Election Day and What Went Well (2)

What a frackin' day.

Today was Canada's 41st federal election, and also the first election in which I was able to vote. So I did. I swapped my vote with someone out east. I voted liberal here, and they voted green party there. It didn't work. We just discovered that there's going to be a Conservative majority. !()*&^@(*YKJHQWR(*YKJKFH(*Q

yeah... interestingly, the official opposition party will be the NDP, significantly beating the liberals.

It also seems that all 4 KW regions have elected conservatives into power. I'm trying to figure out how I want to respond to this news, while my initial reactions are anger and sadness.

Time to focus on What Went Well today.

It strikes me that the first thing that went well was the slow cooked porridge that I made this morning. I put in some apples and cooked it for about 15 minutes and it was soooo much better than the oats I have been eating. Part of this process was sitting and writing down my to do list for the day to get myself organized. In general, the process was satisfying and produced results.

The next big thing that went well was my visit with Simon when he showed up here at the house with Jean. First off, we listened to an Art of Manliness podcast. It felt a lot like what I imagine listening to old radio shows felt like and was a lot of fun. Sometimes I saw Simon smiling at the show. After that we went for a walk around Waterloo park and that was really great. We talked about how part of his mood may have to do with the winter weather, and how summer may improve his mood. We talked about our childhood and how it was hard growing up different from most kids that we were around, and how that must've been hard for our parents too. Also how much we appreciate the way that they did raise us, even if sometimes we resented them for it. We talked about the exciting possibility of us being able to raise children in a way that they're surrounded by others of similar mind and values and don't have that isolating experience. Then we walked balancing along the train tracks all the way home. I can feel how the dynamic is shifting between us in a way that I'm really excited about.

And of course, it is a rare Monday evening that I consider the House Reflection Circle to have not gone well. It went extremely well. With all of us, Jean Adam Tanya Emma Charlotte Todd and I, all there we moved into the living room for space and comfort. If I think about what went well about it, it's really that we are all so open and vulnerable with each other. It doesn't matter what's happening, we just sit through it together there. As usual, discussion led down a really interesting path about vulnerability and sacrifice and the art of hosting. I felt really open to the group and found myself really engaged with the discussion. Sometimes I take more of an  outsider's perspective. After that Adam and I went down to Starbucks to grab some cookies.

So that's what went well number 2.