Category Archives: family

Hitting the right notes

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Even through the most troubling of times there is something inherently soothing about music.  The dulcet tones relieve the pressure that reality compounds and the rhythm can make the most difficult situations bearable.

I love most types of music but the sounds I find most comforting are the harmonic blends of The Tenors. The uplifting tones of their four part harmony bathe me in a warm glow and bring me out of the darkness.  The joy they find in singing allows me a moment to pause and reflect on the beauty in the world.

The timbre in their notes carries me to a place of serenity and I am embraced by a feeling of peace.  It amazes me how quickly the stress is assuaged and washed over by a wave of calm by simply allowing the pacifying effect of the notes to soothe my soul.

 Tenors

(image courtesy of: tenorsmusic.com)

Recently, these four talented individuals have collaborated on a song with a good friend of mine, Kenny Munshaw, to raise money for the Big Brothers / Big Sisters organization.  The song is called “I Thank You” and is beautifully written by a genuinely gifted group of people and performed by The Tenors and Laura Kaeppeler.

If you haven’t yet listened to these fellows, I urge you to download their new single and support a great organization.  And I’m sure along the way you will fall in love with their voices and their charming and sincere personalities as much as I did.

The Silver Lining – 100 Word Challenge

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“What will Heaven be like?”  Her youthful eyes looked to him for answers.

His breathing tubes got in the way when he tried to speak to her. “You know when you see a really dark rain cloud and most of it is black?”

She nodded her agreement.

“Well, Heaven will be like those glorious slices of silver light that radiate around the cloud. Those little pieces of light give everyone hope for something better.”

She curled up under her Grandfather’s arm and held him as closed his eyes. She knew he was on his way to find that silver light.

clouds 008

Written for the 100-Word Challenge over at Julia’s Place.  Photo credit is all my own.

What I learned about giving thanks

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This weekend is Thanksgiving for me and my fellow Canadians.  I have enjoyed many family celebrations and each year that we are able to get together for a family gathering, we are all thankful for those moments and for the people in our lives.  This year I was given a truly different perspective on what it means to be genuinely thankful.

Each October the family I work for invites their extended family to the lodge for Thanksgiving.  And each year, one of the older couples ventures North for the holiday with their foster children.  This year there are five of them.  Over the last fifteen years, a myriad of young faces have come and gone through the lodge but the expression on each of those faces, I’m sure, is the same.  It is the look of hope.  The joy and sense of togetherness they feel, on this weekend in particular, hopefully renews their faith in family.

There have been so many stories told of what these poor children have endured throughout their young lives.  These foster children are survivors of terrible atrocities that no human, much less a child, should ever have to experience.  With the love of their foster parents, these children are given a chance to, not only succeed but, be part of a family tradition that they may never have experienced in their troubled past.

Selfishly throughout my life I have silently thanked God for the bounty we are about to receive, having never given any thought to what I really should be thankful for but my perspective has been altered.  This Thanksgiving I am thankful for people like Marilyn and Fred – people who open their homes and their hearts to give a child a second chance for a life full of love and family.

This will be one of my most memorable Thanksgiving weekends and I look forward to seeing that same look of hope on some new faces next year.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

All for one and one for all

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Working in a team environment every day should make you realize that you are only as good as the team you have surrounding you.  Being in a leadership role, no matter how confident you are, will only take you so far without acknowledging the many people who follow your lead and give their all for that team.

I am fortunate to work with a great group of people.  Their true dedication to performing their jobs to the best of their ability makes my job that much easier.  Sure we all have days that we would prefer to be anywhere else but the struggles we face, we face together.  And that common bond makes us that much stronger of a team.

We face the hardships together, we jump in where we are needed and we all seem to strive for the same goal.  Those things alone would be enough of a recipe for success but we are fortunate to enjoy a sense of camaraderie along the way and infuses our day with laughter and a true sense of friendship.  Some days are more of a struggle than others to keep our heads above water and come out at the end of the day with a smile on our faces but somehow we bounce back.

I salute my team members – each and every one of them.   Your true dedication through a crazy hospitality season is something to be admired and you make it easy for me to come to work every day.

I hope that everyone reading this takes the time to thank the people who contribute to the success of their daily life, whether it be co-workers, friends or family.  A team is  team regardless of its inception.  Take the time to thank the people who live, support or work with you and make sure that their efforts do not go unrecognized.   It is the combination of the team effort that measures the height of the level of success.

White rabbits and birthday wishes

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It is the first day of the month and, like every beginning of the month, the first words uttered in my waking moments were “white rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit”. I’m certainly not a superstitious person but this string of language is a long-standing family tradition.  My great cousin Agnes, a delightful lady with a thick Scottish brogue, introduced me to this tradition when I was still in single digits.  She was in her 80’s and she will be an influence in my life that I will never forget.

white rabbits

The idiom is meant to bring luck for the remaining days of the month but reciting that phrase gives me pause to remember cousin Agnes and the other family members and friends who are no longer with me.  When my dad was still with us, my phone would ring in the wee hours on the first of the month and, before even saying hello, we would say our white rabbits on the phone together.  Call display eventually helped to avoid the confusion of people on the other end of the phone if they happened to call before my dad. He was a very early riser and, as unlikely as that was, it happened once or twice and left a few bewildered callers wondering why I was shouting about albino bunnies.

