Nostalgia

I spent last weekend in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia, where I lived before moving to Seattle. Although it's really not that far, and not that expensive, and despite the amazing friends still living there, I don't often enough take the time to go. I don't have any good excuse for this, other than maybe the melancholy and longing to go back that I inevitably get afterwards. I always promise to visit more regularly, and hope that I can keep my word. This weekend was another lovely visit, packed with many of the people and places I love. It was bittersweet though, as we met to honour the memory of a wonderful friend who recently passed away. Since it happened, we took some time to cry our hearts out, to be angry, sad, sad some more, and now that some time has passed, we met to remember her. Few words were said, because really, what can you say when a beautiful soul leaves way too early; but we remembered what a beautiful and loving person she was. We all worked together, and many Monday nights from late spring to early fall, we met in a park for an hour of bootcamp after work. We took turns being in charge, and each week would be flavoured by the person's favourite exercises and style. Alex had this way of motivating us, with her smile and gentle sternness, and I never cheated, never took it easy with her. She had this amazingly evil arm exercise, seemingly so simple yet so difficult. So Saturday, for her, we had a 2 hour bootcamp, and 5 sets of Alex's arms. We decided to make this an annual event, and I look forward to keeping this new tradition.

Since I've been back, I've spent a lot of time thinking of people and places I love, near and far. So today I leave you with a few gems found at my parent's house last May, because I'm feeling nostalgic.