Part 23: A Bad Tumble

 My family doesn't feel the same. My mom is really sad and this Covid lockdown is really getting old. I have sat my parents down and told them that I don't want to be a member of the church anymore. Looking back on it, why did I think that this would be a good time to tell my mom this? Her entire world ripped out from under her and I was like, "Oh by the way, I hate the church and don't want anything to do with it." Not my best move. Sorry, mom. 

My parents hold a family meeting about a week after my Grandpa's death. "So, how is everyone feeling?" my dad asked us. We hadn't ever experienced a loss like this, but the real elephant in the room was how hard it was to watch our mom in this state. I remember listening to her talk through sobs about how she would never see her dad again. I felt tears running down my cheeks but I felt numb. I wasn't used to seeing my mom crumble. We went around the circle to share our thoughts but I knew that we all just wanted mom to feel happy again. 

With all the tension at home and the abrupt departure of Hans, I am really up to no good. I finally feel like I have a friend group but they were not exactly encouraging me to be my best self. I had a lot of fun, but the mornings after were not so fun. I'm still working at the receptionists desk at the gym with all of my older friends. Sometimes the older kids would go upstairs to the bar above the gym, get a six pack and bring it down for us all to partake in. 

Earlier in 2020, I had landed a job nannying for one of the moms from the gym daycare. She and her baby-daddy lived in a beautiful home on Whatcom Mountain. I told her that Holly was also amazing with kids and she agreed to have Holly also come nanny her little boy so we started to go together. Holly and I kind of made fun of her a bit because her "to-do list" she had while we watched the baby, consisted of getting a massage, getting a mani/pedi, take care of her friend that just got a face lift, etc. It did seem a bit sketchy at times when she would come back home and whip $400 out of a cupboard and give it to Holly and I. But we had so many laughs and good times. 

One thing about the family that we nannied for, is that it was a bit dysfunctional. She and her baby-daddy would get in really bad arguments and then she would tell us all about it. She told me about how she threw hot coffee at him and he told her she was ugly. The dad's parents would randomly pop in while we were nannying and it always made us feel really weird. My parents also started to get the impression that she maybe wasn't the best influence on us. It was odd that this woman in her thirties wanted to talk about her weekend escapades with me when I was nineteen. 

One day during the summer of 2020, I was watching the baby without Holly. This didn't happen often, but luckily this time I had a friend with me. The house where we nannied was really huge and fancy. On the lowest floor, there was a movie theatre, home gym, two spare bedrooms and a door to the back deck where there was a huge patio overlooking Abbotsford and a pool. My friend, the baby, and I were heading downstairs to the deck when I picked the baby up and put him on my hip. I started down the stairs, and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground. I had fallen down the hard stone stairs while holding the baby. Luckily, my instinct was to brace his head so he survived the fall. I also had survived the fall but not without bad injury. I had fallen down the stairs the exact same way I had before trek. The pain was instantly unbearable and I knew I couldn't get up. My friend picked up the baby and I dragged myself out to the back deck. I can't even really explain how I fell, but I was definitely hurt up into my right foot and four out of the five of my toes on my left foot were bent. 

While we're on the back deck, I'm butt-scooting around not able to walk while my friend laughs at me. I don't think she realized how bad it really was. The baby's dad was a doctor so I Facetimed him and showed him my feet and he said he would come home right away and write me a referral for an x-ray. The details are a bit blurry but I know I started to cry and get really dizzy. I also remember for some reason my friend left and Jill showed up. Jill is not a baby person by any means, and I remember watching her on the baby monitor go get the baby up from his nap. She loves when I tell that story. 

When the doctor/father of the child came home, he told me it looked like my foot had been bashed by a sledgehammer, ouch. After waiting for my X-ray (the nurse had made me WALK to the scan room from the waiting area) I got my feet up on the table. She looked at them and bent them around. "First impression, not broken" she said. Um, first impression, it was definitely broken. I also still don't know if she was talking to me, but the scans came back and it wasn't a break. Even though I still think it was.

I had a trip planned to go into downtown Vancouver with a friend, right after this whole stair-wipeout episode had occurred.  To my parents dismay, I went anyways and dragged my feet around Vancouver. When I ran into the ocean for the perfect photo opportunity, I rolled my ankle in the sand and fell in. Before you ask, there are no photos of the event. 

In October of 2020, Ethan takes me with him to go pick out Manda's engagement ring. She thinks he is going to propose on Christmas but he is actually proposing on Christmas Eve. I feel honoured that I know about it and not many other people do. I am so excited for Manda and Ethan but it does sting a bit that Manda is officially getting married before I do. I always thought it would be me. Someone offered me come comforting advice, "You just have to kiss a few frogs before Prince Charming comes around." I did indeed kiss as many frogs as I could. 

 That same month, a missionary in the area messaged me introducing himself. I figured he wanted to ask me why I hadn't be logging onto Zoom church and "they miss me so much", so I respond to him and say, "I'm not going to church anymore, sorry." He persisted and because I was sad and desperate to be married, I thought he was hitting on me. But he was actually just doing what missionaries are told to do during a pandemic: add people on Facebook, message them, introduce themselves, etc. We can call him Pete because he'll be around for awhile. 

A few weeks of Pete messaging me daily, being semi-flirtatious and getting to know each other, I was completely smitten. We didn't talk about the church at all, just got to know each other and I eventually agreed to meet over Zoom just so I could talk to him. One day on Zoom, he was spending the day with a guy named Elder Jensen. Jensen was a really good teacher, he seemed peppy about missionary work and teaching and he was very smiley. I thought he was a super good guy, but I really liked Pete. Pete and his missionary companion assigned me the task of helping them manage their schedule. Again, I thought that this was basically a marriage proposal, but it was just a way for me to be involved with church. 

By the way, October of 2020 was the last time I ever saw Gaston in the flesh. It was at a mutual friends birthday party, I had just tried my friend's vape, we all took the "Rice Purity Test," he waved at me once and that was that.

Speaking of marriage proposals, Christmas Eve 2020 was a day we will always remember. Like I said, Manda thought he was going to propose the next day, but little does she know that when we exchange sibling gifts on Christmas Eve, Ethan is going to pop the question. It's truly been a horrible, dark year for me but Ethan has brought a sense of happiness and relief to our home. There was always a part of me that was sad that this wasn't happening to me, and of course Manda gets to get married first. She is perfect in my eyes and always has been. We have always been close. Competitive but close. I know that she had been through many trials and she deserved this, she deserved Ethan and they are perfect together. So when all the gifts had been opened, Ethan makes his hug rounds around the room (which is an Ethan special at any family gathering FYI) he gets to me and whispers in my ear, "pull out your camera." I sneakily hide my phone and he completes the circle around the room at Manda's feet as she sits on the couch. As she tearfully accepts the proposal and they embrace, we all cheer and applaud and I am so happy. But wait, does this mean she's moving out again?