Take Me To Church

It was somewhere in early summer when I saw that Eric Church would be coming to Calgary in September. It was a long way off. And A LOT of money to spend going into the slow season at work.

But it was Eric Church.

And it was WORTH IT!

A Post About Nothing

"Why Manitoba?" they would ask whenever I tried to find someone to take a road trip with me. "There's nothing in Manitoba." It's just.... flat.

"I need to take pictures," I'd tell them. "I want pictures from every province, and somehow the only one I am missing is the one in the middle."

"But there's nothing to take pictures of!" they'd warn.

"I'll find something," I assured them.

And on my journey across the country in early September, I did. Right off the highway, too.

Welcome to Holland, Manitoba

... and another check off my bucket list. So much ado about nothing.

Falling Out of Summer

It was only the fourth of September but the trees on the shores of Lake Superior were already falling out of summer and into their colourful autumn coats...

Bar None

My attachment to the ocean is more than water and waves or the smell of drying seaweed and salt. 

It's lobster boils and fire clay and skipping rocks and catching crayfish. It's jumping off of breakwaters and picking seaglass and painting seashells.

It's all of the best parts of childhood, bar none.

The Best of Her

I've never been one for motherhood. The idea that people willingly and joyfully bring whole other human beings into this world and mold them from helpless infants to productive adults (on purpose! Sometimes multiple times!) is absolutely mystifying to me.

But had things been different, and I'd had a daughter, Skyler is exactly the one I'd hope to have.

This vibrant and happy young woman was not always this way. She grew up battling learning disabilities and bouts of depression and anxiety that left her locked in her room for days on end. The strength she developed in dealing with her mind and the world around her overflowed into the biggest, fullest heart of anyone I know. So when she told me she was pregnant, I was thrilled for her. She has every ounce of the motherly instinct I was never given, and finally she would have someone who would unconditionally accept the incredible amount of love that huge heart of hers had to give.

But even I could have never imagined the effects motherhood would have, and how much Baby Lincoln would bring out the very best of her.

That smile says everything.

We all have very different experiences growing up.We can allow them to be our excuses, our alibis, our reason for all the worst things we become as adults. Or we can find our strength in them, and let them teach us what it is we do or don't want to be. 

Skyler herself still has a long way to go. But she's rocking this big step, and with a whole new reason to get there, I just know she's always going to be "alright... most of the time. I guess." ;)