was probably fairly typical. I did most of the things boys do, biking, playing army with straws shooting peas, water gun fights, kick-the-can and hide and seek after dark.
I had my share of accidents also, and have the scars from cuts, and burns (I fell into a charcoal bbq because I walking on top of a fence adjacent). When the doctors would tell me I would have a “nice” scar while he did the stitching, that made it all ok. Maybe even better than before.
Somewhere in the last few days
I heard the phrase “invisible scars” and it made me stop and think. If trauma causes invisible scars, mine are varied for sure. The “broken heart” scarring from girlfriend failures didn’t prevent me from ever dating again, and my happy upcoming 40th wedding anniversary is proof.
However, the trauma of dialysis decades ago never left me and I dreaded it again in 2018. As a result I recognize Invisible Scars is a real thing.
My left arm during hemodialysis
Some may say that “time heals all wounds” but I think that’s false.
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” ― Quote from Kahlil Gibran
Neither is all suffering beneficial.
I doubt that any one can say that their life is completely unblemished by a traumatic event completely. More likely we are each the result of trauma that has helped us, or hurt us, or just taught us.
The question may be perhaps then “what was the result of my own traumatic events to the person?”
The answers could be that the person has fears like deep water, heights, loud noises, fear of the dark, difficulty trusting, public speaking …
or the answer the person gives could be “ I realized I had this fear, so I have faced that fear by taking swimming lessons, night lights, counseling, practicing speaking at Toastmasters, and so on.
me and Tiger my dog
Perhaps I am just better off realizing that what I see and know of a person is not the whole person because I can’t possibly know their entire life or see how life has shaped them.
Like me, you, and everyone else, I am better off understanding that each person carries scarring, invisible or not.
I guess that’s part of the message of The Hobbit, and Lord of the Rings, that the little things in life make a difference, and if everyone starts doing little positive things…… big difference.
“Saruman believes that it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I have found. I have found it is the small things.
Everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay.
Simple acts of kindness and love.” – Gandalf (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Not really sure of what this post response will be, but I will post it regardless and await your response.- David
I would like to start this post by inviting readers to visit a tea party – if you visit the link, it will explain itself. Host one yourself, and invite me.
#Mostly go NOT stop commuting
When I moved to little Penticton in 1992, I could have hugged the realtor during our first chat. I was moving from Vancouver BC, and in Vancouver I used to commute an hour or more twice daily (going to work and returning home), that was 28 years ago and it wasn’t getting better each year.
We told the realtor we wanted to live within ten minutes of downtown, and he said something like “in Penticton you are ten minutes from downtown no matter what neighbourhood you choose“. #happy dance
Penticton
is a word from the Interior Salish word snpintktn, and is commonly translated as “a place to stay forever,” or more accurately, “a place where people live year-round.” For over 7,000 years, our region has been home to the Syilx First Peoples, who were instrumental in helping the first European fur traders travel through the Okanagan in the early 1800s.
rubber path not concrete on this section of promenade
The home we picked in Penticton we still live in and it remains #ten minutes from anywhere. In fact on my bike, I pushed it one day and I could ride home from work in ten minutes, not safely but I could.
Get away quick
Now safely ensconced in retirement, I revel in the fact that I am just a few minutes from the south lake (Skaha), about a ten minute walk, and about a 15 minute bike ride from the north end of town and Okanagan lake.
Today it’s a chilly walk or bike ride right now, 2 Celsius less wind chill, but I love, love, love not having to spend a chunk of time to be lakeside.
Just a quick post today, thank you to my friends who blog, who visit, comment, and encourage me. You guys and gals inspire me.
I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. – Maya Angelou
Instead of checking my email first thing this morning I took the time to examine the horizon, the clouds broken by the lighter blue of sunlight just over the valley side.
Clouds have settled in now, and if I hadn’t done that I would have missed the sunny blue sky. I would have missed the moment.
Okanagan lake
Don’t miss your day!
The risk I have, and you may share is that I sometimes fail to take note of my day, I fail to wake up curious about how the day in nature will unfold. Rushing off to some task down the batpole, or turning on my computer then I am missing out on what normally would make me smile.
Devices like phones and laptops
are stealing the time we enjoyed as youngsters, and appreciate as adults.
Moments like hearing the birds twittering in the morning, why do they chatter so much then? Spring is coming, I want to sit outside and have that chatter as my focus, along with two cups of coffee of course. Certainly those those moments in the morning are certainly good medicine, even if I need a sweater for awhile.
In the stillness, there is discovery
My son stood outside on our front deck the other night, and he spotted two raccoons in the yard. Furtive like the owls, you need to find the quiet time of the day to discover the raccoons, and owls in our lives. If he had been talking, or looking at his phone – he would have missed seeing them.
Mainly this post is just me talking to myself,
while my devices are a boon to communication, they also are a distraction from life around me. I think that is why getting out of my house for a bike ride, or a walk helps my balance. I want to see the light reflecting on the lake. I want to see a bird on a wire, admire it and wonder what kind it is.
I won’t remember how many emails I delete today, but I will remember how nice the fresh air felt, and enjoy seeing the neighbourhood deer.
too cold for snakes now, had a fun hike though at Skaha Bluffs – Look at that smile !
