Tag: Recreation

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Be The Best.

Good scary or bad scary?

I met a colleague today who happens to be a counsellor.

We had a brief conversation between the coffee shop and our next meetings.  He said something that has stuck with me long after this afternoon’s hallway chat.

We were talking about making big life decisions and he said, (paraphrased) if something makes you feel a bit scared, but good scared, go for it…if it makes you feel bad scared, stay away.  In other words, high chance behaviour like speeding in your car and texting is not good.  Taking a chance where the outcome is simply the flip of  a coin…not good.

BUT…taking a calculated risk that still makes you feel a little nervous, that’s good.  In fact that can act as fuel to push you forward.

Too many people,  he said, had told him over the years that as they hit 50, 60 and beyond, had wished they took a risk.

Nervous good?  Nervous bad?

Interesting thought for the day!

BTB.

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Be The Best.

March

Yah, enough said.

March is upon us and as we head to March 25 it’s so very hard to believe Chris has been away from us in human form for almost 2 years.

This morning I looked at a picture on my bookshelf of Ingrid, me and the boys in Disneyland when they were about 7 and 5.

Chris is laughing so hard he’s almost falling off my knee.

I loved that trip.

As many schools head into Spring Break, I hope that you are able to find some time to do something memorable, fun and exciting with your family.  Whale watching, Science World, overnight to Seattle or even overnight in Vancouver are all easy local things we did.

As a young Dad I sometimes wondered about the expense of this or that.

Of course budgeting is important and we had to also live within our means, but if we planned to knock off a dinner out so we could spend money on a family day activity, that’s what we did.

When I see that laughing, smiling face I know that every cent was worth it. 

I would pay millions to do it again.

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Be The Best.

Let’s play lacrosse already!

English: Flag of the Iroquois Confederacy, Hia...

When Chris played for Team BC in the Box National tournament in Ontario as a 14 year-old, we witnessed some amazing lacrosse.

Of particular note was team Iroquois.  They were small, but fast and they never ever gave up.

I’ve written about them before but was reminded of them again this week when a video link was sent my way.

Johnny Powless played at that tournment and was a lacrosse wonderkid.  Sort of Gretzky-like.

Amazing with the ball, without the ball and knowing where the play was going at all times.

This video link shows Powless scoring a goal in the NLL a few weeks back.  He’s just 18.

I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Chris is still watching this kid go.

At the tournment back a few years ago, BC won the Bronze in an epic battle with Alberta.  We all stayed to watch Iroquois Nation go against Ontario.  Truly David vs Goliath.  I’m literally getting goose bumps as I type this remembering the game.

The Ontario team was HUGE.  They have a massive population and they could have had 3 or 4 top teams and still been competitive.  The Iroquois team was small.  But they didn’t give up.

I know they made a big impact on the BC boys watching.  In many ways it was the early days of Be The Best.

Yes, Iroquois did prevail to win the gold in one of the most fantastic lacrosse games I’ve ever seen.

Here’s Johnny doing his thing today.  I’m wearing my purple Iroquois t-shirt with pride today and still have the hand- made wooden lacrosse sticks dangling from the rear view mirror of our car.

Watch a little Be The Best in action…and this kid is only beginning.

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Be The Best.

Another lesson in perspective.

I got another lesson in perspective from a very reliable source.

Scrabble
Image via Wikipedia

My iPad Scrabble game.

Yah, that’s right.  I said it, Scrabble.

I was involved in an intense fight with my arch nemesis, the iPad computer.

We were locked in a tough duel and I was determined.

I stared at my tiles for 2 minutes, then 4 minutes, then my screen went grey.

I refreshed and stared again.

I couldn’t see an option.

Then I hit the reshuffle button.

Same letters.  Exact same, just different order.

There in front of my eyes was the obvious solution.

This has happened again and again.  Just changing the perspective was the key to getting the solution.

There’s been a lot on perspective lately and one thing I’m learning is to hit the reshuffle button and then look at the letters again.

Same letters, different approach, solution.

Interesting.

 
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Be The Best.

The Hike

Last week a few of Chris’ highschool buds called (ok, texted) and said they wanted to drop by.

The fact that we have the lacrosse gang and friends gang wanting to stay in touch with us is very cool.

I suggested a little hike and through a series of texts, the plan was approved.

So here we are on this little hike…about a one hour up and down walk in some beautiful forests near Ft. Langley, BC.

I’m not sure what other people on the trail were thinking as we made an unusual hiking squad.  The lovely Ingrid leading the pack with 5 big young men at her side and some old guy trying to keep up and shoot videos at the same time.

Cooper, Dylan, Jesse and Alan all predicted that Tanner (Newport Vacuums) would arrive in dress shoes.

Yup.

Nice jeans and dress shoes…perfect for hiking of course.

What followed was the obligatory, ‘you didn’t tell me this was a hike, you said a walk’…and of course the word ‘tell’ and ‘said’ are just another way to say ‘text’….cause no one really talks to each other any more right? 😉

So, we had a great walk/hike.

The sun streamed through the trees and it reminded us that Chris was with us too.

As we walked we actually didn’t text, but talked, and learned about the latest updates from the Gang.

It’s a privilege to stay connected.

For a little fun, I’ve put together a video of the event.

Have a great week.

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Be The Best.

Up in the air.

Abbotsford International Airshow 2009!
Image by Rick Leche via Flickr

I can’t look into the sky without thinking about Chris.

Whether it’s the moon and stars at night or an intense cloud formation or even occasional blue sky during the day!

