I was talking to my Gma a few minutes ago about being a bit nervous in regards of my upcoming painting event. I said well I guess I just have to push through it...

Her response was much better: "Remember, we all put pants on the same in the morning"

Yes, yes we do Gma, well said...We had a good chuckle after that :)

A year ago I went to Greek Easter for my first time..

Today I went to Palm Sunday, which I only learned about last Sunday after I reached out to the sister of an "uncle" (In Greek Culture those who are older and who have known us all our lives  usually end up being calling uncles/aunts (Thea/Theo, but they are not blood related). She told me it will be a beautiful ceremony and that I should attend; only problem I still felt like such a foreigner to the church and the culture. 

So what do I do to get my ass there, FIND A GREEK to Tag a long with! I probably should have gone to West Broadway & Balaclava intersection and held out a sign saying "Palm Sunday Companion Wanted", but I wasn't feeling so adventurous so I just asked a Greek guy I met once. Thankfully he said he would go. 

There we sat in church and he explained to me what I didn't understand and what to do next. Then Father Constantinos translated some of it too, and I started to understand a little bit of the language. It was a beautiful ceremony and as it progressed and as I understood more Greek, I started to feel less foreign. I looked around and saw so many Greeks in our community of all different walks of life, different heights, different coloured hair including red, blonde, black, brown & white.

Then the priest gave a sermon, with communication that I love and can pay attention to, direct, straight to the point, with visual concepts and in English! Ironically his message was completely related to something I have been trying to deal with on my own, and wasn't related to religion from my perspective.

I may not be quoting him correctly but this is what I understood: We need to start loving others more, we need to start loving with our hearts not our minds or our stomachs. Our mind is easily distracted and caught up in everything going on around us, and our stomach is related to animal behaviour and does not tell us what we really need. We should act on what our hearts tell us, our needs should be inline with what our hearts need. 

My issue has been that I'm holding on to all the things my mind tells me I need to keep going and I keep thinking with my stomach and hoarding large quantities of all the things I think it needs. I know Father Const. was not being literal but it just so happens that making it literal helped me.

I definitely need to think and act more from love! and until Hristos Anestis next weekend I'm going to do my best to think more with my heart and feed that organ over the others.

#ImaynotbebaptizedbutIfeelorthodox #donthavetobereligioustolearnatchurch 

Last Sunday night I was at my Grandma's discussing the events struggles I experienced this past year.
Her response was the best as always:

she started the proverb in the 3rd person and addressed me by my first & middle name as if it were hyphenated:

"Now Grandma has probably told you (LJ) this many of times, You can't saw Sawdust

Me: "What? But Sawdust is sawed wood?!"
G-ma: "Have you tried sawing Sawdust?
Me: "Well, you can't its done & already in pieces"
G-ma: "Exactly its done, you can't saw it again!" (as she pretended to dust off her hands)

This Throwback Back Thursday #TBT is brought to you by “Cousin-love” with a side of Uncles.
From Little wee hugs, beautiful little smiles, to awesome fashion Sense, to glamorous dresses (with socks!) and of course one can not forget the outstanding choreographed dances in G-Ma’s Living room! It truly was never a dull moment between the Axelson & Peterson Clan! lol

So I sent my Trinity-Baptist-Conservative Ukrainian Grandmother this photo of me, walking down the aisle...

Her Response: "Showing a bit of leg like Jaylo….LOL"

I love her witty random responses!

Tonight while at Kitsilano Showboat, Thea & Theo Gian arrived after the first set of performances...
OG: Mam, you missed all the dancing
Thea Gian: What did I miss?
Me: Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical, and a contortionist
Thea Gian: Well you can't have everything, (chuckles to herself, then turns away)

I started laughing with her...her timing was perfect. To be honest, she is right, you can't have everything. Despite the humorous moment, a few minutes later it made me realize all the things I had taken for granted today. I felt like such an idiot, but of course I started laughing at myself and shook my head. I find these realizations just as humourous as Thea Gian's comment, its better to just laugh at yourself & learn for tomorrow.

Sitting here writing this, it got me reminiscing of the simple things my Theos, Theas, Popou & YiaYia used to tell me. Even last year , we were sitting around the table at my cousin's wedding, and my cousins started asking where this boyfriend was, that I have been dating for a year. Last minute, he decided not to come because he didn't want to be paraded around my family. When I told everyone at the table, my 3rd cousin bursts out, "he could sit and have a beer with me", but its the simple actions and phrase, that his father did. Like my popou always did, he waved his hand down, as if waving the situation away, he says, "its done, he's done! pffff", then looks at me (raises his eyebrows)  and then turns back to the speeches. 

