Moments D98: Wake up call

I typically turn my phone to vibrate over night, but for some reason I forgot last night. Due to this change in my typical behaviour, this morning I was awakened by a text message. I remember laying in the still of the morning, wondering who on earth was texting me so early. I wanted to ignore it and sleep through to my alarm, but a brief moment later I found myself grasping my phone checking out the words sent to me.

My wake up call was not just words. It also included a picture of a beautiful sunrise. The words were simple, and beautiful and very inspiring to my soul. They warmed my heart and brought a smile to my sleep-filled face. What a perfect way to start the morning.

Thank YOU my dear friend, for finding yourself again. For fighting for yourself again. For believing in yourself again. May you never be alone in your darkness again.

Moments shared.

Moments with friends.

Moments D97: Bruises & Burritos

Today was a busy productive day, but, on a personal level, it was challenging for me as I struggled to find my balance most of the day. If you know me, you know I am a worrier and I try to be aware of scenarios that I may find myself in, on any given day, before said scenarios happen. I call it planning. Others call it excessive worrying or caring too much.

With the emotional bruises I received over the past little while, it has taken me a bit to bounce back. I am extremely fortunate to be surrounded by such support, love and positive energy. I’ve had many reach out to me to reassure me. I am thankful. I am taken aback by the energy. I am humbled to know that I have a voice and one that some want to hear. Thank you for your support and your positive light.

I know I can’t be all things to all people. But, I’m not going to lie - that frustrates me. I work hard every day to, at least, be something to everyone I connect with. I suppose this perspective on life only adds to the bruising!

So back to the point. Today’s moment is two fold: appreciation of those who love and support me. And BURRITOS! Yes, that’s right. End a bummer of a day with a food that I love. Why not right? So I’m going to give a little shout out to my favourite burrito place in the big smoke. CHINO LOCOS! If you have a chance to try them DO! Their burritos never fail to make me smile.

Moments of favourite foods.

Moments with dear friends.

Moments of appreciation & humbleness.

Moments D96: Husking

First - side-bar: I honestly didn’t even know if that was a word (husking as a verb), but it seems that it is. Bonus!

Today was a family BBQ. It was wonderful to catch up with everyone and enjoy the cooler, breezy July day. The fun moment of the day was watching my Dad implement a new process of husking the corn.

Let me back track….

My father is always keen on finding ways of becoming ever more efficient. (hmmm, I wonder where I get it from!) He reads self-help books, he will ask many questions of one more experienced or comfortable with things. And, he will also watch videos.

Not too long ago he received this video explaining how to husk a cob of corn without any silks remaining on the cob. (Those silks CAN be pesky!) Of course, it being corn season he had to attempt the new process.

Well, low and behold it works, and it works well. There were many smiles and compliments shared amoungst family members. It was like this little tribe finding a new jewel and everyone was admiring it. It made me smile!

Moments of new methods.
Moments of sharing.

Moments D95: Words of Advice

Today I spent the afternoon and evening with my brother and his family.  Filled with fun moments and laughter, the best moment was when my 8 year old nephew offered some solemn advice:  you can’t choke on cotton candy.
We had a giggle around the dinner table, but then we dug a little deeper into those words.  Possible or not?  In the end we all agreed that it is possible to choke on cotton candy.
What stands out for me is the way the thought process happened at the table.  The original words of advice were tossed out randomly and casually, but out was necessary to dig deeper on those words before just accepting then as fact.  If only this was more common practice out there in the world!  Bravo, my nephew, for taking the time to ask deeper questions.
Moments with family.
Moments to question.
Moments to laugh.

Moments D94: Grounded - Mea Culpa

It seems I have more readers of my blog than I am aware of.

I recognize the power of words and how things can quickly and easily spiral out of context and control. My apologies to any and all for words that may have been too sharp or self-centered. This is not the focus, nor the purpose of this blog. This blog is about finding a moment of light within every day. I realize, there will be times when light shone to me may be darkness to others. I will keep this in mind moving forward.

Know that today I appreciate the moment of grounding I have had. I have no issue with offering up a formal apology to those hurt by my words. We all have muddled moments and I apologize for mine.

Moments seeing new perspectives.

Moments of grounding.

Moments of genuine mea culpa.

