December 19, 2022 Man, Its Cold Outside

I woke up from my dream, it was a strange dream. A dream of vacations yet to come… Or merely vacations wished for? My wife and I were booked to fly to Barcelona, departing on December 28, and returning on January 10.

It all seemed so real.

When I woke up, it took a few minutes to realize: No, we were not booked on a flight to Spain. We were not booked on a flight anywhere, and certainly not somewhere as warm and distant as Barcelona. 

This was a case of only in my dreams.

What I woke up to was freezing cold temps and a winter wonderland. Oh and a dead battery. My thoughts of going to Big White and skiing the opening of the Gem Lake chair were dashed. At minus 23 degree Celsius, it wasn’t top of my list of places to go anyway. I told myself it was too cold, not worth the drive, etc. But really, it was about my last morning with my daughter until Christmas, and the hope to spend a little quality time with my teenage ball of emotions. 

Mission accomplished, well mostly. I did manage to have breakfast with her and a short visit, Of course, her phone took priority. I still took it as worthwhile time spent not skiing. Ok, it was also the dead battery and cold weather that kept me home.

More first-world problems.

I am such a lucky man to have a warm home and loving family on a cold winter’s day. I felt bad for the man parked in front of the liquor store looking for a handout. Or the scraggly-looking woman pushing her shopping cart across the highway. Where the heck was she going anyway?

It’s sad that in a first-world country like Canada there are so many people left behind. So many people with nothing. And since covid, there are so many more. It’s hard to place a real number on the amount of homeless in the streets of the Okanagan. ‘So many’ is just an easy way to say too many. Far too many,

And it’s days like today that the homeless suffer the most. The high in Kelowna today was a frigid minus 17 Celsius but with the wind chill, it was more like minus 28 Celsius. It reminded me of winters in my hometown of Calgary. Except Kelowna is more humid so the cold pierces through your body and into every fibre of your being. 

And for the many homeless people living on the streets, it can make for some long days. Except for those who escape into the bottom of a bottle or a crack pipe. Those people probably don’t feel anything but numb.

So I deal with all my first-world problems and am grateful for what I have. 

Even if I’m not going to Barcelona…