Tag: Chris Friesen

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Be The Best.

The one minute video recap.

I had forgotten about some quick vid shots that Max and I had taken during the Maple Leaf Award dinner.

The one minute video recap is below.

As mentioned, Scott Rintoul from Team 1040 radio did a great job emceeing the event and it was great to meet him in person.

As a shameless BCIT plug, he’s a fantastic ambassador for the broadcasting programs (radio, journalism, tv) and we’re sure proud to have him as one of our Alumni.  For those readers of this blog who are making education and career decisions in the next few years (or parents), BCIT has an excellent Big Info night coming up on March 2.  I just double checked the weblink and my staff have put a very freaky looking picture of yours truly up on a vid that gives you a run-through of the event.  Ok…why am I telling you all this?  Of course, I love BCIT and what it does for people’s lives, but education of ALL FORMS is so critical to provide choice, options and opportunities for the future.  These sessions simply open up eyes and brains to a bigger understanding of what kind of possibilities exist in the world of education.  On a personal level, that’s a BIG DEAL for us as parents and I believe for us as a province and country as well.  Ok, enough already, I’m stepping down from the soapbox…!

The last frame of the Maple Leaf video is a picture of the quilt that was made for us by one of my BCIT staff colleagues in Marketing, Kim.  That became an instant family heirloom and something that we treasure at a very deep level.  It seemed fitting for Chris’ 32 to show at the end of this clip surrounded by his BMS teammates. The side of the quilt shown in the vid is made entirely of Burnaby Mountain Select jersies that were brought to Chris’ funeral as a sign of respect, honour and friendship at Chris’ funeral.

To see more about the quilt, you can read/view: 7 days to write about a quilt and then link to other quilt blogs.  For a while there I thought this was going to become a full-time quilting blog but thankfully I left that to quilting professionals.

As we move forward from the Maple Leaf Awards 2011 and the initial Chris Friesen Memorial Award, we are excited think about the thousands of dollars to be awarded in the future and more importantly the opportunity to inspire and challenge young men and women each year to BE THE BEST.

Here’s the vid:

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Be The Best.

A tattoo…for your car.

I know many of us remember Chris is so many different ways.  I still see many of those wrist band things when we’re out and about. Awesome.  We’ve worn ours every day for 10 1/2 months and I’m not sure when we’re ever going to stop.

I’ve seen more than one tattoo.  Cool. (again, from a parent’s perspective, we’re not pushing tattoos, but we understand the DEEP meaning of getting one and we are incredibly humbled and honoured when someone makes that personal decision to honour Chris in that way!!)

I’ve seen email accounts, twitter accounts and facebook stuff all acknowledging and remembering Chris.  Love it.

But one thing I had not seen…until now.

What would a tattoo for your car look like?

Well, I think Will VH, a good friend and lacrosse bud of Chris’, figured that out.

He just received the one and only set of CF 2 license plates in the entire province of British Columbia.

Cool.

Take a look at the pic below.  I think it says it all.

Love it Will.  Drive safe and Be The Best!

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Be The Best.

Chris Friesen Memorial Award….DELIVERED.

I think I have a week’s worth of stuff to blog about.

Just like CoJo (I’m disturbed I know his name) at the Golden Globes, I’ll have my complete list of best dressed and worst dressed and other red carpet secrets later this week….or not.  (before I get in trouble…everyone looked fantastic…even most of those lacrosse players clean up pretty good or at least had their mom’s or girlfriends iron a shirt for them which is a big step forward. (I have license to state these facts having lived with a lacrosse player for years…!))

What an evening.

I had not been at the Westwood Plateau facility since the Maple Leaf Award dinner last year.  That was of course a different kind of evening.  Chris won the BMS U-18 Defensive MVP award and we had a great evening hosted by Steve Darling from Global and Brian Price the keynote speaker, a gold medal Olympic rower.

This year, Scott Rintoul from TEAM1040 did a great job of hosting the sold-out event and Max Ritz, lacrosse player, entrepreneur and actor (The Hills on MTV- Season 6) provided interesting insight into the sport and the amazing future this game of lacrosse has.

And although there was to be a Chris Friesen award in 2011 as well, it was very very different that is for sure.

It was really fantastic to have Max with us along with his girlfriend Kiera.  To be together as a family was huge for us.  To have Langley families there was amazing.  There was a family who flew their son in from his lacrosse school in VIRGINIA (yes, I mean east coast USA) to be there at the dinner last night as he played with Chris on the BMS program and wanted to honour his friend.

Are you kidding me?

These lacrosse families are simply awesome.

The BMS/SFU leadership gang asked if I’d put together a video intro to Chris’ award.  I was honoured to do so, but it did not come easily.  I had not seen Chris speaking for months and months and there are days where I can stare into those beautiful eyes and days where I just can’t.  That’s all part of this thing.  It’s all simply part of the deep love that provokes emotion far to bottomless for words or comprehension.