Moments D93: Mom's Wish

Today it was calling for major thunderstorms to start early in the evening to last throughout the evening. Now, as much as I love storms, I had a baseball game at 6:45pm. My dear Mom knew this and about 5:30pm yesterday, just before I was to head out from work she sent me an instant message that simply said: ”No rain tonight”. We had a brief exchange and I was on my way to the field.

Amazingly the ominous storm clouds held their bounty. We played our full game and then the team went back to the sponsoring bar for food, drinks and great conversation. We sat on the patio. Again, the clouds held off their release. We were then charmed by a duet of live music. It wasn’t long before most of the team was singing alone.

So thanks Mom for whispering the words to the universe for me - for us. It was a great night of baseball, friends & fun.

Moments from Mom.

Moments D92: Smell the Rose

Today I had my dear colleague and friend stop by my office with a treat. I wasn’t really paying attention as I was up to my eyes with budgets and expenses and deep into the spreadsheet.

The next thing I know I have a pretty pink flower beneath my nose and he simply said “smell”. Without even looking over to him and the rose, I inhaled the sweet scent of his freshly picked wild rose. As he started to leave, I asked him to give me another moment with the rose.

I pushed away from my desk, grabbed his hand and the rose and deeply inhaled the honeyed-rose. As it tickled my nose, I looked at its perfectly pink petals and its yawning yellow stamen. Yes - a moment to pause and enjoy a simple creation.

Moments shared.

Moments D91: Fight for the Underdog

Today was an opportunity to dig deeper into a situation and fight the good fight for someone who wouldn’t have spoken up for themselves.

Did it make me feel good to know I helped? Yes, of course, but my apologies for the closeness of the words to the people I work with.

My point was simply this: When you have a chance to fight for someone who has been wronged: Step up to the plate. Do NOT remain silent for fear of rocking the boat.

Moments for the underdog.

Moments D90: Crescent Moon Lightening

This evening the skies filled with dark rain filled clouds. The sun broke through them for most of the evening allowing my volleyball team to play on the beach for 2 hours.

The clouds and sun fought for the entire time. Moments it was dark and foreboding. Moments the rays of sun were brilliant and breaking through the darkness. Moments the sun was highlighting some of the most beautiful clouds I’ve seen in some time.

This is what it looked like as I was leaving the beach this evening:



But today’s moment wasn’t this conglomeration of moments watching the clouds and sun battle it out for presence in the sky during my time on the beach.

The best moment was driving home after picking up dinner. It was just before 10pm. The sky was a gorgeous twilight blue. (This is my favourite colour of sky, that blue that is indigo, with a hint of purple and lit from within.) There was this perfect crescent moon in the Western sky. The sky to the West was perfectly clear. Not a cloud to be seen. Just to the South of the crescent moon was a big billowing white cloud. Within this pretty puffy cloud was a dance of lightening. It was frantic. It filled the cloud. It was the perfect combination of calm (the naked crescent moon) and chaos (the frantic lightening within the cloud) being displayed side-by-side.

It was a moment that made me pause.

It was a moment that made me consider those close to me that fear the storms I love so dearly to watch. I hope that one day, we can sit and enjoy a storm together. Without pain and fear filling the atmosphere. A day where only awe and joy exist for this fascinating dance of nature.

A small moment, but so much deeper beneath the surface. Ah yes, always digging deeper.

Moments D89: Mama Bear

Today’s moment was one of my “mama bear” moments.

If you don’t know what that “mama bear” moment is….it’s that moment where I can’t help but do what I can to take care of people. It’s where I go out of my way to support, feed, clothe someone.

Today, I did that for our baseball team….and it always feels good to offer up a serving of love (in this case in terms of entertainment and food!)

Unfortunately we lost our one game of the day today AND we missed out on the run differential to move into the semi-finals by 4 runs. Sadly, we didn’t know this right away and the team had to sit through another round of games before we would know we were moving on, or moving to the bar…..

So, in that hour and a bit….we lounged around behind one of the fields. Boring…sitting in the sun waiting. So I pulled out my volleyball and my frisbee. Frisbee was a hit! We played for quite some time before deciding we were hungry. With only 40 min left before we were to possibly play another game, there really wasn’t much time to go out and grab food. So, I pulled out my stash for the tournament. Cheese, chips and an apple. I managed to share quite a bit of my wares.

I do love to share.

Sadly - the wait, the snack, the entertainment was all for not…as we weren’t moving into the semis.

Okay - maybe not for not. We still enjoyed tossing the frisbee and eating cheese and chips together.

