this was taken at Place Des Arts. As you can see, Montreal went from Winter weather to twenty degrees celsius. So there is still some patches of snow lying around. Funny.

Yesterday was my parent's 36th Wedding Anniversary. There's a lot I could say about my folks. The good, the bad, the very, very ugly. But I want to share two stories and some thoughts on them. The two stories mainly have to do with my mom since I am, after all, a momma's boy.

When I was nine, with the help of my mother, I got over the fear of this big wooden roller coaster called The Monster. It's in an amusement park in Montreal called La Ronde and I was such chicken shit to go on it in the past, but that summer my mother went on the ride with me and helped me get over my fear. I remember it was already pretty dark out and as the we sat in our seats and chugged up a pretty steep incline my mother turned to me and said, "look at all the lights in the city. Take in the view." And I did. And then we went down.

The following year I was so excited that I conquered my fear of wooden roller coasters that I wanted to have my birthday party at La Ronde. Incidentally, that summer I was going to Toronto to audition for The National Ballet School. It was a month long summer program to see if you could return in the fall as a full time student. It also was around the same time as my birthday. I remember my parents fighting because paying for a birthday party at an amusement park and going to The National would have been too expensive. I remember feeling so fed up. My parents always fought about money. Finally I said to my mother, "fine. I don't want to go to The National Ballet School. I want to go to La Ronde with my friends. I want to have a great birthday. If I have to choose. I choose the amusement park."

My mother listened, then she left my room and talked with my father. When she came back she looked at me and said very seriously, "Mark. I really think you should go to this Summer program. This kind of opportunity doesn't come very often. And you auditioned and they want to see more of you. I think you should reconsider and go to Toronto for the summer." And I did. And it changed my life forever.

I always say that it was Divine Intervention that brought me to that school. I'm not quite sure what kind of human being I would be today had I not left my often toxic family environment for a place where I felt nurtured and challenged and free to be self-expressed and creative. I owe so much to the National Ballet School. And I am deeply grateful for my parents for being courageous and letting me go at such a young age.

There are no perfect families. There are only lessons. I remember when I turned 29 and I was living in Brooklyn and it really hit me. When my father was 29 he was living in a strange new country with a wife and two kids, trying to make a living. And I have deep compassion for that especially now that I am older. I love my parents unconditionally but sometimes I don't like them. I judge the choices they make, they frustrate me, make me angry. I don't agree with their opinions at times or how they see the world. But they fascinate me because the more I understand the pieces of them that are in me, I see the potential I have to evolve as a person, to take all those crazy and wonderful attributes and see what sort of magic I can make with them.

I love my parents for three reasons. And their names are Anna, Frances and Elizabeth. These women are my sisters. I've laughed and cried with these girls. I just think they are the most marvelous people. I couldn't have asked for better siblings. So thanks mom and dad. Happy Anniversary. You did good.

my kooky parents