Soccer, Sleep, Siding, Snow, Silence.

On Saturday our youth group hosted Ontario Youth Day, which was a great success. There were two topics in the morning, teaching us the pros and cons of internet and electronic communication. It was explained to us that some people spend so much time on the internet that they have, as it were, a virtual world that they escape to from their regular everyday life. So we were basically warned not to go on the internet so much that we live for that time when we are on. After the topics we had lunch at our church and then went to someone’s house for activities in the afternoon. The activities basically consisted of random sports and you could play any of them whenever you wanted through out the afternoon. I played soccer. All afternoon basically. It was so much fun!! Although the next morning I was so sore I could barely walk… that was the only sad part about it. It also shows how out of shape I am… bad, eh? Eventually we all went inside to play a game and then to have supper. After supper a couple people started playing volleyball, but it wasn’t much of a success. A few friends and I jumped on the trampoline for a while. With lots of giggles and random topics. The making of a good time. ;) after a while mom came and picked me up and brought the friend that I had brought with me home. Then we went home too, but it took us a while. I don’t remember much of it, because I was sleeping. I always sleep when I am in a vehicle for more then 10 minutes. 


Speaking of sleep, I have been lacking it lately… my fault, but still. Why didn’t someone force a sleeping pill into me?! It would have been a lot easier. And I would have been able to concentrate on things much better. But no, I am a night owl. And the main rule with night owls is, DO NOT SLEEP. Well at least until after around 2 or 3 in the morning. That is a good time to begin sleeping. Never mind the fact that sleep BEFORE midnight is the most beneficial. I mean, what do you expect?! Am I supposed to sleep until 2 or 3 in the morning and THEN satisfy my night owl preferences? I don’t think that it would be the same. Oh well. I caught up on my sleep Monday. How, you may ask. Well, it is very simple. It is called a six hour drive up north. Now, generally, I will stay up until it is time to leave, because we usually leave around 3 or 4 in the morning. I tried. I really did. But somehow, around 12 or 1 in the morning, I fell asleep. I am so ashamed of myself. The one time that I really want to stay up I zonk. Immediately. My mom woke me up around quarter to four to get up and dressed etc. I stumbled around, cold and sleepy. Eventually I found my way into the truck and settled in with my favourite blanket and a couple of pillows. I fell asleep immediately and slept for about 4 hours when I was awaken to eat some breaky at some restaurant. I ate half of my breaky and then went back to my wonderful sleep. I woke up for about ½ a minute when we stopped for gas and then slept until we were in the laneway. After that I ate some sort of delicacy that had sugar in it and in that way I managed to awaken myself enough to go through the rest of the day. However, by 5:30 I was showered and in my pjs. I did eat supper and stayed up till about 10, but after supper I kind of just went through the motions. I was dead tired. And this coming from a night owl?!  I do believe that I need to see a doctor! ;) :P I am tired right now even, and it is only 10:03pm. Perhaps a few nights of going to bed early will cure this. I hope so! 


Are you wondering why I get to go up north in the middle of the year? Well. In a nutshell, it is this. I really enjoy snowmobiling, snowboarding, skating, and various other snow-needed sports. And, since where I live doesn’t have any snow yet, the most logical thing to do would be to go up north! So, here I am, for the next three weeks of my life. Are you jealous yet? ;) because if you aren’t, you should be. Haha. Is it really time for the truth now? Aw shucks! Well. I suppose. The real reason I am up here is for siding. Siding?! What does siding have to do with the price of rice in China on a Tuesday morning around 5 after 9? Nothing. At least that I know of! But it does have something to do with the-unknown-reason-that-I-am-up-here. My parents are putting new siding on the lodge, and I get to tag along. Poor, poor, unlucky, underprivileged me! I need some serious pity here, guys! I mean, I just got dragged up to this beautiful, wonderful, amazing place. And it was COMPLETELY against my will! Ok, ok. So I may have been exaggerating a TAD. But just a little. I mean, I was torn. I didn’t know if I wanted to go or not. So I was pulled to being up here a bit more. Not that much! FINE! I wanted to be here so bad I have been begging my parents for weeks. Now I’m exaggerating the OTHER way. Ugh. Is there no middle choice?! Ah, yes. There it is! I was very excited about being up here. Hm. Now that it is typed out it seems so simple! The only sad part is that, even though there is snow up here… 