Here it is.  Enjoy.  Much more on this tomorrow…including pictures and who was awarded the Chris Friesen Memorial Award.

(ps…in case you’re wondering about the music about 30 seconds in…Thunderstruck by AC/DC is a tribute to the Langley Thunder lacrosse players and families as this was in essence the theme song for Langley Thunder lacrosse)

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Be The Best.

The power of the eyes.

The power of eyes are amazing.

Over Christmas I had a chance to visit an uncle who suffers from ALS.  He’s eighty years old and can’t speak or move any part of his body…except his eyes.  I watched as my cousin aligned a high tech i-pad looking thing in front of him, complete with a camera that focused on his pupils.  Using just the gaze from his eyes at a keypad on the screen he was able to spell basic words that produced communication allowing him to ask for his glasses and say thanks for coming.  I was exceptionally impressed.  Not only with the technology, but the ability of the human spirit to keep pushing through.  He only had his eyes and that was all that was needed to connect.

Look at these eyes.  This is Chris’ friend Devon that had a tattoo put on his arm to remember Chris forever.  Those are powerful eyes that say a lot.  Respect for a friend and determination to move forward in a positive way.

I will always remember Chris’ eyes.  They were beautiful, strong, powerful, a little mischievous sometimes but always full of love.

We luv ya kid.

As we come to 10 months without you here in your physical body, there is NOT A DAY OR HOUR we don’t think about you.

We know you are with us in spirit.

Chris with lax friends, Jan 2010 at SFU/BMS awards dinner
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Be The Best.

Rev. Jake on Comfort

The latest installment by Rev Jake (aka my Dad and Chris’ Grandpa).

Without further ado.

———

The COMFORT word:

Harking back to December and Christmas themes, I was impressed with several applications of the COMFORT word.

In the carol, ‘God rest ye merry gentlemen’ the chorus keeps repeating, ‘Tidings of COMFORT and joy’

The opening statement of Handel’s Messiah is ‘COMFORT ye my people, says your God’

There is the Advent story of an old man Simeon (Luke 2) who it is said was ‘waiting for the CONSOLATION of Israel’

On this side of heaven, because of human transgression and its consequences, invariably there are elements of sadness and sorrow in all of our lives, for which we need comfort.

The fragility of life may show up in health concerns, issues of aging; or people can become victims of violence, abuse, and even wars.

We might experience the loss of relationships, and the loss of loved ones.

The little child is covered with a Comforter blanket, which may provide a measure of security.

God Himself is our eventual Comforter, providing the final answer to all of our physical and relational needs, and preparing a new body for His children when the present edition wears out. God the Comforter also provides the only reliable revelation about a meeting time for loved ones who have been separated down here.

I take comfort in the message of COMFORT from the divine Comforter; He knows how much we are in need of His ministrations!

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Be The Best.

It’s the moments…

Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but of moments.

Interesting.

I thought the curved wall going downstairs was a little bare.  I mumbled something to Ingrid about wouldn’t it be cool to have a saying written in text on the wall for something different.

Within a few weeks she had researched, ordered and received this vinyl lettering and most importantly picked out this phrase which I hadn’t seen until it went up on the wall.

I love it.  I think about it every time I head downstairs.

Are milestones important?  Birthdays? Yes. Anniversaries? Yes. Other stuff? (you know what I’m talking about…) Yes.

But really, what’s most important?  It truly is the moments.

As we look back at all of our very treasured memories with Chris and Max as they grew up, so many of the amazing times were simply moments that happened!  Whether it was a three year old Chris climbing a ladder to see his Dad on the roof (true), or the moments of victory at a lacrosse game or the fun and silly times of picking out a Christmas tree, those moments are like gold.

The one thing you need to make moments happen is time.

I remember as young father thinking about how many Dads didn’t get to know their kids because they were so busy or work schedules that were hard to control etc etc.

I am a very busy Dude, but family was ALWAYS first.  Therefore, we made sure we had THOUSANDS of moments.

Those moments are what continue to feed us and help us on our way.

As I was watching that Disneyland video last night I was getting choked up myself.  Those moments were so pure, poignant and unanticipated.  I think that is truly what makes them special.

Anyhoo…another smart decision by that good wife of mine!

Rock your weekend.

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Be The Best.

American Idol, Disneyland and a Port Moody trail.

These three things have a lot in common, at least I hope they do because I’ve committed to that as the title of this blog post.

I caught some of the ‘new’ American Idol last night with new judges Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez joining Randy Jackson.

As the contestants did their thing they were either ‘sent to Hollywood!’ or rejected.

What struck me was the excitement and pure joy from the families of the young singers who made it to the next level.  You saw Moms and Dads hugging and jumping and crying.  For a moment I thought about lost future memories.

During a commercial break I saw an ad campaign being used by Disney.  They actually take real home footage from parents surprising their kids about going to Disneyland or at the resort itself.  You can see it here.  It’s all about making family memories.

