Small moments that brought me some joy in 2025:

• Watching Zoya pet the goats at Maplewood Farm
• Checking out the lights at VanDusen Botanical Gardens
• Going to see Cirque du Soleil
• Watching Zoya’s winter dance recital
• Eating “baguette dinners” with L featuring great tinned fish and cheeses
• Hosting a chili party where many of our friends huddled around our fireplace eating chili and key lime pie while we exchanged stories and the children played around us
• Using little cute knit “caps” on our bananas to help them stay fresher longer
• Getting to go back to doing my job after several months of doing stuff I didn’t fully enjoy at work
• Hearing from an old professor from my undergrad days that remembered me and was curious about my work
• Taking Zoya to Disney On Ice and seeing her face light up when Elsa came on stage
• Attending a wonderful tasting menu dinner in support of a worthy charity
• Swimming in the ocean
• Going down water slides
• Having almost-weekly “Sunday dinners” with our close friends and family
• Discovering a bevy of new restaurants (so many incredible meals!) in different cities all across Canada
• Making snow angels and going sledding with Zoya on the multiple snow days we had last winter
• Seeing the joy in my wife’s face when she tried the Dubai chocolate cookie I got for her just before Valentine’s Day
• Having friends from out of town come visit and stay with us for a few days
• Getting some response to my letter to city council about stopping using X/Twitter
• Having waffle parties and raclette parties and seafood parties and just all kinds of excuses to eat good food with friends
• Heading to the sugar bush to eat pancakes and maple syrup and go on a horse-drawn wagon ride around where they tap the trees for sap and make the syrup
• Finding a new coffee shop not far from home that has some of the best breakfast sandwiches in the city
• Having a soft serve cone from Tom’s Dairy Freeze on the day it opened for the season
• Taking Easter photos with live bunnies
• Meeting friends for chai and samosas
• Weekday afternoon lunch dates
• Relaxing at the spa in the middle of the mountains
• Seeing the snow-capped mountains In the distance from atop the Calgary Tower
• Seeing Zoya in her baseball glove and uniform and batting helmet, and seeing just how much fun she was having on the field
• Seeing Zoya on the big stage of the Grand Theatre for her year-end dance recital
• Taking our first dip in our cold pool on a hot and sunny day in early June
• Celebrating Father’s Day with brunch and gelato and chili dogs and strawberry shortcakes
• Going berry picking in Bayfield in the hot sunshine
• Going waist-deep into the cold Lake Erie water in June on Port Stanley beach
• Watching Zoya play in the water in the River Coln and the River Windrush
• Seeing friends we haven’t seen in six years and spending time with them exploring Dorset
• Punting on the River Cherwell in Oxford
• Watching Zoya feed goats from her hand for the first time at the farm park and also feed a bottle of warm milk to a sheep
• Feeding the fish at the trout farm and having the ducks and the swans follow us around hoping to get fed too
• Having little meetups with friends we haven’t seen in a decade or more
• Blowing bubbles in the backyard
• Celebrating Zoya’s fifth birthday with family and friends and having a “pink” themed party
• Watching Zoya do a mini-recital on her last day of her week at dance camp
• Spending a weekend with family in Muskoka
• Watching Zoya learn how to ride a bike on her own
• Watching Zoya jump into the pool on her own after being apprehensive for so long
• Playing on the beach on Lake Huron during a week at the cottage
• Watching incredible sunsets over the lake
• Watching Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in Stratford and then having an incredible dinner on the patio to cap off the day
• Meeting a friend for an afternoon of chicken wings and beach time on the shores of Lake Erie
• Taking photos of Zoya in her rainbow dress on her first day of senior kindergarten
• Riding the spinning teacups and other rides with Zoya at the fair
• Having an amazing meal with my love and also getting to meet Massimo
• Doing a pasta making class in the heart of Emilia-Romagna and eating the delicious fruits of our labor
• Discovering markets and restaurants and cafes and bars all around Florence and Modena
• Getting to see priceless works of art and outstanding architecture in Italy
• One of the most unique breakfast buffets I’ve ever had at one of the best hotels I’ve ever stayed
• Learning how they make balsamic vinegar in Modena and getting to taste lots of different kinds
• Having Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and all the fixings, a week late because we were in Italy on the actual day, and being so thankful for my family and especially L who made the meal
• Going to see a live performance of the Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Carving and painting pumpkins with Zoya, and checking out Pumpkins After Dark too
• Zoya dressing up as an astronaut and my brother, Bri and I dressing up as aliens, and we all going trick-or-treating together
• Having a FaceTime chat and catching up with someone I had previously only known online
• Celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary with a morning at the spa and an evening at Lobsterfest
• Getting Zoya’s report card and meeting her teachers and getting great feedback on her progress — so proud of her!
• Taking Christmas photos as a family and ordering Christmas cards to send to family and friends
• Going to see the Magic of Lights for the third year in a row
• Taking Zoya to watch the Frozen musical at the Grand Theatre
• Taking photos with Santa at the mall
• Celebrating L’s birthday with a nice dinner with a bunch of her friends at Yaya’s Kitchen
• Celebrating L’s birthday week with two visits to the spa, lunch at a steakhouse, a fancy dinner and drinks, afternoon tea, and lots of revelry with friends and family.
• Seeing Zoya sing three songs at her school holiday concert—she did great!
• Dinner at a Spanish restaurant in Toronto with friends we hadn’t seen in a few years and who bring me so much joy
• Spending lots of time with my parents and brother and Bri over the year
• Having flaming duck on the Vancouver waterfront
• Eating cotton candy and pretzels and roasted chestnuts at the Christmas market
• Going to see the Soar with Santa show at Flyover Canada and Zoya exclaiming, “That was amazing! I’m going to tell all my friends about it”
• Eating tourtière on Christmas Eve
• Christmas dinner with family
• Enjoying the East Van Panto with the whole family
• Ringing in the new year with family, with good food and drink and celebration and getting to bed at a decent time