Those simple words this morning were more important because today would have been my dad’s 77th birthday.  Saying those words on the first of this month was like my phone call to Heaven and I could hear his voice in my head saying them back to me at the same time. Though the distance that separates us is immeasurable, he is still never far from my heart.

In those brief moments when darkness still envelops the morning I find a sense of peace in those words.  Those two words, repeated three times in the haze of my waking moments, weave new threads into the blanket of my history.  That phrase warms my heart with memories of people and places that have been etched into my past.  That simple string of words uttered three times in a row will be with me paving the way into my future.

May the next thirty-one days be filled with good things for all of us.

Happy birthday Dad.  xo

To my mom – Trifextra Challenge

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Your strength and tenacity plagues yet amazes me.  You defy the odds of modern medicine and diagnosis.  Despite expectation you continue to thrive and live to see another day.  The gates will wait.

~

Written for the weekend Trifecta Challenge and dedicated to my mom who is in failing health, but continues to fight with every ounce of her determination.

The challenge is this:  Last weekend we gave you a super prescriptive prompt.  We also promised you we’d ease up this week.  As such, this weekend we are asking for a thirty-three word free-write.  Any topic, any style–just give us your best thirty three.

The Commish is back in the house

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I am a Canadian who admittedly can’t watch the CFL although I am a football fanatic.  The culmination of my love of football was derived from years of watching the NFL.  My parents were Hamilton Ti-Cat fans, but I was always drawn to American Football and my love of the rules of the National Football League.

Hail Mary has much meaning for me, although I am not a religious person.  The tension on the field, the true grit of play and the excitement of the game has a hold on me that I have not yet been able to explain.  And I will vehemently negate any arguments that I watch the game for the tight pants.  I know the rules.  I know the game.  And during the NFL season, I eat, sleep and breathe football.

football

Once the season begins I yearn for Sundays.  If I am not working, I am comfortably ensconced in my living room watching the pre-game shows until the 1:00 kick off.  I can spend 10 hours in my living room yelling obscenities at my 46″ monitor and loving every second of the game. (I’m sure there are meetings for this!)

My love of the sport may have morphed into a slight obsession.  I took over a football pool about 10 years ago that had 15 participants.  Last year we topped the participation with 65 people at $250.00 each for the entry fee.  It was a busy season but time that I truly enjoyed spending creating spreadsheets and announcing the winners of each week.  Having 65 people picking 13 to 16 games a week is like having a second job, but one I would not give up.  My nickname during the football season is “The Commish” and it is a moniker I hold onto with great pride.

I have just sent my first email of the year to round up people to participate in the 2013 / 2014 football pool and I feel like a kid waiting to go to Disneyland.  The spreadsheets are set for another year and pre-season is around the corner.  The Chargers roster is pumped and ready to do me proud this year.  My jerseys are hanging in my closet and I eagerly anticipate the kick-off to the Hall of Fame Game on August 4th.

I am about to put the laptop to bed and watch The Replacements.  Although Keanu Reeves is not the best actor in the world, it is one of my favorite football movies and I need to get back into “Commish-mode”.  It’s 4th and 1 on the 1 yard line and I’m about to take the snap.  Hut, hut.

Happy Father’s Day – a message to Heaven

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My dad passed away over seven years ago.  I miss his smile, I miss his laugh and I miss the good times we used to have.  This is a poem I wrote when they dedicated a freshly planted tree and and a plaque to him in our new community park after his passing.  Happy Father’s Day to my dad and to all the dads out there.  I hope you are able to create memories with your kids that will last a lifetime.

new-52

(my dad)

~

We give these gifts of nature in your name,

To forever keep you near.

To take root in a place you kept close to your heart,

And represent the things you hold dear.

Your rock will remind us to always be strong,

And to remain solid in the lives we love.

And follow in the examples you gave us in life,

As you look on us from above.

Your tree will remind us to accept the changes,

Of seasons that come and go.

As the tree becomes bare at times in our life,

New leaves will blossom in time to show.

That nature is beautiful and life has a season,

but all things do come to an end.

And with each change and leaf that is lost,

Family and friendships help mend.

Branches sway in the winds of time,

And your whispers will be heard in the breeze.

Your memory lives on in the nature around us,

The air, the rocks, the trees.

True friendship – Trifextra Challenge

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Her birth was nothing short of miraculous and she survived her first eight weeks in a landfill, left for dead.  The rescue team that found her nourished her back to health and placed her in the system for adoption.  Once I saw those big brown eyes I knew she would be, not only my dog but, my four-legged child and my best friend.

Callaway - 1st day

Written for the weekend Trifextra Challenge: On to the prompt.  This weekend we’re revisiting an early Trifextra, our second ever.  The challenge is to write a complete story in only three sentences.  Good luck!

Stairway to Heaven – Trifextra challenge

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“They said if I got closer to God, I would feel her with me.  I don’t feel her.”

She leaned in closer, “You don’t have to climb this high, she’s always with you.”

~

Inspired by this week’s Trifextra challenge:

For this weekend’s prompt we’re asking for exactly 33 words inspired by the following picture.  Good luck!