SNOW! Did I mention snow?! I love snow. Snow is so beautiful! It is one of the best things that can fall out of the sky. Literally. I mean, snow is the thing that turns the world white again. It covers up all that is ugly and sad in life. It makes everything seem so beautiful and pure again. And when it stays the temperature must be below freezing. When something is frozen, it is solid. It is not insecure. No flimsiness, it remains the same. Unchanging. But I was speaking of snow. Snow is also good for the enjoyment of several outdoor activities. Do you like snowboarding? Perhaps you prefer skiing. Was that downhill or cross country? You prefer cross country? What a coincidink! [I’m sorry if that word confused you. It is merely my way of saying coincidence. You say it co-ink-I-dink. Ingenious, no?] wow! I do seem to get distracted easily! But before I go on about distractions, let me finish this part about snow. Snow is so beautiful! I especially love taking pictures of it. Every single little flake. And imagine. Of all the snow flakes that have EVER fallen, there isn’t a single one that is the same!!! Is that not AMAZING?! I think it is. They are unique in a super special way. Majestic. They speak of something so much bigger, something that is incomprehensible. Something that we know is there but we can’t place it. Indescribable. That makes me think of love. What is love? I have been asking myself this a lot lately. What is love? You could do the easy thing and look it up in the dictionary. I have. But to experience true love. Is that not rare? And when experienced, a beautiful thing? Something so real, yet so… untouchable! It is there but it cannot be experienced with the five senses. It is an abstract noun. Just like dreaming. But that is a whole other topic. Now some  people think that love is a decision. I am still trying to rap my head around that idea. I believe that love just happens. It takes us by surprise, suddenly. Or, sometimes, it creeps up on us. One day we may suddenly realize that we have been in love with a person for a very long time and just not realized it. However, I just said ‘in love’. is that the same as love? Or is it different? Is being ‘in love’ like having a crush? Is it an infatuation? Or is being in love the same as loving someone? It think that the fact that the term is in love means that we are in something. Therefore there must be a way to get out, which means that we can fall OUT of love. I don’t like the sound of that. If I were to write the sentence, ‘One day we may suddenly realize that we have loved a person for a very long time…’ versus ‘One day we may suddenly realize that we have been in love with a person for a very long time’, does that change the meaning? It feels like it does. When I write ‘in love’ it sounds so temporary. Yet saying I have loved him/her for a very long time, that sounds like forever. Do you see what I am getting at? If love really were a decision, would it not wear off eventually? Or does one decide to love another and even if that one does not love the other at that time, are they expected to learn to love each other in all eventuality? I’m sure one day I will understand, but right now it just doesn’t make sense. Well! That was completely off topic! I seem to be getting good at that! Maybe I should just remain silent. 


Silence. Do we ever hear complete silence anymore? Even as we lay in our beds at night and the house is asleep, there is still noise. The hum of this or that. A fridge perhaps. Or maybe, in the winter, the furnace. Always something running, even if it is only a clock. Have you ever noticed when something stops running, how quiet it seems? Yet you never noticed that it was running in the first place, did you? Have you ever heard COMPLETE silence? Even out of doors silence is hard to find. You could be in the middle of the woods in the middle of Nowhere, and there would still be that distant hum of traffic. Or maybe a chainsaw, hard at work making a tree fall. I find that the quietist I have ever heard has been in the woods here in Temagami. But it has to be winter. In the summer there are so many birds chirping it is as if there is a concert no human knows about. In the winter the most noise you may hear, if you lay on the snow covered ground, is perhaps a animal picking it’s way through the cold whiteness. And, sometimes, it is SO quiet that you can hear a snowflake falling. That is true silence. I love that silence. At times I will just lay there and close my eyes and day dream. Or even just think about things that need thinking of. It is so peaceful! At other times I love noise. I will put my earphones in and block everything else out so much that it is as if the music is inside of me. But, once again, I am going off topic. I believe I shall bid everyone good night and retire. 


Goodnight!!


Heather vm aka Violet Moonbeam.