MOON FESTIVAL

Today (September 28) is the zenith of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival; also called Moon Festival. Every year the festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar cycle of the Chinese year. 

Why moon? Because the moon is at its brightest for the entire year. Take a look tonight and you’ll see a moon of spectacular luminosity. According to my father-in-law, it is a harvest festival meant to celebrate the abundance of the harvest and our lives. Whenever we went to my in-laws’ home the place was full of food; a multi-course dinner, seeds, nuts and tiny pastries in trays, and of course the moon cakes.

I adore moon cakes. It is one of my favourite holiday sweets. I like the ones filled with white lotus seed paste the best. I’ve never warmed up to the black or red paste and the seed and nut filling is the Chinese equivalent to English fruitcake -- horrible. My mother-in-law likes it a lot. This week I’ve been left alone with a surplus of moon cakes, and I’ve eaten too many. For those of you who’ve never had one (I really think you should rectify this): the lotus paste is dense and sweet and it’s covered with a thin layer of pastry. Buried in the lotus paste is a preserved egg yolk, representing the moon. Do not be alarmed! If the egg yolk is not your idea of dessert, you can pop it right out. Just like you would with the yolk of a hard boiled egg. And of course, like all good sweet treats, it’s about a million calories a serving. My  attitude to it is that holiday and festival calories count as zero. And so I am free to eat as much moon cake, Halloween candy, shortbread cookies and Valentine’s chocolate as I can digest. 

I encourage you all to rush out and get your moon cake while the moon is at it’s highest and brightest...now that it’s on sale and calorie free, get extra!  

There are a few stories about moon cakes, and one of my favourites is this one: In  the 14th century the Mongols were driven out of China with help of the humble moon cake. Chinese rebels delivered their top secret battle plans in moon cakes -- not to be eaten until the night of the festival. The Mongol-hordes, apparently, didn’t go for moon cake and the rebellion was a success! (for the Chinese that is)


If I've persuaded you to get some of the little cakes, there are a few links on the side-bar to the right. At least one of them delivers! Enjoy.

OUR RED THREAD STORY

We began our adoption process when the wait was estimated at 9 months. Nearly 2 years later, we were still waiting. On a grey November morning I checked the CCAA site and based on our log-in date we had another 6 months to wait. Another Christmas without ...we tried to shrug it off and get on with the day.


A couple hours later the phone rang -- our file was ready! Our daughter would be here!!! We had 7 weeks to get ready to bring our daughter home. Well, 7 weeks minus holiday celebrations and a ski / snowboard trip that we book and prepaid when we were feeling sad about the waiting. In the time we had, I shopped like a maniac. Crib, car seat, clothes, bottles, formula, all of it done in what felt like record speed.


Our trip to the big mountain was amazing. A new snowboard, record snowfalls and no one but us and the locals on the runs. A dream vacation.


At the end of the first day, I took a fall. As I spun through the air, a brain tumour that I was unaware of, shifted, and made itself known.


 That night I felt so vertiginous I could barely walk. As the days passed, vertigo and disorientation haunted me. I told only my husband and then, only a watered-down version. With less than 2 weeks before we were scheduled to go to China, the migraines and vertigo got so bad I had to go to the hospital. Enough time to get fixed up before we have to leave, I told myself.


Not quite. A CT found a “mass” at the base of my brain. The mass: meduloblastoma, was brain cancer. My snowboarding fall moved it so that it was preventing fluid from draining from my brain. My only hope was surgery as soon as possible. My insanely talented and dedicated neuro-surgeon explained that there would be no air travel for at least 7 weeks. And the ‘insult’ of surgery would zero my balance and co-ordination centre. Recovery would take 2 years. No travel.


I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry in my life. Unfair. Raw deal. @#$&%!!!
Then I calmed down, and made my husband a deal: I would meet him at the airport if he went to China and brought our little girl home. He said he would and I knew he would. Two and a half weeks later, Tom brought our baby girl home and we shared a teary family hug in the middle of the International Arrivals Terminal.


That snowboarding fall saved my life and my family. Sooner or later the tumour was going to creep its way into my brain matter and then no amount of surgery or radiation would’ve saved me. Luck. Red thread. Destiny. I don’t know, but I’m eternally grateful to whoever or whatever is responsible.

HELLO

Why this blog? Why now?  At the end of August I went to a writers’ festival and attended a workshop with the very funny writer Terry Fallis (he’s got a Leacock Medal to prove it). The workshop wasn’t about writing or being funny, it was about SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION -- something I’ve always struggled with -- but here I am shamelessly promoting by children’s (print-on-demand) picture book: The Tiny Tiger.  I wrote the book for my daughter’s third birthday, to celebrate her, and our journey to becoming a family. 

In my experience, three-year-olds don’t care about filling out forms, home-studies, and the like. Grown-up stuff = boring. So, I wrote about tigers. One looking for his echo and another looking for the end of a red string. Both of which lead to the same place...a tiny tiger all alone. And a family is born!

From the moment I heard the red thread proverb, I was enchanted. It’s so simple and, well, so true. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, here it is:

Those who are destined to meet are connected

by an invisible red thread. The thread may become tangled

or stretched but it will not break.

I love a red thread story and I’d love to hear yours...there’s lots of space below to share. Don’t be shy. If helps, I’ll go first...(this time without the animal avatars)...