Tag: loss

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Be The Best.

An intro to two.

I’m going to intro you to a couple of people that I don’t know.

But..with the world of social media, the web CAN be an amazing place to connect on the journey of the new normal.

The first is Steve Ewen.

I’ve never met him.

He’s a reporter with the Vancouver Province and he’s battling cancer.  It’s a tough battle.  He’s called his blog, ‘I’m sad and mad about getting cancer’.  Actually no…he hasn’t.  His blog is called, Crush the Tumour with Humour.

It’s some amazing stories of someone going through a very tough fight but remaining positive and using humour to negotiate the new normal he and his wife find themselves living.  If I can figure it out, I’ll add it to my ‘links’ section, but here’s a quick direct link if you want to check it out.  Here’s an excerpt from today:

The bad news is that the new stitches in my back has led to our surgeon, Dr. Robert Lee, limiting my arm movements for the next two weeks. The really bad news, at least for the people at G.F. Strong and the general public around King Ed and Laurel in Vancouver, is that they’ve given me a power wheelchair.
Oh. Mercy. Think of the havoc I can cause with a motor and wheels?

Keep rockin it Steve!

The second link is from Gillian Berg, the Mission mom who lost her husband and father of their four children at Christmas.  Her writing is deep, spiritual and an amazing work of strength and vulnerability rolled into one.  An excerpt from her latest:

Last night, as my daughter asked for help, begged for prayers that would take her fear away, the fear that something else might happen, the fear that she is still in danger, I realized again that like the work needed to heal the physical wounds, there was going to be gruelling work needed to heal the emotional ones.

We, each one of us, will have to choose to stand slowly, painfully upon the limbs of our broken dreams; to endure the attacks of relentless discouragement of working towards something new; to fight for something better, something healthier.

To Steve and Gillian I would say, we all haven’t chosen our situations.  It happened.  Life happens. There is no big answer to the ‘why’ question….at least not one that may be evident in this lifetime.  We”ll simply stand with you on your journey of the new normal as so many have and are standing with us.  This is a link to the first time the term ‘the new normal’ entered our lexicon.  It’s been a fixture ever since.

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Be The Best.

Be The Best – Andrew Bromley

When you turn on the TV and watch the news, you usually don’t get a great story about a young adult doing great stuff.

But that doesn’t mean those stories don’t exist!

The Burnaby Mountain Selects gang have started putting together profiles of local athletes who are going on to college…and then on to changing their worlds!

I LOVE to think about the impact of hundreds of these lacrosse players over time getting their educations, finding rewarding careers and then helping to change the world around them in a positive way.

The story that I’ll link you to specifically is about Andrew Bromley, a local player off to college and doing great things.  Chris and Andrew would have been together in the BMS system in 2008.

Excerpt:

What role did your family have in helping you get to where you are now?

The only reason I am where I am really. From immediate family, my mom making the paper work happen (important), my dad for pushing me, my little brothers (trying to show them the way), and the endless support from extended family from my irreplaceable grandmother to my aunts and uncles who would always pump my tires up a bit when I was feeling stressed or down.

What is the best piece of advice that you have ever received?

Man that’s a really tough question, I have been a part of many, many big speeches with meanings too long for this piece. I am going to have to say a piece of advice from Gord Lawton, “Its going to be the hardest thing you’ve ever done kid, go to the net like no ones going to stop you, play within the team, but don’t lose your individuality” or a line said by many of the great enforcers of the previous NHL era’s, “Be for the boys, there all you’ve got in here, no one ever questioned the integrity of a guy who would drop ‘em for a team mate”

LOVE IT!

That’s Be The Best.

And for all of us parents and coaches and relatives and friends out there…we can never underestimate the positive power of our words and actions with the future generation.

Congrats Andrew.  Great stuff!

Here’s the link to the full article and other stories.

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Be The Best.

55, 65 and 80

There was a great story in yesterday’s Province Newspaper about Zoe and Bob Longshaw.  They’ve been married 65 years and the story of their relationship reads like a slice of history.  It’s a great story and I’ve linked it here.

It reminded me of another couple I know who’ve been married over 50 years…I think 55 this September if my memory serves.  (If it doesn’t I’m sure my sisters will correct me in short order.)  Their names are Jake and Leona Friesen…aka my Mom and Dad.

They were down over Christmas and I had shot some video at Blackie Spit which I had written about at that time, but only put the video clips into a little movie this weekend.

The occasion?  A bit of Valentine’s Day and a bit of a birthday…an 80th birthday to be exact.

DAD….HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR FEB 16!

MOM AND DAD…HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

You’ve given your family and so many others a great example of long-lasting relationships.

As has been said many times here, Max and Chris LOVED going to Grandma and Grandpa’s.  We are so thankful for all the fantastic memories together.

So with that quick intro, here’s a little peek at a relationship that has stood the test of time.

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Be The Best.

If you like sunsets, you’re in luck.

I can’t tell you how many sunsets I took in last year through the months of April, May, June, July and August.

They were like medicine for me.  Whether it was the feeling of the closing of a day is the reminder of a new one to come, the powerful display of dark and light with the clouds or simply getting a little glimpse of life beyond this earth and a connection with Chris.  All of those and more.

As we all know our Vancouver weather doesn’t provide us with too many great sunsets between Oct and March and so Ingrid and I set off to find some.

If sunsets bore you, close your browser now!  If you like em, here’s a few that happened this past week…so they’re ‘fresh’!

PS You can click on each pic to see a larger view. Feel free to use or share.

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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.

A few final thoughts about the CFMA 2011.

What…we’ve awarded it once and already formed an acronym?  Lame.

That’s the Chris Friesen Memorial Award.  There, that feels better.

A few closing thoughts about the awards.

Jeff Cathrea and Brent Hoskins are the head coaches for the SFU men’s lacrosse team.  Their accomplishments are pretty impressive, but they probably won’t tell you that.  You’ll have to read it here.

The biggest accomplishment however, doesn’t really show-up on stats sheets.

It shows up in stories about young men and how they have focused on their education.

Focused on their fitness.

Focused on lacrosse.

Focused on their future.

Read this story about one of their players, Chris Tessarolo.

If you’re a young person reading this, some fatherly advice.  Work hard at school, do your homework…and listen to your coaches!  They know what they’re talking about!!

Brent and Jeff won Coach of the Year honours in their conference and that’s a testament to the dedication to the team, SFU and development of younger players in the Selects program and camps.  Congrats guys!

Here’s a few more pics from the evening.

Oh, and the Best Dressed?  The very lovely Ingrid Friesen of course.

Brent, Marilyn (Brent's Mom and Team Manager for 11 seasons) Jeff
Max and Kiera
write your own caption...
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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.

Interview with God?

Ever thought of having an interview with God?

I think we’ve all probably had a few questions we’d like answered from time to time.

Over the past months we’ve been supported by people of all faiths, backgrounds and cultures.

It’s been amazing.

Last week we were sent this link to this Interview with God.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but once I started the slide show thing-a-ma-jig I watched till the end.

Each question and answer is thought-provoking and could be pondered for hours or days.

I thought I would share here.

http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/

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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