Here’s those sun pics again. Sometimes music says things I cannot say…simply because I do not always have the words.
Chasing the sun.
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Category: Be The Best.
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Young Tom, Old Tom and ‘tom’orrow.
During the recent 2010 British Open Golf Championship at historic St. Andrews, a story was told of Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris.
Both were multiple time winners of the Championship and both have amazing stories.
At the height of the golfing season it seems theirs is a fitting story tonight.
Old Tom designed or had a hand in designing 75 courses and is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. He won the Championship in 1861, 62, 64 and 67.
Old Tom had a son who was equally as prestigious. Young Tom Morris won the Championship in 1868, 69, 70 and 72 and was destined for greatness.
Why am I telling you this story?
You see Young Tom had a wife and child who very tragically both died during childbirth complications. Young Tom, aged 24, died just a few months later in 1875 from an unknown cause, but most people blamed it on a broken heart. Old Tom continued forward until his passing in 1908 some 33 years later.
The TV broadcast of the Championship included a re-enactment of Old Tom visiting his son’s grave and sharing some words with Young Tom who had died so young and at the very beginning steps of his adult journey.
Paraphrased, he stated, “Son, they say that you died of a broken heart. Only I know that is impossible.”
He was inferring that his own heart was broken. His son simply could not have died from a broken heart otherwise he would have suffered the same fate.
Old Tom, I sorta know how you feel. With broken hearts we carry on.
That is how Old Tom honoured his son, and that’s how I will honour mine…and I know so many of you feel the same.
I LOVE this quote from Old Tom Morris.
“For true success, it matters what our goals are. And it matters how we go about attaining them. The means are as important as the ends. How we get there is as important as where we go.”
I think if he was living today, Old Tom just might add…Be The Best!
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The 7:45am ‘Brunch’.
Brunch is served…at 7:45am.
Yes, I know to qualify as ‘brunch’ the meal must be served after 10am. How do I know this? Cause I lernt it on the interweb…! Yes, according to the always accurate Wikipedia site, a meal consumed before 10am cannot be considered brunch.
Wow. This throws my whole family history into a jeopardy. It could be because of the Mennonite heritage of milking the cows (I’ve never milked a cow but I’ve gathered a lot of eggs and caught a lot of chickens in my day…) and doing chores before breakfast or simply that I tend to be a ‘morning person’, ‘brunch’ has been consumed many many times before 10am in this household. As the Chief Brunch Maker in this family and for all those who believe brunch can be eaten before 10am, I may add an addendum to that Wikipedia site…
In any event, Sunday breakfast/brunch was a big deal in our house. We not only had a big breakfast that got bigger as Max and Chris got older, but it was a family moment as well. We usually had our weekly ‘family meeting’ post brunch and then as they got older and schedules more difficult, the family meeting happened after Sunday dinner. It was a few moments in the week to discuss schedules, coordinate plans and discuss things.
Ingrid, Max and I have been talking weekly and coordinating our lives in the past few months, but I haven’t made a real solid Sunday brunch since March 25. But I did today. The reason it was so early (aside from personality/culture ‘issues’ as indicated above) was that Max had to head to the pool for Life-guarding duty. Ingrid, sensibly enough, is still sleeping.
I’ll cook her a more traditional brunch served between 10am and 1pm.
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Technorati code: VMYVTKGYDZYV
On a recent Okanagan jaunt, Ingrid and I spent a few days with our good friends Mark and Vickie.
From joining us at the hospital on that life changing evening of March 25, Mark and Vickie have been beside us on every step of this journey. Words will never be enough to express our ongoing gratitude for our friendship.
And as a broader message, we continue to feel our larger family of support even now. Of course summer brings a different ‘vibe’ as people (including us!) go on vacations and take in the beauty of BC and beyond and recharge the batteries. But we still feel the support as we connect at lacrosse games, summer bbq’s, on-line, and even little things like seeing the Blog stats let’s me know that people are still connecting with us and it is appreciated!
But back to wakeboards and waterskiis…
What would summer in BC be like without some sort of water activity? In the video below I want you to see a few things. Of course, there is just the summer fun of getting out there, but there’s a lot more going on. Eric is learning the sport of wakeboarding. He was attempting 360’s which are doing a full rotation in the air. He wipes out. Then tries again. Then wipes out. Then tries again. What was cool about this (besides the wipeout footage!!) was his discussions with his Dad after getting back into the boat. ‘I could try this.’ ‘I could try that.’ ‘I’m going to get some lessons.’ One thing he didn’t say was ‘I quit’. ‘I’m not doing that again’, or whatever.
You’ll also see Emily rockin along on her waterskiis. She’s zooming over the wake like it’s soft butter. She’s got a lot of drive and determination and it was cool to see her handle a long ski session with the poise of a pro.
The last thing I want you to notice is at the end of the video. Eric takes a big jump and lands it after some great air time. I’ve slowed the vid so you can see the grin on his face as he lands the jump and feels the accomplishment of learning something new. As for the 360? He’ll get there. Eric and Emily have the Be The Best attitude, so it’s just a matter of hard work and practice!
