Memory

Those who know me know that there is a part of me that will always be Canadian. I'm the person who has played obscure Canadian patriotic music on the organ every July 4th weekend for as long as I can remember [and was only called on it once in probably 25 years]. I get lonely on Canadian Thanksgiving, knowing my family is celebrating and no one here even knows it's a holiday there. On July 1 I get homesick for Canada Day celebrations.

So on July 1, Mark and I were eating dinner together and he [who usually is on top of these Canadian-isms he is married to] hadn't commented on the date. So, to help him along, I casually asked "Is there anything you wanted to say to me today?" Clearly I was hoping for "Happy Canada Day!"

Nope. Nothing. He got this panicked look on his face and I could see him thumbing through his mental calendar: "It's not our anniversary. I think that's in December! Is it Mother's Day? No, that's over with. What about her birthday? I'm sure that's in August sometime." He couldn't come up with anything.

So I helped him along and said, "Maybe you wanted to say 'Happy Canada Day' to me?" And he immediately lit up and agreed that he did want to say that [and then he said it!]. He also added that he hadn't written the date on anything at work that day and if he had, it would have alerted him. And to be fair, I wasn't wearing my Canada t-shirt either.

To give him credit, he is pretty good about remembering stuff. But the above cartoon made me smile today.