I love cycling through the city parks with Lulu & Big daddy on the weekends.
But somehow after passing by all the picnics in our local park, I always end up feeling so melancholy.
The park is filled with huge groups of people and families having so much fun.
And by the aromas wafting through the air, enjoying so much delicious smelling food as well.
I'm not just talking hot dogs & hamburgers either.
These are by and large "new Canadians" cooking a multitude of flavours from around the world.
There has been many a time when I have wanted to just walk up and ask them what they are cooking.
I love that you see all the generations together spending time together as a family.
Young, old and even the teenagers don't seem to mind hanging out with all the relatives on a Sunday afternoon in the park.
Everyone looks like they are having such a great time.
Nothing fancy or styled out- just good food,family and friends.
And how cool is it that Toronto is so amazingly culturally diverse?
I saw huge families from all over the globe, just hanging out, and enjoying our beautiful green spaces.
Toronto does have so many lush park spaces- we are very fortunate.
So why do I feel so blue when we ride past these make shift park parties?
I guess you could say I'm a bit envious.
I wish we had a huge family (that wasn't neurotic) and that all lived in the same city (country) and loved to spend time together.
I wish I had several generations to help out with the kid(s) when they are (were) babies.
and more importantly, I wish I had all those delicious smelling recipes!
That being said, I do have two first cousins that live here in the city.
One of them is married with a 2 year old and the other just got married last summer.
We get along just fine, but for some reason we are not close.
We didn't grow up together and I guess our families all just do their own things.
I wish it was different, but what can you do?
Maybe I should make more of an effort to try to coordinate a picnic of our own this summer.
Someone has to make the first move, maybe it should be me.
But for now it's just Lulu, Big daddy & I.
I suppose I have to just be grateful for our little family of three.
Or maybe one of these days I'll muster up enough courage and walk over to one of those groups and ask them what exactly is on their grill?
Best case scenario- they ask us to join the party.
4 comments:
I totally get that.
It's just us here in Sydney, there's not many family members around to help us out or to gather with.
But the upside of that is that it always 'special' when we do get together for Christmas or big occasions. I don't think we'd feel the same if they lived around the corner and we saw each other twice a week.
Well, that's my silver lining anyway - and I'm sticking to it.
Interesting post. We are "new Canadians" in TO with no family in Canada except for our little family of three: myself, my husband and our baby. I've felt envious of other people's families many times, I specially don't get the ones that have family close by and only bother to see them once or twice a year. We try to compensate by using Skype lots, travelling to our home country every year, and staying in touch w/ family as much as possible.
We're in the same boat - one child and no extended family locally. I too yearn for more of that connection that I see other families having.
The girl had her SK graduation today and I think out of 23 classmates, we were the only family without extended family members attending. We need more.
So whether it's biological family or chosen family, we need to find our tribe.
Doesn't have to be 'family' to have a great get together though... sometimes good friends are even better! And that's where you are going to get your new and tasty recipes... R.
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