Moments of caring.

Moments of sharing.

Moments with new friends.

Moments D88.5: Mystery Volleyball Man

I couldn’t help myself. I needed to share another special moment from the weekend.

Yesterday between our 9am and our 10:30am game we had a block of about 30 mins to fill. I brought my volleyball with me in the hopes that I could pepper with someone while we were hanging about.

At first, I played with a couple of team mates, but it wasn’t long before they realized just how much work it was to keep the ball going in the right direction and chasing after those that weren’t perfectly passed. I think in a matter of 5-10 minutes I lost both team mates that were peppering with me to the bench.

Shortly before my team mates bailed on me, there was this young gentleman (who seemingly came out of nowhere) who asked one of my team mates if he could join in on the volleyball. (There were three of us playing at the time, he became the fourth.)

For me, it was obvious that he could play. He and I were digging up the others’ bad passes. When the other two sat down Mr. Mystery Volleyball Man and I kept peppering. We did this for another 20 minutes….right to the time where I was supposed to be out in the field again! I literally dropped my volleyball, thanked him for his time and picked up my baseball glove. Talk about a strange moment! (One that I had to share!)

For the record, I did find out that Jonathan was from Panama, here in Toronto studying English. He lives (and studies) in the area where we were playing ball.

How fortunate I was to have run into a good volleyball player, randomly, at a baseball tournament to help me pass the time in a way I love most.

Thank you universe.

Moments of synchronicity.

Moments D88: Slobber

First of all, I had a hard time with my title today. I started with “wet balls”….then it was “slimy balls” but in the end, I had to keep it out of the gutter (maybe it was just me?) with simply slobber.

So, today was the first day of our weekend baseball tournament. Today was a lot of fun with many magical and funny and new moments. For example, I met a lot of new great people….I managed a few fun plays (including a fantastic hit that brought in two winning runs!) and I even played some pool and volleyball during the day. BUT it wasn’t about the baseball, nor my team mates that made today so special (and that was a pretty tough bar to get beyond!).

Today’s best moment was a slobbery ball. Yes. It’s when I stopped (paused if you will) from the days activities and banter and really took note of things.

It was after our third and final game of the day. Our team was packing up while another team was warming up on the field. As I was walking back to the parking lot a foul ball popped over the fence and near the stands where a very large german shepherd was trotting about. For a german shepherd, he was quite huge - he stood nearly as tall as my hips. He quickly engulfed the softball with his mouth without any effort at all.

I was closest to the pooch at the time. I love dogs. I’m not afraid of dogs, but this beast…whoa. I carefully approached him and cajoled him into coming towards me and to give me the ball. He was more than happy to drop the ball, but I could tell he was hoping I would toss it for him! As I picked up the very wet, slobbery ball, he watched me intensely. I threw the ball back over the fence and watched as he slumped down to his haunches.

I took another moment or two to console the poor disappointed gent.

It was a moment of connection.

A moment of sharing.

A moment to pause and appreciate, yes even, a slobbery ball.

(And yes - please do have a laugh at me trying to find a decent PC version of a title for this moment!)

Moments D87: Learning & Reflecting

Recently a dear friend and I were discussing life and the process through which we, as individuals, experience life. The subject of change was prevalent in our discussion.

Change. Why is it so challenging for most? Isn’t that why we are here? To learn? To Grow? To evolve? How is it that we become complacent and comfortable with people and situations that aren’t really best for us? How is that acceptable?

Tough questions without easy answers. For me, that’s what life is all about IMHO. Learning, growing, evolving into better versions of self. No one said it was going to be easy, but it is necessary. It takes time. It takes analysis of self and time to reflect. In such a fast paced world, we lose the ability to take a step back and reflect without forcing that moment of reflection.

As I told my girlfriend - I will learn until the day my last breath escapes my lips. And I vow to make more time for myself to reflect upon myself and how comfortable I really am.

Moments of learning.

Moments of reflection.

Moments of GROWTH.

Moments D86: Find your voice

Today’s moment was about finding my voice. Sometimes I’m too sensitive to other people’s needs and emotions. Sometimes I allow my boundaries to be crossed without sharing how that makes me feel. So today, I found my voice. I said what I needed to say.

SO: Say what you mean and mean what you say. Don’t be mean when saying it.

Moments of being true.

Moments of finding YOUR truth.

Moments of finding your voice.

