24 July 2012 ~ A WALK THROUGH THE WOODS; A MATTER OF FAITH

Because life is but a single walk through the woods, I have made it my goal to touch as many trees as I can along the way.  Naturally, not all the trees are the same.  Some trees will be so fascinating that you may not want to let them go and move on to the next.  Other trees need to be avoided at all costs.  Somewhere, during this walk through the woods, you will meet a tree that has you totally besotted and you want to continue your walk holding on to it; and perhaps, between the two of you, a few other smaller trees will ‘emerge’ in these woods of life.  Your very own little grove! 

It has been my experience that some of these paths through the woods will lead you to some difficult situations, whereas other paths will bring much joy.  At times the ‘woods of life’ are basked in sunlight from above and you can see the way clearly.  I can also recall times of darkness, disorientation and uncertainty as to which path to take.  For me, personally, it is at these times on my journey that I turn to my faith.  I may not be the best advertisement for a God-fearing Christian, but I am, all the same.  I have said on many occasions that I believe that God doesn’t make mistakes, but, as a mere mortal, I can’t help but question some of His decisions. Of course, this is where one must apply one’s faith; regardless.  Not always an easy thing to do.  Faith is one thing… applied faith is another altogether.

In recent times, I have watched a particular grove in my neck of the woods take an absolute hammering.  One of the younger trees, without warning, just dropped to the ground and was no more.  The tree was far too young for this to happen; to stop being.  This young tree had a name; Chad.  He was my nephew.

Then one of the older trees in the same grove just seemed to stop, literally.  It just stopped functioning.  For a while it was touch and go as to whether this tree would ever return to being its normal self again.  This older tree also had a name; Rick.  He was Chad’s father.

I began to realise that although I could still see the sunlight from my part of the woods, it was a time of darkness, disorientation and uncertainty in that little grove.  Their grove needed help.  Their grove needed faith and, more importantly, had to apply that faith by believing that no mistakes were being made.  And as I have said already, that is a tough thing to do. 

I am not an expert on the power of prayer, but I do know that I tend to only use it when I am in need; comforting for myself perhaps, or requests of help for others.  I have come to the progressive realisation that, when all is well in my grove, I appear to have no need to apply my faith; through prayer or otherwise.  Others’ needs aside, perhaps I don’t feel the need to burden the Chief Woodsman with messages of thanksgiving when I am not in need of anything in particular. 

In my past, I have had friends of a similar likeness; meaning that when all is well and times are good, they are around to share in the bounty of happiness.  However, when things ‘go south’ they are nowhere to be found when needed most.  I think they call them ‘good-times friends’.  If I am going to ‘apply’ my faith, then I clearly need to reconsider my part in this relationship.  Am I just a ‘good-time’ friend with the Chief Woodsman but of the opposite kind?  Whereas ‘good-time’ friends tend to bail when you need them, I tend to apply my faith at these times only, and whereas ‘good-time’ friends enjoy the glory moments, I tend to shut Him out because I have no need for His abilities, His strength and His kindness; unless ‘applying’ for others.  It may well be that I am not applying my faith as well as I thought.  Fortunately this is an easy fix.  I don’t think there is a need to stop submitting my requests; I just need to get in the habit of applying my faith more often through the good times as well as the bad.  To give thanks, as it were.

So now, when the woods go dark or whether they are basked in sunlight, my walk should be so much easier.  Now I can go about my trek through the woods of life, touch all the trees I am able to, give thanks at day’s end, and submit any needed requests to the Chief Woodsman with the knowledge that we are partners; there for each other, and for others, through ‘thick and thin’.

How nice it is, even at the wise old age of fifty-four, to know that there is still much learning and figuring out to do as I continue my walk through the woods of life.  How nice it is to know that there are still going to be days where an Epiphany of sorts is waiting for me.  And how grateful I am to be able to recognise these moments, and respond with my own prayers of thanksgiving; and there were many, many prayers of thanksgiving when my brother-in-law, Rick, the older tree in his own little grove, fought back and recovered (with the help of the Chief Woodsman in my humble opinion) and has rejoined the rest of us as we all continue with our glorious walk.

5 July 2012

BRENDA  ~ ~ ~  MOTHER-IN-LAW ~ A DELIGHT ~ A PLEASURE ~ A MOM ~ GRANDMA

Three weeks’ vacation.  That’s it.  That’s all.  She came.  She saw.  She left; and she left a rather large hole. But when she left, it turned in to an unfillable whole.  Seventy-one years old and still indispensable.  A success story if ever there was one.  A lover of her family and an ardent lover of her gardens; where God, and the miracle of the seasons bestowed upon us, are appreciated in a manner that I could only wish for, through her eyes.

She may not have liked the way I accidently lit her back lawn on fire in 1986, but I believe that she has forgiven me.  I hope, like I said to her, (in my early twenties worldly wisdom), that it will “grow back lovely next year, Bren” that it did just that.  Unfortunately Mrs. Brenda Tait is not here to shed light on this because Brenda is now on board her flight to England to go back to her regular life with the rest of her family back in her home-land of the British Isles.