PS: To see any video larger, click on the button in lower right corner of vid (the one with 4 arrows) and you can watch in full screen. This video is also shot in HD (high def). Click on button that says 360p with an ^. You can then adjust to 720p for HD action. (Hey listen…I taught my 70 something year old mom to program her PVR this week. If she can learn that, you can do this…! 🙂 Later)
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Bikin’ and Bloggin’
If you ever have the chance to get up to Siverstar Mountain in Vernon (British Columbia’s Interior about 4 hours from Vancouver)….JUST DO IT.
Whether it’s winter or summer, we’ve had some great times up there and most importantly, fantastic memories.
Yesterday I went biking on Silverstar with my Dad. You can go pretty hard core biking up there in summer. Shin guards, full face helmets, etc etc, but you can also choose gentler rides down the mountain after being whisked to the top via the chair lift. We went for the more mellow routes, but with some mountain construction work going on some of the paths were re-routed to more challenging pathways. Anyhoo….my Dad was rockin it at 79. No problem. Pretty cool to watch him go and pretty cool to be with him.
Here’s a few video highlights of the adventure. The point of this whole thing? Take every opportunity to have an adventure and make a memory.
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Poem Night
I introduced you to my sister Grace Wulff and the work of New Hope previously in this blog space.
Their summer newsletter has just been released and Grace gave me a copy tonight which included a poem she wrote about Chris a short time ago. Here it is. Thanks Grace.
Christian
I saw a leaf fall.
I could not do anything but
watch it descend.
And it was gone from my sight.
It is spring.
How can this be?
The leaf was bright yellow
full of life, I thought.
But it dropped to the ground.
Christian, you are too young to die.
I am so sad by your passing
from our life to the next.
And yet the leaf gives life still.
It will nourish the soil, yes, the soul.
And bring gifts for us all.
Your death is not in vain.
– Grace Wulff
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Be The Best…Osprey Style
I’d like to spend more time out in nature than I do, but when I can see wildlife in action I love it.
I recently had a chance to see an Osprey (and no not at a Zoo…this was the real thing!) in action.
What amazing birds. With a wingspan over 1 metre, they are sometimes called fish hawks as they circle the water looking for their dinner.
Ospreys are built to fish, but even with that they sometimes miss.
This picture shows the spilt second after an arial strike and in this case the bird did not leave with dinner as it did the day before. But I’m sure it will learn a few things and be back again. That’s Be The Best…Osprey style.
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Mandela Day
Last week (July 18 to be exact) marked Nelson Mandela day.
You’ve seen a number of references to him in recent months as I am amazed at this man’s ability to move beyond any reasons he had to be angry or bitter or hard-done-by and moved forward in a continued spirit of reconciliation and forgiveness.
If you want a fuller understanding of who Mandela was and is, I found this ‘hero file’ site very informative.
It contains a quote from Mandela’s book that I have yet to read, but will add it to my list.
I love this quote. (as per http://www.moreorless.au.com/heroes/mandela.html)
Mandela’s autobiography, ‘Long Walk To Freedom’, ends with these words:
“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.”
Isn’t that the truth!
For all of us we have many hills to climb. Some reasonably inclined, some tougher. The reality is that there will be more hills.
What I’m coming to realize more and more is that these hills simply form the landscape and it’s how we see them and climb them and who we climb them with that really defines the journey.
To know there are more hills ahead can perhaps be a comfort, not a sentence, because with hills ahead, we know the journey continues.
To see some great pics of Nelson Mandela click this link.
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Reflections
2010-07-25
2010-03-25
Just numbers? No. You know what they mean. Four months. We don’t mean to think about it or overthink it, but still it exists.
I’m not sure of all that we’ll do at 5 months or 6 or at 1 year.
But on these days and EVERY day I know of one thing we will always do.
Remember Chris for the amazing kid he was and find ways to honour his memory.
As you look at reflections in a lake, sometimes they are a perfect mirror image of the surrounding reality. Sometimes, the wind comes up and the reflections are obscured and distorted…even though the real objects creating the reflections still exist. But when the water is smooth and the winds have calmed, you can see a true reflection.
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Don’t eat ice…and other advice.
We were with good friends recently and I was chomping on some ice after a refreshing adult beverage.
“Don’t eat ice”, Ingrid stated, as that had been one of my mantras with Chris. She was right.
Chris used to eat ice by the bucket. He had a habit of eating ice during dinner and it drove me nuts!
“Don’t eat ice”, I would say, “it’s a bad habit”.
He would then turn to just letting the ice sit inside his mouth until he thought we’re not listening and then CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP.
If Chris was still with us, I would still have the ‘no ice chewing’ policy in place.
However, as I was QUIETLY (or not) chewing my own ice tonight, I thought about how much I missed that annoying sound!
Let’s lift a glass to memories….on the rocks.
Be The Best. 