eee rm RCT SAT ERLE ee CEP

DUSTIN —
QUEZADA_

_ CHARLYNN TOEWS .

“Old Acquaintance —

id you get to see “It's a Wonderful Life”
this holiday season? It-always tears me

up to see the last.scene, with Jimmy

. Stewart singing Auld Lang Syne, espe- ©
cially now: that my best friend’s dad, who looked
exactly like the actor (when they were both young). .

is no longer of this earth. “a

. Peter: Pauls had six kids (my best friend since :

grade three is in the middle) and was quite strict.

“Celia,” he would say to her, “You have a date
with the ‘dishes.” Groan. I would either help her.in
the kitchen or go home, no more play time.

One time he and wife Nancy had all or most of »
| their kids plus me, plus who knows else, all stuffed
in their red station wagon. (No seat belt laws, no.
_ seat belts!) We had gone to the city to a movie mat-
7 inee, an extra-special treat. «.
On the drive back to Steiribach, suddenly, with- ;
“out a word. of warning, he turned into-a. McDon- .

ald’s:

don’t ask for a side of fries or extra ketchup, say
nothing, or the speli will be broken. Like I said,
he was strict, and had a lot of children. Maybe-he
was stopping to use the phone or the facilities. One
whine and he’d peel back out onto the highway.
Shut up, just shut up. Just Shhh!

-.A few minutes later he came, back: to the car
with a big bag of burgers. He and Nancy both got

_ boxed burgers, then he started dealing out the little °

paper-wrapped burgers like so many cards.‘Then

. we could cheer! Hurray! What a day.

That was in olden times, when you could only
see a movie when They showed it. Make your way
to the cinema at 2, 4:15, 7 or 9, or forget it. I saw
Cinderella in the cinema in this way, how precious
each second was as it ticked away. Quit kicking!
You finished your pop, don’t bug me for a sip of
mine, I am trying to LISTEN to the dialogue here!
Like, no rewind, and no O re-release for another 15
years.

Or “A Charlie Brown Christmas” on TV: ‘be
there or be square. Pee later, hold it til the com-

mercial; this is a once-in-a-lifetime event, practi- *

cally. Then the end credits and the music, never to
be heard ‘again, at least til.next year. Not like now
with several 24-7 cartoon channels and videos rent-

_ als for a dollar.

I miss my teenage years as well. Celia, Laurie,
Gracie, Cinta and I would take the bus to the city
to go shopping. Oh, the bliss of looking for just the
right top on a 70s Saturday in The Bay in down-
town Winnipeg.

Then a lady-like lunch in the Paddlewheel on thé.
top floor. All those gleaming refrigerated cabinets
with the glass doors, endless choices of ready-made
sandwiches and pies already sliced, jello of every
colour in the world. Or the Hot Buffet, with a Real
Chef standing there brandishing a carving knife.

_ Coffee, tea or fizzy pop included, how elegant can
“you get?

I miss all my former co-workers. That i iS a spe-
cial time-and-place specific kind of friendship. I
miss Carrie, I].worked two feet away from her for
about a year til we became friends..She was kinda

' shy and we were both fiendishly busy on our state-

of-the-art ‘80s Macintosh computers.

But even a shy person who is very busy can be- —
come known if that shy busy. person happens to talk °
to herself eight-hours a day, five days a week. Par-

don me, not talking to herself, talking to her COM-
PUTER. _.
‘We had a pre-Internet (whoa!) pre- -email way of

_ speaking to each other, sharing files to and from -
each other’s computer. So I could label the scan or

the ad I was sending to her computer ‘““Gemma’s/to
Carrie” or I could label it “Gemma’s/to cutie-pie
gal,” or whatever we liked.. That was fun! I liked
going to her condo to watch Seinfeld. Special night,
special time, she was TRYING to listen to the dia-
logue, didn’t want to miss the punch line.
My co-worker in Halifax, Deena, could bark like
a dog. Exactly! She would demonstrate this in, the

. coffee room upon request. She also filled her cof-

fee cup right to the top, then added milk and sugar,

" then took it upstairs, spilling drips all the way. One. .

time. she came over for dinner and brought her own
Salad Spinner: a | very ‘hip chick, so modern and
with it...

Lydia, my co- _worker in Manitoba, made the best
scratch chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Ever.
In the world. Good thing we had so many evening

-Meetings and weekend retreats and Christmas pot-
lucks. One layer, still in the pan, butter icing. “What .

should I bring?” she would ask me. Ha!
I guess you had to be there. I was, and, oh-boy,

_ I miss it.

