Category Archives: Love

Long-Distance Christmas Calenders ~ Elephoto

Posted in Finding Home, Life, Love by

I don’t know how it works in your relationships, but Zsolt and I once upon a time made a ‘Christmas Deal’ in terms of families. We were meant to alternate between families and countries, so one year in Canada with my clan, and the next year in Hungary with his. Very fair.

The first year after our marriage (since we were married in Canada) we spent Christmas in Hungary. And OH MY GOODNESS, I was miserable. That was my first Christmas away, and it was like ripping off a bandage that had adhere to my skin with super-duper glue. Ouch. Don’t get me wrong – the situation was fantastic: amazing food, white fluffy snow, winter markets, his parents happy, family visiting, people drinking in abundance coupled with bread and paprika kolbasz . . . I was just sick through all of it with a high fever and a case of not-home-heart-break.

During the following year and a bit, I was diagnosed with cancer, Zsolt graduated his PhD, we immigrated our butts back to Canada, and have been here for the holidays since (Two years in a row, 3 for me since Z and I parted the first X-mas after diagnosis).

In theory were are due to travel to Hungary this year and spend Christmas with his family.

In reality, we’re staying here. (Work obligations)

But that doesn’t mean we won’t miss his parents, sister and friends. We’ll miss them like crazy.

Anyhow, this year at the shesconnected conference in Toronto, I was given a 20 dollar voucher from Elephoto after I assaulted their booth on the hunt for photo calendars and nearly cried all over a lovely representative of the company while telling her how, back when I was having chemotherapy and was filled with dread and desperation, photo books had this way of reminding me of better times.  (I’ve been making photo books for years, collecting our vacations together into these little booklets of memories. Ever since leaving England I’ve been seeking out another company from which to order, and so when I heard Elephoto is Canadian – I hunted them down to see what they offered, and check the quality of their prints.)

Why does this tie into Christmas?

Because I reckon if we can’t be there with Zsolt’s family, we’re going to send them some happy memories and let them know that more good times are going to come. (Sometimes when I find a gift I know will make people cry in a good way, I quietly pat myself on the back for the awesome idea. 😉 )

Therefore, I went to Elephoto the other day and uploaded several images for a Samson Family photo calendar. (Don’t worry, they don’t read this blog since it’s in English, so the present won’t be ruined.) After playing around with the interface for a while, making the photos do what I wanted rather than what the template wanted (a little tricky, but doable), I clicked through with the order. We received the calendar in the mail about 2 days ago, and I’m entirely pleased. The paper is a good, heavy quality without being a squeaky photo paper, and all our ‘Samson Family Photos from Balaton, Pecs, Budapest and Hungary with his parents and sister and brother in law’ are all there for 12 months of memories. It’s going to be a hit.

So, thank you very much to Elephoto for letting me try your calendar, and for giving me this lovely gift that I can now pass on to others.

Now, in the meanwhile it’s back to Christmas shopping and gathering more ideas for awesome  presents. I doubt anything will be as touching or tear-jerking as the calendar, but I’m going to give it a shot!

(And next week I go Holiday shopping with my little brother, which I’m totally stoked about  . . . I’m even thinking of stopping with him for hot chocolate somewhere in the market to celebrate the festiveness, if he tolerates the idea.)

Now to end this post, I’d like to know: how do you balance family obligations at Christmas? Anyone have some golden rule, magical transporter device, or no-fail formula they follow?

Please, share your wisdom and/or transporter designs in the comments. 😉

Orange, Not Pink, and Halloween!

Posted in Fun, Life, Love by

Quickie post just to say hello and wish you a very happy Halloween. I love Halloween, even though I basically do nothing on the day itself. But with pumpkin preparation, and building up to this time of year with all the fallen leaves of reds, brown and yellow . . *sigh*. . . how could you not love Halloween? I know that October is meant to be painted with pink – and for sure it is in some places, but for me it’s about the falling leaves and how they crunch underneath the foot. And honestly, I’ve been so wrapped up in how pretty it is this time of year, I hardly even noticed it was breast cancer awareness month. Really, it’s October –which means, it’s the month for HALLOWEEN.