#moments #truth #voice #self

Moments D85: Kindness Repaid

Today’s moment is a silly, but simple one.

Today as I was driving into work the traffic was particularly slow. There was a gentleman trying to turn right into the flow of traffic and the two cars ahead of me didn’t let him in.

When the light turned red I wasn’t quite into his intersection, so I stayed back far enough to easily allow him room to make his turn. A simple act. But one that he didn’t immediately notice as the car in front of me was still blocking his turn. As the light changed, he looked my way and the surprise and happiness that spread to his face was more than obvious. hen, with a huge gesture of his arms over his head and a dramatic enunciation with his mouth he shouted “THANK YOU!” He beamed a smile over to me, waved vigorously once more and off he went.

It’s a silly moment, but it felt good that it was a moment of kindness repaid. I think we both felt good about that moment today!

Moments of kindness.

Moments D84: Dig Deeper

Sometimes you need a friend to push you beyond yourself. Sometimes you reach what you feel is your limit….perhaps physically, mentally or emotionally.

A true friend will tell you to dig deeper and gently push you beyond said limitation. A friend will get one more push up out of you. A friend will have you inspired to answer one more profound question (or contemplate it further). A friend will be there in your darkest time of need when emotions are awry. A real friend will stand behind you and not let you slip backwards as you struggle forward.

A friend that says “dig deeper” is a rarity. This is a friend who knows you better than anyone else around you. This is a friend that, without question, will be there for you in a pinch. I don’t know how I became fortunate enough to have a few near and dear to me. I celebrate each of them today.

Today I am happy to dig deeper. I appreciate each of my dearest friends for they bring me light, love and joy. I promise you this: I will dig deeper. Every day, no matter what I experience on this path of life. I will dig deeper.

Moments D83: Just say it

Today I was given a bunch of words from a friend that were completely unexpected or provoked.

They were so kind. So heartfelt and warm. They, quite simply, made my day.

So, today’s moment: just say it. Tell someone how much you appreciate them; how much you respect them. Tell them how much you love them or how much they mean to you. Tell them how caring or brilliant they are.

Let them know, TODAY how much light they bring to you.

Moments: Share the light.

Moments D82; Designs on Toes

Today’s moment is a wee silly one, but it brought me many smiles.

Today I treated myself to a pedicure. There is this place very close to home that I’ve been a bunch of times….they’ve taken good care of me.

I decided to be a little racy with my chosen toe colour. I picked a bright neon pink. It’s summer, I’ve been on the beach a lot with a Victoria’s Secret bright pink bag, so I figured why not match my toes to my bag! Ha. Yes, sometimes I can be a girlie-girl!

But, what brought my moment to me? It came when I was asked if I wanted a design on my toe. Of course I did! But, I didn’t want to creatively direct the design. So I said - be creative - do whatever you’d like to do. And this is what I ended up with.

Sometimes, it’s just perfect.

Moments to smile. Moments where you feel special. Moments of luxury.

Moments D81: Burnt Feet

First, I’m sure you are wondering how burnt feet could possibly be today’s moment. And secondly, you are likely wondering how I managed to burn my feet!

First things first: Try playing beach volleyball at high noon on a hot hot day. The sand gets hot. Typically I have insensitive feet. Today the sand was unbearably hot. And yet, I continued to play beach volleyball…to a point where burying my feet into the sand didn’t help. (In fact, it made it worse as the hot sand on top of my feet managed to burn the top of my feet too. So now, as I sit and write this out, both the bottoms of my feet and the tops are burnt and tender! HA.

Secondly - this becomes today’s moment for two reasons. First it reminds me of my childhood when I would play basketball in the driveway barefoot. I can’t even tell you the number of times I burnt the bottoms of my feet. It’s not for realizing they were burning, but being stubborn that I didn’t want to stop playing and put on shoes. Yes…some things never change.

The second reason is because for the last two hours at the beach I just sat back and watched the others. I enjoyed sitting under the umbrella, eating and drinking while watching the others play in their sand socks. (Mental note to self, pick up sand socks next week!) What a treat it was.

Moments of memories.

Moments of relaxation.

Moments D80: Long Lost Friends

Today I left work early (I had lieu time to burn) to meet up with a friend I haven’t seen in far too long. He’s been finishing off his masters. I’ve had a tumultuous 6 months. Life sometimes gets in the way, but our friendship continues to thrive as we always take time to check in on one another despite life’s challenges.