That brings me to Port Moody.  During the Christmas break I visited a dear friend and former colleague (now retired) from BCIT, Sandie.  She was sort of like the ‘mom’ in our Registrar’s Office Department for many years.  One of the things she had by her desk was a bulletin board full of pictures of staff and their families.  Of course it grew over the years.  It was an amazing place to see the passage of time.

We look a walk along the shores of the inlet at Port Moody.  What a great place.  The reason I’m telling you this now is I look literally 15 minutes last weekend to put the following faux movie trailer together using the images from that walk.  It’s in the newest version of iMovie which comes on every Mac.  This isn’t really a Mac ad, but sort of is.

The point is that memories are amazing.  All of the great memories we’ve had together as a family are helping now in our darkest hours.

I’m simply blown away at the ability of today’s technology to take these memories and put them into a format that is useable, fun and easy to do.  I decided to use the movie trailer template and have a little fun so you could imagine what you can do with your family memory video footage!

Have a great day.

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Be The Best.

Yogurt and Toast.

All day long the texts, emails and comments kept rolling in.

We appreciate everything and all of those thoughts and prayers!

The Brookswood gang dropped by in the late afternoon and we had a very unique opportunity to toast Chris.

As I’ve mentioned before, Chris had the ability to eat yogurt without a spoon.  He would sort of squish the bottom of the yogurt cup and slurp and drink the yogurt, usually in one ‘fluid’ motion.

We know there are young readers of this blog and as parents we’re not endorsing this form of yogurt consumption!  We were just happy Chris and Max would pound back yogurt instead of cake.

In this picture you can see the toast just getting underway.  Including yours truly taking the picture, that was an even dozen toasting Chris with a yogurt salute and down the hatch it went.

Ingrid was left wondering how it could be done as she ended up with yogurt in a few places on her face.  I know Chris had a laugh at (or with) all of us!

What an amazing day it was.

I’ve got a few more stories to tell you so tune in tomorrow!

We ended the day knowing that Chris would be very, very happy…and we were too.  As tough as the day was, it was really incredible.

Who knew yogurt was made for toasting?

Ingrid, Cooper, Marshall, Cam, Lucas, Beau, Alan (front), Dylan, Jesse, Max, Devon
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Be The Best.

Happy Birthday Chris!

So many people have told us or emailed us about how they thought of us over Christmas.

I know so many more think of us often and are thinking of us now as we mark what would have been Chris’ 18th birthday tomorrow even if they don’t or can’t tell us.

We are exactly the same way.

We’ve been following the story of the Berg family in Mission and Gillian Berg’s amazing strength and very real highs and lows as she takes care of her family and slowly moves forward with each day.

You can follow and support with your thoughts and prayers through: http://gillianb-journeying.blogspot.com/

The reason I say we are the same is that our hearts go out to Gillian and her family, but we don’t know them personally.  Our thoughts and prayers are with them, but we haven’t verbalized that to them.  For now we will support by reading, caring and praying.  Just as we’ve done, she can see by the blog views how so many people are supporting them.

We know that’s what people do for us all the time.

As we approach Chris’ birthday tomorrow, we don’t have any big public events happening.  A few of his school buds will drop by.  As a family, we’ll head to our favourite steakhouse for a big steak dinner and piece of ice cream cake.  Chris was a fitness and health food fanatic, but he would eat steak and ice cream cake…and we’ll have some in his honour tomorrow night.

So the question is always, what can I do?  What should I do?  I don’t know them very well, or even if I do, I’m not sure what to do.

Here’s the solution.

We’d ask everyone who reads this blog to do some little thing in honour of Chris tomorrow.

Here’s a few ideas.

1. push-ups – even doing one or two in his name would be cool

2. make a toast when you have dinner

3. hug your kids

4. hug your parents

5. eat some yogurt (he would eat probably 4-6 per day)

6. wish him a happy birthday verbally

7. cook some eggs (yep…he ate a LOT of eggs)

There’s a few ways.

I’m sure you can think of more.

Drop us a comment if you want to share.

If you don’t, we totally get it and we want to say thank you for the continued support.

Randy, Ingrid and Max.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!!

 

Jan 09 - Chris turns 16.

 

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Be The Best.

18 reasons I love my son.

1. His smile

2. His bear hugs

3. His appetite

4. The way he lit up a room

5. His passion

6. His desire

7. His intensity

8. The push-ups!

9. His lacrosse skill

10. His humour

11. His loyalty

12. His sense of team

13. His love for others

14. His eyes

15. His music

16. His focus

17. The goal to Be The Best

18. Every moment we shared on this earth and our joint hope for the future

What would be Chris’ eighteenth birthday will be celebrated this Friday, January 14.

The grief rolls in like waves on a Hawaiian North Shore surf.  It is fierce and beautiful at the same time.  We know that the level of pain can only exist because of the depth of love.

And for that we are strangely thankful.