2 beaches in 2 days

Abby started daycare today. All the time at the Toy Library seems to have prepared her for the environment, she ran in to play with the other kids and hardly looked back. I hung around talking to the lady there for about 20 minutes or so and when Abby hadn't even looked over at me I thought it was safe to sneak out. I didn't cry in the car in the parking lot like I expected to. I could have, but I held back. I've already cried about it, I don't need to keep doing it.

I had a hair appointment on the other side of town so I headed there. My Dad called the welcome wagon and let them know I was new in town, so last Thursday a lovely woman named Mary-Lou or something came to the house with a huge basket of stuff. Among the bounty was a $10 off at Chatters hair salon. I needed to clean up my hair and normalize the colour so I can go job hunting. I went with a dark brown but the purple-red colour it was bled through a little not in a bad way. I had a lot of length taken off and am a little worried how short it will be when I wear it curly. I went to Reitman's and bought a new pair of dress pants as my other ones are too big now, and a new top. I had planned on coming home printing some resumes and heading out again, but when I looked in the mirror at Reitman's I was horrified to see a large amount of hair dye staining my forehead. Here's a helpful tip if this happens to you. Baby wipes are soaked in magic fairy dust and remove absolutely anything. I had discovered earlier this month how efficient they are at removing ball point pen from a toddlers face and was pleasantly surprised at how they tackled hair dye. Baby oil managed to get the final traces off.

I had lunch and printed off some resumes, and I just wanted to chill out for a couple of hours until I had to pick Abby up. I have not had a break from being mommy for a long time and I just wanted to enjoy a few quiet hours to myself.

When I collected Abby from daycare, (an hour early because I just couldn't stand it anymore), she was eating a snack and pointed to me when I came in like "hey! mom's here!" She didn't want to leave. They were quite impressed with how she just sort of joined in and made friends, and she even napped at nap time. It is a bit of a weight off me knowing that she is happy and well taken care of during the day. Tomorrow I will blitz the entire Comox valley with resumes. I might even end up with two part time jobs, which will be fine as I will be able to meet more people.

We had a busy weekend. I felt like this was the end of this chapter in our lives and I wanted to do some fun things before life gets busy. I finally took her to Saratoga beach. This is the beach I spent summer vacations on for my entire childhood. We stopped at the Lucky Dollar and picked up some pepperoni cheese sticks. Sort of long cheese buns wrapped around a pepperoni stick. They were always the favourite in our family and Abby loved it.

I love this beach. The resort we used to stay at is gone but I still feel so happy and at peace on the beach. I love the smell of salt-soaked, sun-bleached driftwood. I feel like I am home. When I die I want to be cremated and have my ashes mixed into the sand. I promised Abby we would spend as many days there in the summer as we can. She was pretty upset when we left, like she felt the good feeling too and didn't want to leave. 

Yesterday we got some dinner and went to Goose Spit in Comox. As I was driving down an ordinary suburban road I caught myself thinking how happy I am to live here. Of all the places I have lived I have never felt like I am in my forever home, everywhere else I have lived has felt temporary. As this thought crossed my mind the traffic in front of me suddenly stopped in both directions to allow a family of deer to safely cross the road and I smiled because if I loved it before, here was another reason. 

Goose spit was a great place to spend the evening. Some dinner and hanging out on the beach in 17 degree weather in April is a pretty perfect evening as far as I'm concerned. Abby had a great time discovering rocks and sticks and shells. there were people having dinner just like us. There were people in kayaks paddling around, and there were even a few people flying kites. I love Island life. 

She was having a great time filling things with rocks. When we got home, I was standing at the sink rinsing out her sippy cup when I was hit in the leg from behind with a small pebble. I chastised her for throwing rocks - at mummy - in the house. Wondering where it came from. I lifted her onto the change table to get her ready for bed and as I dropped her hoodie on the floor it made a dull thudding noise. Her pockets were completely full of rocks. She thought they were so great she brought as many home as she could fit in her pockets.