What the hey? All of u us kids knew not to say
- a word. Don’t go demanding cheese or no cheese,

#)

_cord.

TERRACE STANDARD

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 11, 2006 - Bt

| victims.

a

r | Quadruple dose -

From left, Jenna Rigo, Nadia Qullet:and Teleza >a Shafool stand with English teacher. Al Lehman at. Caledonia Secondary. School. with’ .
this year’s, version of The Dose. All three helped with writing contributions and editing. The $4-books are available at the Terrace: Public |

Library and through students. The students’ goal | is to raise $500 for Canadian Red Cross efforts i in Pakistan/Kashmir. for’ earthquake. ‘a 7
. a . "DUSTIN QUEZADA PHOTO ae

oF

By MARGARET SPEIRS
SONYA. KUSHNEREK never

expected to have such a ‘labours,

intensive New Year.

‘She expected to stand up as a
bridesmaid at her mother’s wedding
and attend the reception Dec. 31, cel-

-ebrate her new step-father’s birthday

Jan.-2, and enjoy time with her new
baby son who she expected to see
earlier than his Jan. 1 due date.
But her fifth son, and sixth child,
had a different idea.
And at 2:33 a.m. Jan. 1., Sonya,

" who’s 30, gave birth to Braydan Al-

exander Kushnerek, who weighed

eight pounds. 14 ounces and’ mea-

sured 22.25 inches long. -
“T said ‘he’s so perfect.” He came

Out crying on arrival,”.she said Jan.

Her husband, Dean, also 30, was’

by her side for the birth and cut the

He didn’ t remember saying any-
thing, but Sonya said she saw a tear
in his eye when she looked up at
him. —

‘Terrace’s New Year’ s baby an-
nounced’ his intentions well in ad-

vance of his arrival.
Sonya first“felt.labour pains at 5
a.m. New Year’s Eve.

Sonya, who believed she wouldn’t .

be able to attend her.mother’s wed-
ding, went to see her mother at 1
p.m. and noticed her contractions in-
creasing to about 45 minutes apart.
“J thought ‘you know what, if I’m
going to be uncomfortable at home,

I might as well be uncomfortable at

o99

the wedding,” she said.
‘Sonya made it through the wed-

- ding and, at the reception supper
‘between 6:30. p.m. to 7 p.m.,

she
decided she’d had enough.
“I needed to go home and relax,”
she said.
Dean took her back to their Cop-
per Movntain residence .and he

‘stayed close to her side while she

rested on ihe couch.

By about. 10 p.m., her contrac- .
_ tions were only six to nine minutes:
apart and by 12:30 a.m. Jan. 1, they
became more intense and lasted lon-"
‘ger, she said.

» “I knew I had to go [to the hospi-

tal],” she said.

»When . she arrived, labour de-

livery room nurse Sheri Metcalfe,

discovered Kushnerek was already |

seven centimetres dilated.
Her water broke at 1:50 a.m:

“And at [2:20-a.m.] I had the urge

1o push and that did it,” she said.
__.“Tgave two good pushes and one
small one and he was here.” ;
After Braydan’s birth, Sonya
learned that the hospital didn’t have

any maternity ward beds available

until 2 p.m., so she stayed in the la-
bour delivery room bed, which she
described as
and rock hard”
released.

“I’m tired; I want my own bed.:I

$0 she asked to be

"want to go home,” she recalled. say:
‘ing to hospital staff. .

Dr. Lennox Brown, Kushnerek’s
physician, examined the ‘baby and -

asked how she was. ;
“I told him I wanted to go home,”:

- she said.

 “T was going to stay. for a ‘couple
of days because I have five other kids
at home but watching my. four-year-

old daughter, leave the hospital, she
~ wasn’t understanding why mommy

and the baby couldn’ t BO" with her.
(, .

“very uncomfortable:

New Year's baby “perfect”

think the whole hospital heard

her crying.”

Brown OK’d her release at 5: 30 .

p.m...

er.
Her two oldest boys, Kammeron,

Four of her five children a are “ec-. —
static” about their new baby broth-

13, and Bradley, 10, “love him”, So- .

nya said. a

Sister, Keianna, 4, hoped for a

> baby sister and was “a little upset but-
she’s really taken to her brother.”