He was right the relationship was done. 

Earlier this year my friend AK asked her Thea SD, why do Greek women spit. Its so that if another women says anything insulting or with envy, you turn to the side and spit 3 times, I think to spit out their words so it doesn't affect you. Ak asks, "won't they see you?", and Thea interrupts, "who cares!".

My yiayia would always say, "you can stay on the toilet or you can get off the toilet, thats it, you only have 2 choices"

Again simple sentences, that speak so much truth. Why do we make it so complicated? Yeah there are emotions and us females are notorious for over-analyzing/thinking the crap out of situations.Hence this realization is from me over-thinking 1 simple sentence from tonight. 

At the end of the day is it worth it? is it worth our time and energy to make it so complicated?

Who knows?! but hopefully one day I can live more like all the wonderful Greeks in my life, and speak more simply too... :)

I was going on about all the things that were stressing me out...

My Grandma's response:
"Why are you borrowing problems from tomorrow?"
Me:
"I have to be prepared, and some of these problems are my problems of today"
Grandma:
I haven't heard a single problem of today, and you can't be prepared of what will happen tomorrow; you don't know what will happen tomorrow, you don't have control over that. So you might as well do what you NEED to do today, to make today happen.

She is so right, its about today, not what comes after. Tomorrow doesn't exist; its nothing more than a word for the day after today. Do you ever here someone saying "that was a great tomorrow" or "ya know tomorrow last week, that was a lot of fun"? No! I know its a silly way to get my point across but tomorrow doesn't hold a lot of value so why worry about it. Worrying about what happens after today is stupid, I can make plans but trying to control them and worrying about the outcome is useless, it just uses up energy I could be using for something awesome! 

But why do I keep doing it? Oh wait I'm human! Ha!
Trying/controling/worrying are all choices on my part, so maybe I should choose to do something else...?!

I think What I should be doing is... enjoying my TODAY?...forgiving myself TODAY? replacing fear with curiosity TODAY! valuing myself TODAY! instigating confidence in myself TO-DAY and above all LOVING TODAY!!! 

Hey NEXT-DAY, I'm just going to let you be... Ciao!

PS. Thank you Grandma, for your simple comments that help me figure it out!

When I tell most people that I'm part Swedish, they think of Swedish meatballs, and tall beautiful women. When I think of Swedish people I think of the word slusk (the only swedish word I know), tall beautiful people and ABBA!

I can't recall ever meeting anyone born before 1985 who hasn't heard of this Swedish pop Band that was formed in 1973. While they took Europe by storm for 4 years, after they won with their first song Waterloo. On April 9, 1977, their song Dancing Queen had made it to the Billboard top 100 songs. Unlike the bands pop bands today, the band was made up of 2 couples, but like all pop bands of today they did not stay together long.

At any wedding, where these songs are played people break out into song singing and do the whole arms-in-the-air-sway, especially to Dancing queen. Since the play Mamma Mia, I'm sure everyone knows the words to the musical..."One more look and I forget everything who-oa, Mamma Mia here I go again, my my, how can I resist ya!"

After the play came the movie, and if you actually read the lyrics of the songs, the play & the movie fit the words perfectly. Its like the theatrics and the songs were separated at birth and brought together again to form these visual pieces. As cheesy as the movie was, the songs and their lyrics are even more cemented in my head... I can still remember jumping on mine or someone's bed when I was young singing to Mamma Mia, before the movie even came out. 

Although they ended the year I was born, they will always be remembered, if not as Sweden's greatest export, but at least as their own Swedish "Chiquitita"

You don't realize how intertwined your cultures & family are until one side shares respectful stories about the other.

My mother's maiden name is Swedish and her father and mother had a company in many neighbourhoods where Greeks had the pleasure of meeting my grandfather. His business was more than just being a Broker, he would meet clients in their homes, their businesses and his favourite restaurants. 

He was a Frank Sinatra of his time, although he sang his own tune, like Sinatra, he was classy, well dressed, charming and full of charisma. Unfortunately I was 8 when he passed away and I only have a few memories with him,  but its all that I have heard from those who have crossed paths with him. Believe it or not, most of them have been Greek. 

My Greek friends tell me how much he was a well respected business man, who made it his business to give you the time of day, and above all he was classy.

 Who would have though that I would learn so much about my grandfather, from my other cultures?