Don’t miss your day my friends. – David
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss
there was never a decision to like curling, it has always been a part of my life. This post today includes some links, including the Scotties, the Briar, Curling Day in Canada and I invite the reader to learn about curling in Canada.
There are over 1500 curling clubs in Canada, and over a million curlers, 800,000 active annually and curling in families is a multi-generational phenomena.
In my mind, as much as Canadians do love and play hockey – Curling is more Canadian than hockey.
Canada has 35% of the world’s hockey players but 90% of the world’s curlers!
As a youngster, my parents and grandparents were curlers and I have curled with them. Longer than I have been taking breaths, my Dad has been sliding down the ice to throw his rocks, and call out “Sweep!”
As a teenager, I played second on our family team, my brother Jim was lead, my Mom was third and my Dad was skip. Sundays we travelled the length of Vancouver to different curling clubs to play in different leagues. I learned to drive on Sundays driving to curling when I had my learners license. 🙂
My son-in-law Tyler, my daughter Mandy are active curlers and Tyler has had his picture taken with curling celebrities multiple times and I shared in his excitement.
Tyler and Brad Gushue, Gold Medal Olympics Curling Champion
This last week has been taken up with the “Scotties” – every day for hours, my son David, my patient wife Susan, and I have been cheering on our favorite women teams as they have congregated in Moosejaw, Saskatchewan this year to compete and decide who can be Team Canada until 2021.
Soon it will be the “Briar” in Kingston, Ontario and more couch time as I watch the men’s champions from across Canada compete to be Team Canada.
Then there will be the world championships and so on to watch. The world comes to Canada for coaches and competitions because in Canada we know curling. 90% of the world’s curlers are in Canada. Now that curling is an Olympic sport, some countries station teams in Canada for full-time training as some countries has no clubs. In order to get better, you need to practice and play and in Canada these teams find coaches, ice, clubs and bonspiels!
Hockey is huge here also, but curling has a special place in Canadian hearts. If you take the time to read the stories in the link provided HERE, you may have a sense of how curling is part of the Canada’s culture. Canada’s new immigrants often share that playing curling made them feel Canadian at heart when they began.
“Imagine if everyone respected their teammates and opponents in life, shook hands after every confrontation and bought each other a drink. Imagine if we all stood still while others were concentrating on their life’s work, offering encouragement, not distraction. Imagine if we celebrated our opponents’, as well as our own accomplishments. No, it’s not a perfect world, but it could be. And it is – on a sheet of curling ice!”
….. Jean Mills
I love curling, I have enjoyed playing, and with pride I see my son and daughter enjoy the game, the culture also. Perhaps I will resume playing now that my health is better, but regardless I will always support and love the game.
It’s more than a game, there is etiquette, a respect between teams, the social aspect on and off the ice. There are terms and language in curling – learn here.
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Curling is for men, women, juniors, seniors, and even people in wheelchairs can curl in Canada! I have met a gold medal wheelchair champion who lives in the Okanagan valley.
Please help me celebrate Curling Day in Canada today,
** I am also celebrating curling internationally because now it is an international men’s and women’s sport. The competition internationally is intense now, competitive curlers come from Norway, Sweden, Korea, Italy, Switzerland, China, United States and so on! While Canada continues to be a constant in international playoffs, the podium now is shared with teams from around the globe!
I loved reading some of the individual stories including this one. click on link here
If you take the time, the curling bug might infect you too ! – thanks for reading 🙂 Dave
Some international curling shots in the video below!
from when I was a child, and I think you will be pleased with the changes. Technology has arrived, and libraries are still so easy to use, easy to join and benefit from – but one thing that hasn’t changed is that they are still FREE.
Libraries are cool – in fact my son coined the phrase that the library is the original YouTube. It’s true, whenever I wanted to learn something, and my earliest entertainment ; I went to the library.
Nearly every community has one branch or more. Libraries are free to use regardless of gender or status. ✨
Easier to use than ever
DID you know you can browse your local library catalogue online, reserve books online, and EVEN get email notices to remind you to renew or return your books. Stressless 👍
New books, fiction, mysteries, movies, graphic novel, dvds, ask-a-librarian. Reference information, and it’s free!
A personal question here ……., are you a member of your local library?🧐🧐 I sure hope you are. Libraries exist for use, and if the public stops using them…..
If you are a library member, when was the last time you checked out a book? Or picked up a magazine? borrowed a movie? borrowed a game? Time perhaps to check out (pardon the expression) your local library?
I invite you to VISITyour local library this week, free, there is nothing to buy, and if you want a book recommendation- ask your friendly librarian
😃😃 They will be happy to explain to YOU how your local library has changed and improved.
Libraries are there for you,
just like when you are a youngster, and they offer more than ever – easier to use, and still free !
Support your local library !
“Develop into a lifelong self-learner through voracious reading; cultivate curiosity and strive to become a little wiser every day.” — Charlie Munger
I think my growing up 
Today it’s a chilly walk or bike ride right now, 2 Celsius less wind chill, but I love, love, love not having to spend a chunk of time to be lakeside.
I invite you to 