Today’s awesome moment —> finally catching up with my long lost friend. When we finally embraced and had a giggle. Then we shared a couple of drinks and a LOT of stories. It is this moment that brought me the most joy today. And one I will not soon forget.

Moments of friendship.

Moments D79: Sunsets

Today was a bit of a crazy day for me. Busy at work, dealing with a bit of drama with friends, another friend having a terribly rough day and then closing out the day with a game of baseball.

Beyond it all. Beyond the excitement. Beyond the emotion. Beyond the thoughts and worries and calculations. Beyond the need to perform well and win. Beyond was the most beautiful sunset I’ve seen yet this summer.

Around 8:45pm or so, the sky filled with hues of deep pink, fire red and hot oranges. The buildings in the East skyline were ablaze in orange/red light. The colour was all enveloping. When changing over from the top to the bottom of the inning it was hard to pay attention to my team mates. I was in awe of the sky and colours enfolding me into their calm.

It’s a picture burned in my mind, as sadly, I didn’t have a camera with me.

So today’s moment to smile: Sunsets. They cost nothing to appreciate. They are moments that can bring peace within. AND they can be shared across distance with others, no matter where they are.

Stop and smile to the sunset.

#moments #sunset #peace #friends

Moments D78; Ice Cubes

I have been dealing with a stress rash on and off for nearly two years now. While my ND & I had it under control with supplements over the past 6-8 months, we’ve started to ween me off of certain supplements.

Over the past week my rash has revisited me. It might be the heat, it might be the stress I’ve been feeling over a couple of friend issues. Regardless it’s back.

But today’s moment isn’t about the rash itself, but setting up the scene for why ice cubes are today’s moment. Today I used an ice cube to deaden the fire and itch of said rash…..and it worked. That something so simple can bring so much relief after all the salves and creams that I’ve tried is pretty incredible.

So - celebrate your ice cubes. They are amazing little things. Cool your drinks, cool your fire.

Moments of relief.

Moments D77; Biking through the leaves

On my slow drive into work today there was a cyclist beside me most of the way. Every now and then I’d glance over just to be sure she had enough space.

The moment that made me smile today was when she rode through a low laying set of tree branches & leaves. She slowed and reached up to run her fingers through the leaves. This is something I would do. Something that I have done. It’s like taking a moment to appreciate the nature literally in your face.

A moment to appreciate nature.

Moments D76; Where is the line?

Today’s moment comes from a revelation. A moment of clarity if you will. A moment where a friend of a friend reached out and stated his opinion on a current situation of mine. He had a point, but I brushed it off. Instead of letting it go, he pushed the concept and his idea back in front of me. Dead centre where I could see it.

In fact, he gave me a lot of fodder to consider. Not only with this high tension scenario, but with life in general. He asks (and continued to ask) where is the line? Why is it that some of us willing to do so much for others and never take the time to do for ourselves? Find someone who will take and take, and suddenly you have a perfectly co-dependant relationship!

His two points on the where the line is:

1. Using force to make a point is NEVER okay. Not even if it’s just grabbing someone by the shoulders an turning them to you or sitting them down so that they will pay attention/talk to you.

2. We are more trusting with our bodies and emotions than we are with our assets. This sounds strange, but think about it. His example perfectly explains it. His example is this: You might trust someone so much that you trust them with you (emotionally or physically (sex/love)) but you would never hand out your bank account information to them.

So today’s moment is about reflection; about finding your boundaries and setting them up. Being strong and proud of them. To never be ashamed of your boundaries. There is always someone out there that will respect and appreciate your boundaries. I thank the universe for sharing such insights with me. I am thankful for today’s moment of reflection and insight.

Moments D75; New Friends, Hitting & Poutine

Day two of the tournament was a bit heartbreaking in terms of moving into playoffs. But just because we weren’t winning our games today didn’t mean that we weren’t having fun.

I’ve met some pretty incredible people this weekend and I love hearing new perspectives and sharing stories. From highly personal conversations about breakups to team sharing on skills and volleyball play tips. That’s one great overview moment.

Another was, that I was given a chance to hit in a couple of games. As a setter, hitting is rare. Everyone wants to hit. It’s the glory of beating the block, or rolling it into an open area and winning a point. Not only did I get a chance to hit, I hit, and I hit well. I didn’t realize it at the time, but one of our teammates was taking pictures during a game I hit. Some of those images are fantastic. Now, not only do I have my memory of that moment to bring a smile, but I have a photo too! (love my teammates!)

