Family Day

Today is a school holiday.  It is a relatively new holiday here in Ontario.   There has been a concentrated effort over the years to create a holiday in February.  A couple of years ago it was called Heritage Day and was kind of half-heartedly attempted, celebrated by a few people and businesses.  But it appears it has finally morphed into something more permanent, and how can you go wrong celebrating anything of a family-oriented nature?

It certainly is pleasant to have a day off in cold, gloomy little February.  It will be only a short month now until the week at March break. And then another month will take us to the long Easter weekend.

My sister-in-law always sends out her Christmas newsletter, mid-winter.  At first I used to wonder, why not get it out when everybody else does? But since it has become an annual habit, it is something to look forward to sometime after Valentine's Day, and usually prior to the May 24th holiday.

This years' chapter (Helen is a professional writer) was largely about the adventures of her son and my one and only nephew.  Jonathan has had an exciting year.

Rather than rewrite, I might as well quote Helen's article (which is much more cleverly written then I would have done myself).  So I guess Helen is my guest blogger for the day (without her express permission - but I will send her a copy for her enjoyment as well).

" In June, Jonathan married a lovely young woman named Jessica.  I didn't know that being the mother of a groom could be a lot of fun.  But it was.


The wedding was held on a country property just outside Cobourg.  Jess organized the event with a crew of friends and family.  Dave and I hosted the rehearsal dinner the night before.  The wedding itself took place under a beautiful old tree in the front yeard of a person who owns the restaurant where Jess worked until January.  

Jon and Jess, May 22, 2010 (courtesy of Helen)

Afterward we had dinner and a dance in the large tent that had been put up near the tree.  In the early hours of the morning, many of the younger guests sacked out in individual tents set up around the property.


Constable Jonathan:
Compared to The Hillcrest, Jonathan found other cheffing jobs a little routine.  In 2009, he started the process of applying for the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).  Jonathan was accepted for hiring in the fall of 2009.  Then came the wait.


While he was waiting, Jonathan decided to get to know the type of clientelle he would likely be meeting on the job.  He worked at CHIMO, which is a home for emotionally -disturbed young people and at Community Living.  Since he didn't know if the OPP would ever call him up, he accepted a full-time job with Community Living in July.


Shortly afterward, the OPP offered him a job in Napanee, which is the detachment between Cobourg and Kingston that handles Highway 401 in that area.  Jonathan resigned from Community Living, then attended police college  as of the end of August.  

Helen (the author), Jonathan, Dave (my eldest brother)

Ontario Provincial Police attend six weeks of OPP training and three months of police college training where they are in classes with police candidates from throughout the province.  In December, Jonathan graduated from Ontario Police College in Aylmer.  He then finished his classes at OPP College in Orillia and graduated from there on January 7th. On January 10th, Constable Jonathan started work at the Napanee detachment."

Thank you Helen for a nice neat concise account of our boy. 

It is interesting to think we now have a police officer in the family.  I know he'll be able to use his size and muster up some sort of tough-guy personae for the job, but he's more a big gentle giant in our considerably shorter family.

A few years ago!

"Can I see you license and registration please?"

So congratulations there sonny boy.  We are all very proud of you and your accomplishments over the years.  The Napanee police force will be a better place for you being there, and I expect they'll fatten up considerably if you get relegated to breakfast duty on the weekend shifts.

And that is about all I have to say for today.

Musings and meanderings from the Musical Gardener.