The light inside

I see the light deep within her soul..

Canada is the second-largest country in the world, after Russia. It has the world’s largest proportion of fresh water lakes and out of thirteen provinces and territories, only two are landlocked. The other eleven all directly border one of three oceans. Unimaginable beauty!

You are never too far from amazing natural scenery when you live anywhere in Canada.

I was born and raised in the Rain city, Vancouver also known as Raincouver. I’ve lived with my aunt Ella in the lower Mainland since six years of age. My mother gave me up for adoption back in the day. “Lillie!” She shouts “Please would you get your butt inside, it’s raining outside for goodness sake!”

“Sure Aunt Ella, I was on my way inside anyway.” The rain always makes me feel cleansed of all worries that may weigh on my shoulders and makes me miss a memory that I just can’t seem to remember.

Rain is very common here year-round especially October-March. We can’t wait to see some sun again by the month of June.

“Aunt Ella, I’m going to run upstairs and change my wet clothes”. “Sure thing, I will start dishing up. Meet me downstairs in ten.” She said.

I quickly run upstairs to change my clothes. When you are out in the rain you feel so caught up in that moment, by the time you get back inside you already regret the fact that you were out for so long. It’s freezing outside! I rub my hands together and breathe in them quickly to heat them up. I change into a comfortable loose top and sweats. “Lillie!” she shouts again. For goodness sake, when does she ever stop? I mumble to myself.

“I’m coming!” I shout back. I run downstairs and sit at the dining table. It’s an exquisite Italian designed four-seat table that was hand crafted by Natuzzi himself back in the 70′s.

Old designers and flowers is her thing, Lilies are her favorite, she smells like one too. She chose my name when I was born. In-between the flowery scent and the potato and cheese, I must say the smells make quite a tricky combination inside my nostrils. My aunt can be a little too much for me sometimes, even though I’m 24, I will always show the utmost respect towards her. She has been my mother figure almost all my life and to me she is my mother. As she dishes up for us I start to feel how my stomach is growling, I’m even hungrier than I realized. “Pierogies!” I say excited. Good food makes me very excited. Dumplings are my favorite. “And I’ve added melted butter and a dollop of sour cream, just the way you like it.” “Thank you so much El. I appreciate your effort.” “Vandeline did most of the work in the kitchen”, she says and smiles widely with a twinkle in her eye. She has the most gorgeous hazel eyes, everyone notices them before any other feature. It surprises me that she does not want to get married or have any boyfriends after so many years of being single.

She was engaged about 10 years ago, but he left her for a younger woman. If you want to talk about attention from different aged men, she gets it all. But never really show much interest. She is so gorgeous for her age.

As soon as this topic arises she says her secret is keeping them far away from her because if you don’t you’ll start aging badly. This made me giggle.

I stuff myself with the amazing dumplings and hope that tomorrow morning’s run will work off the well-deserved weight. I’ve been a little down lately but nothing that dumplings can’t fix. As we say goodnight I head up to my room and take a quick shower to get in bed. It was a long day.