I am taking a quiet moment of pause to reflect and write about my journeys over the past few months. So much has happened!! Let’s start with February break where I had the privilege of skiing Whistler with my family and a few good friends. Skiing is such an incredible way to move in nature, because it’s really just you, the mountain, and the snow. There may be people whizzing by you or cutting in front of you, but really it’s all about the relationship between you and those skis taking you down the hill. I love being active with my kids, and as they have all turned into teenagers now, my hope is that if I stay half decently in shape, that they won’t leave me too far behind on the mountain (or on the water skis, or on the bike, or whatever other sport we do together). To me there is a difference between EXERCISE and ACTIVITY. Exercise feels like a “should”, whereas an activity that incorporates physical movement is much more fun, and more likely to be something we do repeatedly because we love it, not because we should do it. And when we are doing things we love, we are more likely to meet others doing the same thing, and this naturally builds a community of like-minded people. We met so many interesting people just going up the chairlifts at Whistler, not to mention the great conversations had in the hot tub after a long day on the mountain!!
My next trip came a few weeks later as I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I was one of ten Naturopathic Doctors to be chosen for a national marketing campaign which will be illuminating our Naturopathic profession to all of Canada. I was flown to Toronto where 10 Naturopathic Doctors were made to feel like movie stars for a day of photography and commercial shooting. I felt so privileged and excited to be a part of a campaign that is sure to make a huge difference in raising the awareness and profile of Naturopathic Medicine. As many of you know, this has been a goal of mine for many years in our local community, and now to have the honour of taking that message across the country is so exciting for me!!
Only 2 weeks later my family accompanied our daughters AA U14 Ringette team and their families to Vancouver where we proudly watched our daughters compete with Western Canadian teams and to come away with a strong showing finishing 6th overall, but more importantly with a close bond and a once in a lifetime experience of skating on the Olympic Oval in Richmond. Winning in life is awesome, but often it’s when we lose that we learn the most. I watched our girls win in sudden death overtime, and I watched them lose in sudden death overtime. And as they came off the ice after the loss, there were a few tears shed, only to be followed by acceptance, and the ability to move forward with the next plan. In those moments, I watch my girls develop and strengthen their resiliency, not only for losing, but for life. Losing in and of itself isn’t the problem, it’s the response to losing that can be the problem. I know that this early experience of losing will help prepare these girls for the stresses that come later in life. You lose, you cry (or not), you pull yourself together and you move on to the next thing. And each time you come through a loss and it doesn’t destroy you, it teaches that you can lose/fail/fall down/suffer/make a mistake and be ok in the end. This is resiliency. And it is the same thing we do when we eat well, sleep well, take our supplements, have a good laugh, love wholeheartedly, practice gratitude… all of these practices help strengthen our resiliency, so when the unexpected happens, we have the strength to handle it.
After we parted ways in Vancouver, my family and I caught a bus to Seattle, where we then spent five days revisiting all the things Verne and I used to do when we lived there 18 years ago when I was taking my training at Bastyr University. We had the amazing gift of staying with our best friends Brian and DJ and their two kids from Seattle, and we did all the touristy things you do in Seattle (a favorite was visiting the gum wall!!)
It was definitely a stroll down memory lane, and kind of surreal to be doing this same stroll with our three teenage kids who weren’t even born the last time we were there!!! It was amazing to see our 5 kids all connect as if they were long lost cousins. And again I was reminded of the importance of taking time to do the things in life that fill up my cup, and that help me stay connected to those that I love dearly. I also felt totally energized by all the green!! Green grass and green forests, contrasted by the blue of the sky and the energy of the ocean. Wow what a combination. I felt my resiliency increasing day by day with all the love, connection, fresh air and laughter. Hard to believe that I am 17 years older than the last time I stepped foot onto the Bastyr campus!!
Our timing was impeccable and we were able to visit the world renowned Tulip Festival in LaConner, Washington. After strolling alongside seas of red, yellow, and purple tulips was this… What caught everyone’s attention the most was the single red tulip growing amongst a field of yellow tulips… The message… Its ok to be the red tulip in a the sea of yellow tulips… Stand out. Be YOU.
The day before we left Seattle, DJ and I sat down with our girls and had them set us up with Snap Chat. Yes it’s true… if we can’t beat it, we’ll join it!! Media and electronics have become such an issue for young kids for so many reasons, and I feel like it has added a whole new area of parenting challenges. It feels like we are constantly checking in with them, monitoring and patrolling … but we decided we would use SnapChat as another way to stay connected with each other and so that our kids see us using Snap Chat mindfully. These forms of communication are here to stay, so the better I can understand and relate to what my kids are doing, the easier it will be to speak their language. So, in honour of being new to SnapChat, I decided to start a broccoli streak with DJ, and see how many days in a row I can eat broccoli and I will snap chat her each day when I am eating it. How’s that for cool??
Now I am home and ready to settle into our Saskatchewan spring, with all the unpredictability of our weather and waiting patiently for our own green to unfold… The coast is beautiful and I have a real soft spot for Seattle, and yet this is our home, with our community and our people. I am eternally grateful for the life of privilege we have here in Saskatoon, and honoured to be a part of a great team at True Potential where we all have one common goal, and that is to do our part to help build a strong, resilient, healthy community.
