Canada's Wonderland

I went to Canada's Wonderland with my kids Wednesday.  We did the 10 to 10 from open to close.  They are monsters.  This is so special for them that they just want to do and do and do.  There were two elements to this day. The obvious putting out the energy to show two different aged boys a good time, and the inner journey of watching the people around me.

At some points I felt like I was in the scene from the original Star Wars where there are creatures from all over the galaxy hanging out in a bar.  This is where they get Han Solo and his ship.  Anyway, so watching people in a big city such as Toronto is fascinating.  There were people from every walk of life speaking every language imaginable.  When I was a kid I used to marvel of how Toronto had so many culturals represented, each with their own area of town.  At wonderland it was all there waiting in line for the same rides and as various as plants in a botanical garden.

So as a women, I have to say that the number of muslim women in various stages of coverage was beyond what I had seen in the past.   There were women with head scarves, which I am used to. However, there were also women in full coverage with only a small spot of their eyes to peer out.   This was someone new for me.  Not that I had not seen this occasionally or in the Middle East during my travels, it was just surprised to see this at Wonderland.   

Two specific girls touched my heart.  My 6 year old son decided he liked the huge water slides this year.  So we went on them over and over and over.  There were two girls probably age 13 to 15 or so, that were going down the slides in the same pattern as us.  They were covered from head to toe with only their faces showing.  They had on pants, several long shirts, shoes, head scarves, and lord knows what else.  They were going down the slides like they were wearing bathing suites and sun screen.  They were so resilient and having the time of their lives, they were laughing and screaming with the rest of us.   

This was one of those moments where  I was proud of these special women that even within the confines of their faith and modesty, were not limiting their behavior.   Please don't take this as a rant against their choices, or an endorsement of the hypocrisy that leaves women hiding them selves, as it is not.  This is more of a endorsement of the resilience of these women.  Hopefully the freedom of Canada will seep into their world and help them become strong and free women, however until then it is great to see their spirt shine as they attempt to live life to the fullest they can.  

Now on the hot yoga side I was amazed at my strength.   At the water park during all these slide rides I had to carry both my son's tube and my own up these huge stair cases to the top over and over again.  The only way I could carry these tubes was holding them over my head in half moon pose with my fingers grasped and my arms straight up.  I did this over and over and over again.  Using yoga breathing to help myself up the huge stair cases to the top.  I know there was no way on earth I could have done this last year before I started hot yoga.  I was strong and powerful and it helped me show my son a great time.   Thank you yoga for the strength and balance to be super mom once again.

The second yoga experience at Wonderland was an experiment.  I tried to do yoga breathing when I was on one of the roller coasters.  I enjoy rides, however I had to ride a lot more then I would normally to escort my sons on these rides.   Now I have to admit the yoga breathing experiment on the roller coaster did not work well.  I tired to monitory my breathing but once we hit the upside down twirls it was over, all I could do was scream like everyone else.  There are limits to serenity.