Anyhow. Zsolt’s been working like a nutter these past several weeks, so this weekend it was all about bonding. We had my brothers over for brunch, we went to the market, looked at costumes for Z’s workplace, roasted a chicken, portioned chicken soup for later, watched a movie and carved this pumpkin. Sometimes I think you need these lazy and yet emotionally productive days.

I just want to say, I love October. And if you decide to focus on the things that warm your heart, I reckon the other stuff just fades into the background.

Happy Halloween, from Bumpybooooooooooos!

Compassion, Cabbage & Cramps

Posted in After treatment, Bumpboobs, Life, Love by

Cramps suck! This morning as Zsolt and I were on a mission to buy organic free-range eggs from the local Loblaws, I began to feel a pressure inside my abdomen. At this point I distinctly remember passing a diner filled with Sunday-morning patrons, all of whom were enjoying the Sunday 3.95 breakfast. Zsolt was astonished that the restaurant was so crazy full, with more and more people coming down the sidewalk to go in, but I told him that in Canada breakfast is a big deal, and we honour this meal with a special Sunday observance and marked down menu prices. So we were off to get some eggs, and maybe a bag of rice because I bought a cabbage in the market yesterday for one dollar, so my mind is all, “you gotta make cabbage layer!” while my body is all: “you’re not going to do anything productive today!” and it let me know this just as we were passing a diner.

Anyhow, that’s when it started. I don’ t know about you, but I’ve got different sorts of periods aches . . . some are about a sore back, some are about the ovaries being tender, this one . . . I don’t know what it’s about, but I do know it’s damn painful.

Starting slowly, this pressure built up and up till by the time we’d crossed the intersection toward Loblaws, it was sharp and radiating from my front to back. Lord.

So I say to Zsolt: “we need to turn around.” And he offeres no protests – instead we turned around, and he rubs my back as we walk back toward the flat.

Finally we reach the flat and I’m relieved. Sometimes this stuff becomes so intense I think I might pass out, but then I never actually do pass out  – because I generally hit the bed in time. Actually, this threatening lack of consciousness is mostly about the anxiety, because when this radiating of pain starts to happen, I just think “What the frack is my body doing?!” And the worst starts to creep across my thoughts . . . so no matter how many deep breaths I’m trying to take, they all end up short and tense, thus the sensation of passing out. Basically, I have mini panic attacks because I don’t want to get sick again, and it’s hard to trust the body after the shit it put me through already.

On the other hand, if this is what it takes to have a baby and know the process is working – then okay, great. But who knows? I only hope.

Anyhow, we get back to the flat and here is the entire point to my post: We get back, and Zsolt is incredible. He puts on the kettle and gets out the hot water bottle as I crawl into bed. He makes me a cup of tea. He comes into the bedroom and rubs my back a little, then sits next to me as I clutch the water bottle and strokes my bare leg. Then after maybe an hour passes, he tops up my tea and defrosts the chicken soup – bringing it to me in bed on a tray.

Ah. Today my man took good care of me. I guess over the past several years, he’s learnt ‘how best to comfort my wife’ and when the pain was throwing me into panic, he was remaining calm and attentive. It was reassuring.

I really think that before medicine comes love. Love knows you’re scared, it sits with you, and it wraps you in its warmth. Today Zsolt was so very good at taking care of me, and I’m so very thankful for that.

As for the cramps, I’m not in pain like before but am totally knackered and rather uncomfortable. However, while at the grocery store today ( A different grocery store, not Loblaws and no organic eggs. This was much later in the day after several hours in bed I went to a friend’s place to watch people bake. Part of this experience involved going to the shop to get the missing ingredients),  my period cramps were thrown into perspective as the lady at the till was pregnant and suffering pregnancy pains. She was bending over and trying to breath, saying she felt like passing out. When I asked if the store couldn’t at least get her a stool, she said that she’d asked and they said they didn’t have one – so this women is checking out items and obviously suffering. Where was the love from her store? I don’t know and I’m sorry it was lacking. It just seemed totally wrong.

After that I decided that I’m lucky regardless of cramps or whatever; I’m just lucky to have been given what I needed when I needed it most. A little compassion goes a long, long way.