But Ashton, 2, isn’t so fond of the.

new member of the family. -

“He’s still having -a little bit of :

trouble,”. she said, adding he won't

go near.the. baby. or let her even put “

on his jacket. -

’ “He's right glued to his dad. Dad- ’

dy has to do everything with him.”

Sonya praised the hospital staff | :

° for their: help. .

“TI love her (Metcalfe) to pieces. :

She’s just wonderful,” she said.

“They’re: my idols for. “making ©

this perfect.”

Mills Memorial Hospital patient:
care manager Rita Laven: said’ no -:

other babies | were born there Jan. 1.

Festival resumes on
the big screen

..ONE OF Canada’s most widely acclaimed and .
internationally —
Egoyan has made such remarkably diverse films as
The Sweet Hereafter, Erotica and Ararat. With his
latest film, Where the Truth Lies, which screened
- at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival, |
~ he takes his craft i in yet another direction, with’
the impressive, provocative results that audiences

successful

have come to expect.

Based on a Rupert Holmes mystery novel of.
the same name, Where the Truth Lies i is set in the
our, ambition and deception a are the order of the
day. The duo of Lanny Morris (Kevin Bacon) and |
‘Vince Collins (Colin Firth) are the biggest act in

that is, until the body of a gorgeous
woman ends up dead in their hotel bathroom.
The pair denies any knowledge of the woman and
they’re cleared of any wrongdoing, but the scan-

comedy —

dal forces them to dissolve their act.

Cut to 15 years later, and Karen O’Connor (Al- .
ison Lohman), a young writer, is paid handsomely
by a publisher to write a tell-all exposé about Col-
lins. As her research progresses, startling revela-
tions emerge about both comedians and the sordid
events surrounding their break-up. Meanwhile, .

-Karen becomes embroiled in a one-night stand
with Lanny, who is writing his own book. The re-

lationship becomes a game of cat-and-mouse, but
Karen can’t be sure if she is pursuer or prey.

A well-crafted mystery, Where the Truth Lies —
is equally masterful in its depiction of the enter-
tainment industry, which shifts from elegant to
seedy at the drop of a hat. Brilliant cinematog-
raphy and set design evoke this noir atmosphere
in all its intrigue, and stellar performances help
vividly round out this picturesque and deliciously

moody film.

filmmakers,

“round Town.

baged or

Atom

635- 2373.

Buttons up for.

Valentine’s Day. __
DOES VALENTINE’S. ‘Day make you excited,
happy and full of love? Or does it scare you,
_make you ‘anxious or remind you :that not all
relationships are a “piece of cake”? That perhaps |
‘instead of chocolates and heart shaped’ card,
. someone would be receiving a cold shoulder,
insults or a restraining order?

What are your thoughts on love, Valentine’ S..
Day, violence? What if you could have a button .
made to spread your message — your opinion —
about V-Day?.A button that your friends, family,.
classmates, 300 members of the community can .
wear proudly to say they are taking a stand against
violence. Every person who enters will have their
button constructed for free! There is no cost for.
entering and all-entries must abide by contest
rules. Entries must be received no later than Jan...
27 and entry forms are available at all local high
schools, Ruins, Misty River Books, Terrace Pub-
lic Library and the Ksan House Society. _

For questions about contest-rules and how to
enter, call Diandra at the Ksan House Society at

A fix for online tix
AFTER THREE shows to work out the glitches
' with its online ticketing system, the president of
the Terrace Concert Society is confident things
will run smoothly for. this Friday’s show at the
REM Lee Theatre featuring the Ecclestons.

Concertgoers can still pick their preferred sec-

Brave

Jan 1.

Correction notice _

: “IN THE community year in review on page Bl .
in the Dec. 28 edition of the Terrace Standard, -
former Caledonia Senior Secondary student Tyler .

Branch was identified as’a current University.

of Calgary student. Last year’s recipient: of. the.

Governor General’s bronze medal for academic’

~ excellence attends the he University © of Alberta.

Cool cub

Ella Martindale leaves frigid

Lakelse Lake at the Kermode Swim

- CONTRIBUTED PHOTO _

tion and the system will pick the: best available

‘seats starting from the fourth row (D). instead of §.

filling the first.three rows. :

“Some people just don’t want to sit in the front :

". row,” said society president Karen Birkedall. 7
For. show details, go'to page B2.:

AMANO 3 a a TS CES ire Re Aa tere once au beh ae aa

re