And one final moment to share. I gave in and had a BIG helping of poutine. So bad and yet so good. I figured: I had worked hard all weekend. I MUST have worked away those calories already - right?

Moments of conversation.

Moments of learning.

Moments of glory.

Moments of deliciousness!

Moments D74; Blocking

This weekend is all about volleyball. Well, okay, maybe that isn’t entirely true, after all it’s also about my teammates and enjoying the outdoors. But primarily the focus is enjoying some great beach volleyball.

Today was the start of our 6’s Intermediate tournament. It started off a bit dreary (a bit of drama and a storm passing through) and our day was delayed by nearly 3 hours. Still that didn’t sully our team spirit.

Once the clouds departed we were left with a beautiful sunny (albeit it windy) day to play our tournament. It was a fantastic day filled with 12 games filled with many moments and much laughter But today’s moment is one that may be seen as a bit selfish, for it was MY moment and it brought me much joy! And in fact I had two such moments today. I had two big blocks today!

Standing at a mere 5’4” (and a bit) I can barely reach the top of a volleyball net which is set up at 8’. That, dear friends, is just the top of the net. In order to do a block, one needs to get higher than that 8’ mark to be able to your hands in the way of a spike coming over the net. A beach volleyball is ~25” around. All together that means that someone my height would need to a vertical of at least 4 feet (57” in fact) to meet contact with the ball.

I share these details with you only to give enough information to you to understand why, for me, blocking is so challenging and how incredible it is that I managed to “stuff” another player. Now I’m not saying that the net was perfectly set to this height, nor the ball perfectly inflated but it does paint the picture well….

So the best moment - was against a particularly challenging team. They were winning and we were struggling to keep them from collecting points from us. They had many good hitters and we were not doing well with returning them.

As a setter, I’m in the front line a lot and I don’t do a lot of blocking because it is difficult to go up and get back down in time to be set for the pass off of a spike. But I was tired of them hitting hard and us not receiving, so I gave it a shot. I went up for the block and low and behold, I stuffed the 6’ something guy trying to kill the ball over to us. I think we were both shocked! What a glorious moment that was, to know that I had overcome a height restriction and managed to get enough of my hands on his hit to stop it dead. It was pretty amazing.

The second block, was later in the day and it was on the last rally point of the game. THAT is how you end a game. IN YOUR FACE YOU AREN’T GETTING THAT POINT!! Ha!

All in good fun of course.

Moments of shocked amazement.

Moments of pride.

Moments that rally a team.

Moments D73; Good Samaritans

Today’s moment celebrates good samaritans as I was fortunate to have one cross my path today. (Or in this case, NOT cross my path)

As I was walking to pickup lunch I crossed a busy street via a pedestrian crosswalk. This typically is an easy thing to do and without incident, but today there was a big school bus parked and blocking my view of the traffic heading East-bound. A cab driver heading West-bound stopped for the cross-walk, but as I started across the street it was apparent that the van barreling East wasn’t going to stop for the crosswalk. The cab driver noticed this and honked his horn at me…and while I did see the van and waited for him to pass without any scares, it was really quite lovely for the cab driver to have taken the time and effort to communicate with me.

As I reached the other side of the street I turned and gave him a friendly wave. He waved back and hopefully he felt as good about his actions as I did.

Yes - good samaritans still exist. They aren’t always to be found and they seem rare these days, but TODAY I celebrate them.

Moments of thinking about others. We should all take a moment to think about what we could do for another out of the goodness of our heart.

Moments D72; Leaning

Today’s moment comes out of a darker place than is normal for me. Even though it was actually a good day in the end, it started with insights that I was not okay with.

As I’ve gone through many changes in the last 8 months and I’ve also had to deal with some interesting (and challenging) relationships along the way. Some new, some old. As I evolve, I wonder if and when I may need to shed more of my past life. Today, after the proverbial cat was “out of the bag” with a friend of mind, I realized I was angry. More angry than I thought I was. I wondered if I was out of line with this reaction…..

I’ve been fighting to reconcile emotions and thoughts on this particular situation for some time now. I was worried that I may be missing pieces that would clear the picture. I needed a third (and fourth) party perspective. And so, I leaned. I leaned on two incredible people in my life. One who has been a light in my life (during my darkest days) and another who brings me new and interesting perspectives in life that I find enlightening.

