Please excuse the mental detour from my trip accounts for a brief moment of sentimentality...
I'm sitting in Aleppo, Syria, as my dear mom celebrates Mother's Day back in Canada with neither of her children. I've missed more than my share of family events and holidays over the past few years, whether it was because I was working three jobs in Guelph or quite literally on the other side of the world, and I'm realizing more and more how selfish that must seem. It's a bit of a double-edged sword: my mother (and father) raised me to follow my dreams, but as I do so, I miss some of the most important moments and dates that are meant to honour what she did to make me the person I am today. I'm not saying that I regret not being there with her, because it's not the exact date of Mother's Day that makes me think of and appreciate everything she's done for me; this is something I do pretty much every day anyways. However, there's a part of me that would really love to hand her a homemade card, make her breakfast-in-bed, and bike to the tennis courts together.
Soon.
