The Hole in the Middle

The Hole in the Middle - By Kate Hilton





December 2011



Dear Friends,

It’s hard to believe that another Christmas season is upon us! It’s been an action-packed twelve months, and all four Whelan-Walkers are busy, healthy and happy. The year has just flown by, filled with great moments that we will treasure in our memory bank!

Little Scotty turned three in July and is talking a blue streak. He has strong opinions about everything, and we love to hear him expressing them. Current hobbies include Dora the Explorer, trucks of all shapes and sizes, music and most of all, playing with his big brother. Scotty is quite a favorite at his daycare and we are so grateful for the kind and loving attention of the teachers there. It truly is a wonderful place!

Jamie is seven this year, and is growing into such a big boy! Grade two has been an exciting challenge for all of us – can you believe that we are back doing homework??? Jamie loves soccer and hockey and just about every other sport as well. The only thing he hates is sitting still, except when it involves video games. We have a love-hate relationship with Jamie’s DS – he loves it and we hate it, LOL!

Jesse is really enjoying the entrepreneurial life since launching his own company last year. He’s making the world a better place, using cutting-edge environmental technologies in commercial and residential design projects. He loves the freedom of being his own boss and being able to choose projects that excite him – he assures me that it’s worth the additional stress!

As for me, it’s hard to believe that I’ve been running the communications department at “The Baxter” for seven years now! It’s so rewarding to be part of an institution that does so much good, and I’m very fortunate to have fabulous colleagues. In other news, Jesse and I celebrated our eighth anniversary this spring with a decadent getaway to Las Vegas. And with all this activity in our lives, I’m really enjoying being able to carve out some time every week for yoga (thanks, Mom!).

At this time of the year, we feel so fortunate for the health of our families, who provide so much support to us and are so devoted to our kids. We look forward to seeing all of you soon, but in the meantime, have a wonderful holiday season!

With lots of love from the Whelan-Walker clan,



Sophie, Jesse, Jamie and Scotty





PROLOGUE: AUGUST 20, 1995

The bathroom stall is small and tight. A little wooden box. How fitting, I think.

It is a strange place for a come-to-Jesus moment, but if this year has proven anything to me, it’s that life is more often absurdist than transcendent. I’ll have to take my epiphanies where they find me.

How long have I dreamed of losing myself in love, of burning with the sweet anguish of being possessed by another? Losing oneself is obviously more romantic in the abstract, at least for me. Maybe the poets have been lying about this all along; maybe it is better to have never loved at all. Or could it be that I don’t have the romantic constitution to survive in the flames? Not everyone belongs at the extreme ends of the spectrum. Some of us are better suited to the middle.

And whatever the diagnosis, there are friends waiting for me outside – friends who have gone to astonishing lengths to save me from feeling awful on my birthday. I’m not going to disappoint them by spending the night crying in the bathroom. I was raised better than that.

Enough now, I think. It’s time to grow up.