Max and I had another reason to gaze heavenwards on Friday as we were guests of friends and business clients Mainland Machinery at the Abbotsford International Airshow.

It had been probably 10 years since we were last there and it was awesome to be back.

From the static displays to the roar of the jets, we had a great time.

You can’t go to that event without thinking and acknowledging all of our servicemen and women who have sacrificed so much for our freedoms.  We salute them all!!

And yes, as I watched the jets scream by and the parachutes float down, I thought about Chris with every look to the sky.

Here’s a little vid of the day.

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Be The Best.

My 3, no 4 kids.

I would not have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.

I knew Dad was in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit).

I knew my sister Grace was in the ICU.

I ‘knew’ it, but I didn’t ‘know’ it if that makes any sense.

It was sort of inconceivable that two family members would land in the ICU.

Grace is recovering from a heart attack last weekend and is doing well all things considered.  We spent a lot of time together today and she is grateful and thankful and will make a very strong recovery with the help of her Doctors and her family.

We moved from Grace’s room to Dad’s room, just around the corner in the ICU.

At one point Val (my 2nd oldest sister) and Cathy (AC, the youngest sister) held Dad’s hand and I stood at the foot of his bed.

Cathy said something like ‘Dad, you’ve got your three kids here…isn’t that great’?

Dad without skipping a beat said, ‘No, I have four.  Grace is here too.’

Yes…Dad was right on.  All four of his kids were there.  Val, Cathy and Randy in the room and Grace just around the corner in a room of her own!

After a bit of conversation Dad dropped this nugget as we talked about life in general.

‘Life is too short not to live the dream’.

WOW.

That’s some deep stuff.

Thanks Dad.

That’s a Be The Best moment.

Yes, life IS too short not to live the dream.

Love it.

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Be The Best.

I see you.

I turned to one of my favourite poems this week.  Ok, I only know a few poems and most start with Roses are Red and Violets are Blue, so maybe this doesn’t count, but I love that Invictus poem that you’ve seen here before.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

There is something so empowering in that text.  The mindset of continuing to make decisions about my own outlook despite whatever comes my way…that is the power of that poem to me.  I am the captain of my soul.

My sister Grace who lives in Vernon and was very active in helping with Mom and Dad suffered a heart attack this past weekend.  What? Really? Yes…out of the blue.

Ironically, she is in the ICU just a couple of doors down from Dad.

He continues to fight hard, but is up and down.

Mom wrote an email yesterday that made us laugh at the visuals of Dad being encouraged to walk with the aid of a walker, going down the hall in the ICU and stopping at Grace’s door and saying Hi Grace!  I called her on her cell and laughed with her too at that story.

We are scared to ask, what next?

Grace is doing pretty good and under excellent medical care as is Dad.

I see you.

ICU.

Yup, I’ll see you in the ICU.

I said to Mom that this was like our own personal tsunami sort of.  These forces of nature pounding our family at this point.  Of course our hearts go out to the families in Japan coping with loss from the real earthquake and tsunami and we wish them the strong HOPE for recovery and the future as discussed yesterday.

For our family, we will continue to regroup, rethink, revise and re-engineer as we move forward.

Dad and Grace…get ready for some hospital scrabble this weekend.

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Be The Best.

Hope is an action word.

What is hope?

It’s a noun.

It’s a verb.

It’s actually both.

That being said, any way you use it, I’ll argue that hope is an action word.

What do I mean?

Hope may be a state of mind or the expression of a state of being but when hope is combined with action…it truly is an action word.  I hope for a great future.  How am I making that future happen?

This past weekend, a trail on private land was dedicated to Chris’ memory.

The name of the trail…Hope Trail.

Totally love it.

Chris’ story is one of sadness sure…but it is also oozing with hope.

This trail leading down from a beautiful Valley property to the river below is not for the timid.  It’s a tough trail fit for a hard training athlete doing the equivalent of bleacher runs as Chris would do many times.

What is hope?  Hope is a massive tree crashing down in a windstorm and then the thought, desire and action to cut the barrier in pieces to get the trail through.  Hope is not seeing a cliff, but seeing a trail…

Steve addresses the assembled at the trail dedication...(ok, I think he was telling a joke)

Hope Trail.

It’s a beautiful thing.

Many thanks to Steve and Evy Klassen (Steve spoke at Chris’ funeral) and their family for this amazing remembrance for Chris.

Be The Best!

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Be The Best.

The best day ever.

There has been an ongoing little joke in our family for years.

My Dad is a pretty positive guy especially when it comes to stuff like ping-pong, tennis and skiing.

The joke is that if you’d ask him how his day was on the slopes for example, he would always say…GREAT, the best ever.

Each trip, it seems, would outdo the previous.

Now where it got funny was we knew some of the days weren’t that great.  If you’ve skied in a minus 20 degree day of an Okanagan winter or the liquid snow of Hemlock Valley or the driving sleet of a December day on Mt. Baker you know what I mean.

On those days if you asked him how his day had been he’d say…GREAT, one of the best ever!

Notice the subtle difference?

On this Saturday, having survived a very tough Thursday night and sensitive emergency surgery, he noted to my sisters Grace and Val that this was one of his BEST WEEKENDS EVER.  He was indeed very alive and got to spend it with his bride…and of course a couple of his kids.

Interesting perspective…and I love it.

That’s a hospital bed BE THE BEST moment direct from the ICU.

Nice work Dad.  We’ll call that your living sermon for this week and give you the day off tomorrow!