Rain

This morning has dawned rainy and dark but my child's humour has returned and there are no signs of rashes about his person, so I'm going to go ahead and call it a Very Good Start. This morning we are heading off to pick up some English relations whose presence in Vancouver I was reminded of when the phone rang Thursday night and they said "hey, what are the plans for Saturday?" This is what happens when people make their plans for vacation in January: I forget all about them.

Even more surprising was the doorbell ringing at 5:45 last night. I had come home after a long, long day and removed my work clothes and gotten straight into my pajamas, anticipating a nice evening of videos and order in Chinese. And so when I opened the door expecting dinner and saw these same relations ("We were just in the neighborhood, wanted to make sure we knew where you were for tomorrow!") I almost passed out.

Now don't get me wrong. I love these people. I do. They are among my very favourite people in the world. And I was actually delighted that they stayed for a few hours to visit, and even more delighted that they came to Canada to visit, because few of my relations have done so. It was merely surprising, but in what was in the end a very nice way.

I was only grateful that the house was (mostly) clean.