Days Like This

It's Grey Cup day today; the game is in Winnipeg, played by the Edmonton Eskimos and the Ottawa Red-Blacks. It's a Canadian Football Championship! It's also the most Canadian reason you can get for a party. One event, one Sunday afternoon late in November, every year. East meets West.

For the last three years, we've celebrated this day at Wavehill, the 5,000 SF cabin in the foothills of the Rockies which we rented for the weekend. We would arrive mostly on Friday night, and stay mostly until Monday morning. Usually the Monday morning crowd was a bit light. Most stayed for the Grey Cup and went home afterwards.

The financial makeup of our little group of friends has changed. I am no longer working, so cannot underwrite the affair. Mike is away and cannot come; his new job has taken him to Kamloops. There is a general downturn in the Calgary economy. Some have lost their jobs, others are worried, counting their pennies. So this year the Grey Cup party is here at my apartment.

Dan will arrive soon to start his slow baked ribs; Anisa will be with him to help. Kate will arrive at around 3:00 PM, as will many others. We will gather together, cook, eat, drink wine and generally have a good time. The game starts at 4:00 PM, theoretically, more likely at 4:30 PM after all the pre-game nonsense. We'll watch, we'll eat some more, we'll watch the second half, we'll drink some more. Then, after the game, we will continue our four year tradition, watching the Princess Bride together. Some will stay, some will go. It will be a good time.

Days like this are important to me, even crucial to my well being. They take me away from the struggle of ALS, from the pain in my arms, legs, back and neck. A day like today helps me focus on my friends, on enjoying their laughter, on sharing my life with them. A day like today is a break from the work, the effort of living. It will be social, like I am. We will do what all social groups do when they gather. We will eat, we will drink, we will talk, we will make merry. That's what takes my mind off of life in general.