had just got off the phone with the Intensive Care Unit nurse and was informed that my dad had a heart attack. Yes, you read that right. That was the beginning of a few days of flury. The details of the story are not mine to tell, even though I can think of a million blog posts that could be written about the happenings, each with their own ability to bring tears, heart warming moments, and even laughter. But, I have come to the conclusion that the conversations, moments, and overwhelming thoughts and emotions are too much to sort through and too tender to share on this blog. The story ends happily though, and I can share that willingly. The story has a happy ending with us having a great game of cribbage with both of my parents, in their own home the night before we actually did fly back to Montreal (yesterday evening). The past few days have been nothing short of amazing.
  
• The health care system and the human body are fascinating things - put them together along with a dedicated and educated health care staff and you get a healthly dad back at home only days after a serious assult on the heart. I need to give a shout out to the intake nurses at the Dauphin hospital for recognizing what was happening and taking action that was needed, to Dr. Hussain and his OR crew at St. Bonfice hospital for tinkering with my dad's ticker, and the staff at the Health Sciences Centre's Coronary Care Unit for whipping my dad back up into shape. [Not to mention the ambulance attendents, paramedics, flight crew and dozens of others employed by Oh Canada! who took take care of us when the time called.]
• We're exhausted. (What, you can't tell from my lack of ability to write in a comprehendable manner?) Tom (he is such a strong man) was up and digging out the car this morning before work after arriving back in Montreal at 1:30am last night. Ice storms do tricky things to vehicles when left for a few days.
  
• I started new courses today. I can't believe its class time already - I had such big things to "finish up" over the break - and some of them I didn't even get a chance to start. Ah well, life is good.
  
• On a completely different note, I've considered blog-striking a month before taking a visit to Manitoba. It seems as though there are more readers of this blog than I originally anticipated, meaning many people are up to date on the happenings of my life, leaving me with few stories to tell...And still little feedback on my thoughts!
• Tiffany nearly fell over when we saw her in Portage Wal-Mart.
  
• I accidentally dropped my flat-iron on the floor this morning - smashed it to bits. The best part? I was only 3/4 done straightening my hair. Yes, a little lop-sided at the moment.