I wanted to know their perspective on this raging scenario. What did they see? How would they feel? Interestingly they were both on the same page. And while it brought me comfort, it also brought sadness.

But this entry isn’t about the dark side of this tale. This entry is about the moment when you lean on someone and they are there for you. They may point out your missteps but support you as you self-correct. It’s that special moment when you reach out to someone and they are there.

It is just another reason why surrounding yourself with the right souls is so very important. We all have moments where we need to lean. It’s not always easy to ask for help, but when you do and when someone is there to assist, that is one of the best moments one could ever ask for!

Moments D71; SURPRISE!

I love surprises. I really love surprises. Any kind of surprise really. Big, small, silly. A note in the mail from a friend, flowers dropped off, even some of the crazy gifts that my real estate agent likes to leave for me.

But - I’m not easy to surprise. It takes some effort. But when it happens….when that magical moment happens when I am truly surprised, there is such joy and happiness flowing through me. Yes….I love surprises.

Today I was surprised in one of the best ways. Let me tell you the story.

I haven’t seen two of my dearest friends (a couple - D&N) in months. It’s not because I don’t want to, but I’ve been incredibly busy with my upturned life and I know they have been too. Yesterday I was off for an extra long weekend. I decided to give one of them (N) a call as I knew he would be home setting up his new consulting business. I thought maybe, if I was lucky, we could do lunch.

Sadly, (N) already had plans.

Instead, we planned on connecting for lunch today. I was more than happy to take my hour lunch (for the first time in weeks!) to catch up with my dear friend.

When (N) arrived at 1pm, I was called by reception to meet him there. I left my office, excited but unaware of the surprise that was waiting for me. As the doors to the retail store opened I saw not only one of my dear friends, but BOTH of them. (D&N), two of my dearest friends were standing there with big ‘ol smiles on their faces. I let out a squeal and yelled from the doorway (sorry to any of our patrons!) about how surprised and happy I was to see (D)….I went running right to (D) to give him a huge hug….and then back to (N) to give him his hug. Oh my. That was a lovely surprise!

Of course lunch was awesome too. It is always a pleasure to catch up with my friends. But today, I celebrate the element of surprise and the joy it brings.

Moments of surprise & joy.

Moments D70; Thank you

Today I spent a good part of my morning writing out thank you cards. Over the long weekend I was lucky enough to have shared some special moments with new people. Gracious people who opened their homes to me and not only shared a place to sleep and a delicious meal or two, people who brought me much joy, laughter and love.

I am thankful to have friends in my life that can share their friends and family with me. I am thankful to have been included in such a wonderful weekend of new experiences and conversations.

I am thankful for much and today I stop and celebrate that.

Moments D69; New Beginnings

I know the title may sound a bit redundant. Perhaps it is. But, there are times when new beginnings are necessary.

These are moments when lives change, moments when people see things differently and choose a different path.

Today I celebrate the moment of new beginnings. A beginning where one can see the world around them in a new light. Where fear does not override the joy. Where the light banishes the darkness and illuminates a path forward.

Moments D68; Proud Canadian

Yes, that’s right, I am CANADIAN and proudly so. I spent an incredibly three days and two nights with my bestest friends and then, I topped off the weekend with the most Canadian thing you can do by celebrating Canadian musicians at a concert featuring the Tragically Hip, Death Cab for Cutie, The New Pornographers, Dispatch and the Rural Alberta Advantage.

It was an amazing experience even though we ran late and missed most of the opening bands. We managed to drink some beer, dance and sing along with some of our favourite songs from the hip, and that, is something that is just so darn Canadian I can’t even explain it.

And hey, if anyone has sights on a medium ladies t-shirt from the event, please let me know. I missed out on picking one up - they were plumb sold out! I can’t find it online at all. Maybe those t’s will show up later. (My fingers are crossed!)

A Canadian moment. A sea of red and white concert goers. An incredible, moment to share.

Moments D67; Para-Sailing

Today was an incredible day at the cottage. Too much sun. Not enough swimming, lots of football and alcohol to go around….but the moment to be shared? The moment where at sunset we all watched a parasailer worked his (or her) way back and forth across the setting sun sky. It was such a magical moment. With the oranges behind the canopy of the sail. While I didn’t manage to get multiple good pictures of the moment, I did get one. Here it is:

Yes a beautiful moment to share.