Saturday finally came and I was able to divulge the secrets for Chris' birthday. After a leisurely breakfast and watching a soccer game at a pub, I dragged Chris on the bus with me while refusing to reveal our destination. When we walked through the doors of the National Arts Centre he seemed confused, nearly disoriented. We stood in line at the Theatre and I pointed out to Chris: "Have a look at the people waiting in line with us. What is the main thing that strikes you?" I guess he hadn't noticed that the place was swarming with children. So we sat and watched the French theatre production called "L'Histoire de l'oie": Maurice nous raconte l'enfant qu'il était. En 1955, il a dix ans. Dans la ferme ou il habite, il trouve un peu de compagie auprès d'une oie qu'il a apprivoisée tant bien que mal. Avec elle, il s'évade dans un univers qu'il a créé à partir de ses bandes dessinées préférées. Dans ce monde imaginaire, il est invicible, il est un héros. Toutefois, à travers ses jeux, Maurice laisse entrevoir la dure réalité qu'il subit. Une histoire d'amour et de violence. It was an impressive, inventive and emotional production, and the set was fantastic. It was a bit difficult to watch at times (I half expected to hear children screaming or crying instead of the wimpers) but I'm glad I saw it. I think Chris enjoyed it as well. I thought taking him to a French children's play would be the best way to celebrate growing older!

Afterwards we seperated for a few hours and agreed to meet for our dinner reservation at the Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro. Little did he know that we would be nearly ten people instead of just the two of us - I arranged a little surprise with some of his closest friends. The surprise was nearly busted a few times but I think we managed to create a feeling of genuine shock when he showed up and saw the whole gang. I was really happy to bring everyone together for his day, even though my biggest surprise wasn't ready (still isn't) and will have to be offered later on in the month.

I'm off to read some feminist literature right now. I tried to keep myself from opening the third Pullman novel, but I couldn't stand reading the academic stuff non-stop, even though it is quite interesting and important. The key - or the trick - will be to find a balance between the leisure and the school reading...