VirginiaMiddleton.ca

Category Archives: Nostalgic

#ThrowbackThursday – Triplets

Posted on Posted in 2013, Family, Friends, Meme, Nostalgic, Throwback Thursday .

I have a sibling. One brother. No sisters. But growing up, there were two cousins of mine that were like sisters and we have so many great memories that I can’t help but share a few photos here to show how much we’ve grown!

Sarah, Susan and I are the same age (with my birthday being in May and theirs in November). As twins, they were always very close, but found room for me to join in their twinsie fun. I remember lots of family camping adventures out in Eastport, them coming up to Bull Pond, and sleepovers at our aunt and uncle’s house. And let’s not forget the many hours in a certain cul-de-sac where we rode our bikes and played for hours. So many fun memories.

 

Virginia Sarah Susan youngest

Not sure what year this was taken. Maybe 1986?

Virginia Sarah and Susan - tweens

Sometime in 1994 I think.

 

VM+S+S 2006

August 2006

How much we’ve grown! I also find it to be a funny coincidence that in all three of these pictures we’re standing in the same spot of Sarah, myself, and Susan. Ha ha!

There are more photos of us together (from summer fun to dressing up at Halloween), but I’ll save those for another Thursday. ;)

Throwback Thursday – Bull Pond BBQing

Posted on Posted in 2013, Family, Nostalgic, Throwback Thursday .

Here’s another throwback Thursday. Since the summer days are fast approaching, it seems appropriate to share a photo of “going up to the country” from many years ago.

Bull Pond Early Days

Roasting marshmallows with my brother and little cousin Megan.

My parents have a summer home on a pond off of the Salmonear Line (AKA the Irish Loop). And since I was around nine years old, it’s been the go-to place for our immediate family on weekends during the summer months.

Traditionally, we normally opened (de-winterized) the place on the 24th of May weekend and would close for the winter on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.

In the background of this photo you can see the trailer we originally stayed in. It’s one of those old school tin can trailers; the one that looks like a giant toaster. We started off with simple things like a generator, water in barrels and propane for heating and cooking. But in time my father built a house on our land that includes electricity and water coming from a well.

Bull Pond is a second home for me and I love being there as much as possible. Of course during my teenage years, I went through that phase of “I’m bored, there’s nothing to do here.” But it didn’t last too long.

Even though we have a cottage/house with much more luxuries than when we first started out, it’s important to remember early days and how much fun it was to do simple things like roasting marshmallows over some hot coals. :)

Throwback Thursday – dishpan hands

Eight years ago

Posted on Posted in 2013, Family, Nostalgic, Toronto .

Looking at the calendar, I realize that it was exactly eight years ago that I met Matt. It’s amazing to see how much can change in just eight years!

Big thanks to our best friend Christina who gave me a ride back to Toronto after I had spent Easter weekend in 2005 visiting my childhood Jason and his family.
Would you believe that even though we had just met, Matt and I didn’t stop taking for the ENTIRE drive from Barrie to Toronto? Shocking I know. Ha ha.

And the best part is, we haven’t really stopped talking ever since. <3

VM & MM CN Tower

Matt and I at the CN Tower in Toronto. This was back in December 2005 while visiting him because I was living in St. John’s again… but not for long.

Possible trip to Holland

Posted on Posted in 2012, Family, Nostalgic, Tourette Syndrome, TSFC .

No, I’m not planning on hopping on a plane and heading to Europe. Read on and you’ll understand the subject line of this post…

As a mom-to-be, I’m reflecting on my future and what being a parent can mean. The responsibilities, the adventures, the challenges.

Tomorrow I’m heading to Halifax and will be staying in Dartmouth for the National Conference on Tourette Syndrome Plus.

It’s been three years since I last attending an national conference with the TSFC. A lot of the great people at these conferences are like family to me. I’ve known them for years and we’ve gone through lots of ups and downs together. I have multiple “moms” that span from Toronto, Atlanta, and beyond.

My TS family

This other family is a unique support system that I feel very fortunate to have found. Everyone’s situation is different and no challenge is viewed as too small. And together we celebrate successes. Heck, when I was much younger, my mom had some major bragging rights one year when she managed find a type of sock that didn’t drive me nuts (sensory issues for the win!). You can laugh, but it’s just one of the fun adventures you can experience with there’s a spectrum disorder living in your home or family… and often more than one of you have something that makes you unique. It is typically hereditary after all!

I’ve talked about what it was like for me to be diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome (TS) when I was six-years old.

There are so many things I haven’t written about yet here… but will someday. Just need to find the time!

One session at the conference that I’m really looking forward to attending is the Moms’ Session that’s happening tomorrow night. Typically on the first night of the conference, there will be meeting rooms for attendees: the moms, the dads, the youth/young adults, the kids, the adults. Each group meets for a couple of hours. The moms and dads find this to be a really great session because they can talk to other moms and dads separately. Moms bond over mom issues; dads bond over dad issues.

Historically, always been part of the sessions for youth/young adults or the adults. But this year, I’m going to the moms’ session. I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve wanted to go to it for years and now it’s happening.

I’m finding it hard to find the right words to explain what’s going on in my head right now. I’m not hoping for our little one to have Tourettes, OCD, ADHD or anything else, but I’m not dreading the idea of that possible reality.

When I was born, I was a normal baby girl. You might even say I was a normie. My parents had no idea that I was about to introduce a whole new world to them in just a few years. But when that happened, they were amazing. They read what they could find and spoke with anyone who had knowledge on the topic of TS and its other related disorders. And they didn’t even have the Internet to inform or misinform them!

Nowadays, it’s very different. There’s too much information. I can’t even imagine how overwhelming it must be to a parent who has just found out their child has TS and they haven’t heard of it before (or what they have heard are the frustrating stereotypes I still face now and then).

The title of this blog post is brought on by a poem that I first read at one of the national conferences many years ago. I think it’s often shared at the moms’ session, but is typically in every conference binder.

Read the poem and then I’ll give you some of my thoughts on what is discusses…

Continue reading →