I mentioned that my Montreal trip was a bit of a disaster. The highlight of the trip should have been seeing the amazing light show at the Montreal Basilica, Aura.
Instead, we spent a lot of time getting lost and frustrated. I cracked my phone. There was stress. There were many, many, many deep breaths and counting to ten.
I kept saying to myself. "It's okay. We'll go to the basilica. It'll be great. It will make this ridiculous trip worthwhile."
But... we went to the basilica and could not get tickets. Disaster. It was the final straw in a long string of unfortunate events and I had a short but very ugly cry meltdown back at the car. I am not usually a big baby, but this trip was a big deal for us. Our first sort of grown up vacation as a family and so much seemed to go wrong.
In the end we wandered around a really cool area of Montreal, bought some drinks to take back to the hotel, and sat in the hottub for a bit. It wasn't the end of the world. How could it be with a hottub?!
Next month I'm heading to the UK and using the Montreal disaster as a lesson in pre-planning. I'm not filling every minute, I'm allowing for spontaneity, but I have a long list of possible things to see and do and plenty of maps and routes.
One of the things on my list is an exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up. It's a collection of personal items belonging to Frida. This mixed media Frida piece sprouted suddenly in my excitement.
I've included a little mirror, a sort of nod to her theme of self portraiture.
Old odd bits and a butterfly.
I've included hummingbirds, a symbol used in her work.
I'd really love to make the exhibit, I'm planning on it, but this sudden Frida is also a reminder to not get so caught up in that 'to-do list' that I forget to enjoy the experience and miss everything else if things go tits up.
"Nothing is absolute. Everything changes, everything moves, everything revolves, everything flies and goes away." ~ Frida Kahlo
Plans change.
This time I'll be ready to revolve too. I'll fly rather than fight against the changes.
Thanks for the lesson, Montreal.
