We spent the long weekend in Vancouver, potentially for the last time in a long while. Bittersweet. Maybe because of that, I was in a food frenzy. I will pick apart Vancouver for many things but not, no not ever, for its food. We were staying with a friend off Main St. so even just a casual stroll down the block brought dozens of delicious options. (Incidentally, we stayed with a friend who lives in the same apartment building as My Certifiably Most Bitter Ex-Boyfriend, a man who still to this day refers to me as The Beast so every time I ventured out in the hallway or outside the building I was certain I would have a very uncomfortable moment. It did not happen. However, on the night we were moving in our stuff, AH stopped outside for a cigarette and with his sleeping bag having unraveled, he draped it around his neck. With beard et al. he looked like just another Vancouver vagrant hanging on their doorstep. Which is when said-Ex's girlfriend showed up and quizzed him. She had no way of knowing this was her boyfriends ex-girlfriends husband...but it was funny to me. Anyway....)
I had real excellent Montreal bagels and lox and chocolate babka. I had Ukrainian sausage and Oka cheese. I had plates and plates of sushi. I went to an awesome noodle house where they make the four kinds in the back - if you order "dragging" noodles, they come with a pair of scissors so you can snip the extra-long noodles as you eat. I had lemon pancakes. And the best gelato in the universe - caramel apple and lemon mint. And cream cheese blueberry cinnamon buns from Uprising. All with friends, and after the horse races and sweaty tennis matches and speed Scrabble and poker. It was excellent.

Awkwardly, I had to refuse beer. This is not like me as friend after friend expressed. "Why are you having club soda?" they would say suspiciously as I pushed the pitcher away. So it was pretty hard to conceal that yes internets, I am "great with child". Or more accurately 2 months pregnant. Not exactly planned, considering we are shortly moving across the country and I'm - hello! - starting Grad School. But not exactly unplanned as I'm turning 34 this year and we kind of left it up to chance I suppose. It is in some ways a relief to know our various parts work without much prodding. But of course it is early days yet. Much can happen. I am in the habit of referring to my new inhabitant as "the fava bean" - about the same size and shape after all. My fervent pro-choice beliefs make it difficult for me to get to worked up about the FB yet. Does that sound odd? I just can't ascribe more "personality" or even more importance to this stage than in the past when I've had to exercise my choice, as it were. After 3 months I think it will be easier because then we're into a zone I haven't ventured into before. Boy, I'm full of sharing today, aren't I? I'm already feeling like an odd man out potential mother anyway. I'm excited and have always wanted to have kids, truly. But I'm practical and pragmatic too, to a fault, and I'm not about to start counting down the days or choosing names or anything. Also, oddly, I feel mostly just fine. I don't throw up! I am hungry, ravenously, (see above list) but for very specific foods. I am tired constantly and have massive bags under my eyes. But for many hours it's possible to forget and then startled, remember and say "Goddamn! That's right!" AH is being the sentimental one and utterly sweet. But he doesn't have to wrap his head around something GROWING inside him. Also, on a hot day he gets a beer and I get a club soda. I knew this being a woman thing was kind of a rip-off...