Mom

Diana was the daughter of Jupiter and Latona, and the twin sister of Apollo. Both were born on the island Delos . . . wait a minute, that’s Diana goddess of the hunt, not Diana my mom. D’oh! Actually, no one calls her Diana, or Diane for that matter. To the world she is simply Didi!

My mom was born in Montreal not long after the advent of colour TV. Her dad was one Wally Emo, an adventurous geologist of Irish and Dutch heritage. Her mom is the generous Kyra Emo, bird watcher extraordinaire and onetime Volvo-owner. Grandma Kyra comes from French-Canadian and Russian stock. In fact, my great grandmother, who once gave me a rabbit and cheesies, was a ‘White Russian’ who buried her silver and fled the country, probably during the Russian Civil War.

Didi is the middle of 3 sisters, which automatically makes her the coolest. Her older sister is Carolyn, currently lost somewhere in Southeast Asia, but usually a resident of Victoria. Her younger sister is Gail, a resident of Laurieston Hall, Scotland. Mom also has a very successful business, which she started from scratch about 10 years ago. It’s called “Didi’s,” after Princess Di.

Being a middle child, mom likes a lot of cool things, such as: skiing, kayaking, driving a mini cooper and losing at board games. Wait, that last one isn’t cool. Anyway, we used to go skiing every Saturday from about . . . February 2nd 1990 . . . until 1997. So, she’s pretty hardcore. She was even Chairperson for Northern Alpine Zone for several years, and is presently the Alpine Director (or something like that) for next year’s BC Northern Winter Games.

Didi’s favourite animal is the flamingo. That’s why she always tries to dance like one with her flamingo dancing troupe. Their name is Flamingo Dance Team 5000! They rock! At least as much as any other Flamingo Dance Team this side of Spain.

Seriously though, my mom was and is a great mom. She always encouraged me to do different and creative things, and supported me in everything I did. Even things that probably didn’t merit support, like painting racing stripes on my dog, inventing an all-meat salad and starting that nudist colony at the bird sanctuary. I guess she realized we all have our own way, at least until the police arrive.

Oh yeah, I can’t forget. She possesses a wicked secret recipe for chocolate sauce, and is a magnificent brewer of Starbucks. We've had a tradition for a few years now which happens to be one of my favourite things in the whole world. Every Saturday morning when I’m home, we get the weekend papers, brew a big pot of Starbucks, whip-up some crêpes, and lounge about all morning, overstimulating ourselves with caffeine and the printed word. It's truly blissful. You’re welcome to join us, just stop in some morning pretending to be lost or ‘in the neighbourhood’ or whatever; we’re not picky.