• I’m back from a solo trip to a family reunion that happened over the long weekend. First and foremost, it was great. There’s something so special about being around people who you have known your whole life. I loved seeing all my cousins, I loved meeting distant relatives I had never met before, and I loved spending a lot of time with my parents. However. It was a lot of travel to get there and back, and when I say “a lot” I mean a total of three flights – one of which was cancelled, rescheduled, rescheduled again, and then delayed two and a half hours – and fifteen hours in the car, with my dad driving. Fifteen. Hours. In the car. I first flew to Calgary where I was met by my parents for a two hour drive to their place, where we stayed for a couple of days until driving eleven hours over two days to the reunion in Saskatchewan. After the festive weekend, my dad drove me two hours to Regina where I flew home, first connecting in Calgary, whence the delay. The good news is that it wasn’t my first flight that was delayed, and also that I left Calgary before an enormous electrical storm with hail shut the whole airport down and caused massive plane damage. In other good news, I did not revert to sullen teenhood after spending so much time in the backseat of my parents’ car; I had worried that I would start angstily staring out the window listening to gloomy music on my Walkman. I did, however, pop my earbuds in a few times to drown out Helen and Morty Seinfeld in the front seat, but instead of listening to The End or Goodbye, Cruel World, I listened to podcasts; mostly about skincare, but also to my new obsession, Dear Prudence.

• I was reminded of the book I had recently read, entitled Wellness, in which one of the characters makes a lot of money by suggesting that air travel be made as miserable as possible, and so even a slight upgrade to the experience would lead to satisfied customers. Wow, did that resonate. After my flights home got cancelled, rescheduled to arrive at midnight, and then rescheduled for daytime but downgraded from a 737 to a prop plane, I paid a marginal fee for a seat upgrade and was unreasonably excited when I got unlimited vegan snacks.

• Do you have a special travel treat? Mine is a Subway sandwich, which I only ever get while travelling. For decades my Subway order has been the following: avocado, tomato, lettuce, green peppers and pickles on whole wheat, with house sauce and mustard. Once I discovered I’d be in the Calgary airport for several hours, I decided to seek out Subway for lunch; there was one in the international terminal, which I had just frequented in May. I walked across two terminals only to discover that it has GONE. After staring at the blank wall space in which it used to reside, I congratulated myself for getting my steps in before turning around. I found a little wine bar that served avocado toast, and even though it was 2:00 in the afternoon, and I famously have trouble with swelling during air travel, particularly when alcohol is involved, I enjoyed a couple of glasses of Malbec. No regrets.

• I read Come and Get It, and it was one of the best books I have read all year. I mean, this book could be a MasterClass on how to craft complex characters and compelling storylines. I could NOT put this down! This author is a master at creating flawed, yet deeply relatable characters that the reader becomes incredibly invested in, and the story – which deals with three college roommates, their RA, and a writer – is just so good. I kept thinking of the adage “it’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up,” because each character makes mistakes and end up in webs of lies of varying degrees, with varying consequences. I could relate so much to all of the interiority of all of the characters. I read this author’s first book and liked it fine, but this absolutely blew it out of the water for me. Oh, and fun fact: when I was a young teen I wrote a series of semi-autobiographical angsty short stories (possibly after long car rides to Saskatchewan?), and the main character (ME) was named Nichelle. I thought that was a clever, made-up name, but one of the mothers in this book is named Nichelle. I have NEVER seen that before! ARE WE ON THE SAME WAVELENGTH?

• I really expected to love Thrity Umrigar’s latest, The Museum of Failures, as I have really enjoyed most of her work, but, well, no. This book deals with families, secrets, and how things aren’t always as they seem. The theme of “hurt people hurt people” pervades the book and typically I find this very moving. I did not, though. For some reason I just could not connect with or become invested in the characters and story. Maybe it was the wrong timing for me, I don’t know. It just dragged and was flat for me.

• On the other hand, I did not think I would enjoy Yours Truly as much as I did! This was a very cute, easy reading romance and I was one hundred percent here for it. One of the characters has social anxiety, which is quite foreign to me, as I am not an overthinker about social situations at all. I felt it was a great insight into the minds of some of my anxious friends. It was just a lovely, funny, feel-good book and I think it a perfect summer read! Plus, it features a three-legged Bernese mountain dog named Lieutenant Dan, which probably bumped the whole reading experience up at least half a star.

• I love reading a book that takes place in a location where I have been! Hotline is the story of a single mother in 1986-87, who escapes the terror in Lebanon to come to Montreal. It is a touching story about the immigrant experience; although qualified as a French teacher she takes a job as a hotline operator for a diet food company, and ends up becoming involved in her clients’ lives. Living in Calgary, I always marvelled at the people who came from warm climates to live in such a harshly cold one, and wondered what that would be like. The author paints the picture very well, of finding appropriate clothing, of figuring out Canadian culture, of navigating French/ English ideas, and of coming to terms with the fact that her education and experience don’t count for much in this new place of ice storms and strange food. 

It’s been a somewhat bumpy reentry in the homefront, but I am feeling more organized and that I have gotten my feet back under me after some unexpected complications and situations. More on that later, but for now, I’m going to enjoy my Friday. It’s a little hot for Malbec, but I see margaritas in my future. I’m looking forward to catching up with everyone! How are you all? What did I miss? Tell me everything. xo