Tonight, well past the midnight hour, (Eastern Standard Time), with your daughter tucked up in bed, I feel compelled to write about you, Brenda.  You are a remarkable lady.  Have a safe journey.  Your daughter is still in good hands with me, your son-in-law.

I wish you a good flight.  I wish you good health.  I wish you Bon Voyage and I wish you the happiness that you deserve, and the continuous loving relationships that you hold so dearly with all three of your adult children.

Just don’t forget, Brenda, (Grandma) that your delinquent son-in-law is not the ‘ass’ that he sometimes portrays himself to be.  And that my wish is that when you travel home through these overnight skies, and you arrive home safely, (as I believe you will), that you will take some solace in the fact that your garden ‘fire starter’ actually turned out to be alright.  He’s been married to his lovely bride (your daughter) for over twenty-five years now, and he has become well trained; in fact I have every confidence in him!

You have an unconditional loving son-in-law in me; and for this I promise.  But that doesn't mean he is not an idiot!!!

25 June 2012 ~ FREE AND CLEAR

Recently I was on a flight to Düsseldorf in Germany.  Last time I landed in Düsseldorf it was in West Germany; such are the changes in our world’s borders.  Yet with changes or not, Europe is still a beautiful place.  Although their currency has changed from the Deutsch Mark to the Euro, they still speak German.  This should not come as a surprise because, in Germany, they have been speaking in German for centuries.

As you know by now, I work in the world of aviation maintenance; primarily in the field of technical training.  As big as the world is, in aviation it is a small world.  You can travel a long way to distant countries and still find out that someone knows someone that you know.  If not a person, then a restaurant or a bar or a pizza joint or even a street vendor called Joe who serves the best hot-dogs in the world.  This is what I love so much about what I do.  Being able to travel the world and train aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs) is a dream job for me.  Of course, travel is not the glamorous world it used to be in days of yore.  But once you arrive at your destination you get to experience and indulge in the local cultures and customs.

I have had the good fortune to share a glass of cold beer with colleagues in my industry in many different countries of the world, many different provinces here in my home country of Canada and also many different states in the USA; and get paid for doing it to boot.  Of course it isn’t always a cold beer because it could be a hot cup of coffee, but you get my point of local cultures and customs.

Recently, in a place in northern Ontario, I was driving my rental car from my hotel to the airport to conduct training for the week.  This particular Monday was a Statutory Holiday in Canada, so the traffic was virtually non-existent at such an early hour.  I arrived with lots of time to spare, having scoped out the training location the day before, when I arrived on the Sunday evening and picked up my rental car from the airport.  That’s why I knew I wasn’t seeing things that were there the day before; even though it did look like a static display.  A statue of sorts.  As I was driving up the hill towards the edge of the airport, through the early morning mist, I could see, quite clearly, two magnificent looking moose.

I say two magnificent moose because the plural of a single moose just so happens to be moose!  The word "moose" came from the Algonquian Indians and so consequently its plural, instead of being "mooses" or "meese", is the same as the singular.  If you’re interested, that is true of most Indian names where a plural is concerned.  Such is the stress free life of the indigenous population of North America perhaps. 

So, although I wasn’t too happy to leave my family on the Sunday of a long holiday weekend to travel up to the Canadian north by my lonesome, that all changed when I was blessed with such a gift as to watch two majestic creatures of Canada just ‘chilling’ a stone’s throw from the side of the road.  With being early I was able to just sit there, drinking my coffee, and enjoy the view bestowed on me.

A relatively simple, and free, pleasure; but priceless nonetheless.

1 June 2012 ~ HE WHO DIES WITH THE MOST TOYS IS STILL DEAD

Now there’s a headline catcher for you.  I wish I could take credit for it but, alas, not.  This headline was on a sign outside a church that I drove past over twenty years ago; and I still make a point of driving past it to this day.  I can’t remember all of their signs, but this one hasn’t left me for a brace of decades and likely never will.  At the time, in my early thirties, I didn’t fully appreciate the gravity of this message.  But now, in my mid-fifties, and a parent to my own three adult children, it has started to make great sense to me. 

With the hope and anticipation that I may enjoy the honour and milestone of grandparenthood someday, it appears to be a good time for me to be reminded that all the wealth and inventory of material possessions that we, as a society, strive for, cannot be taken with you.  In fact, regardless of all material possessions and amassed wealth, the last suit I will wear has no requirement for pockets.  Like it or not, there will still be steaks in the freezer and a half-used tube of toothpaste in the bathroom.  You bow off this mortal coil with exactly what you came in with; nothing.  So the question that bodes is this; what do you plan to leave behind?  The wealth can be spent and the possessions can be sold.  This means that all of the ‘trophies’ count for naught.

It is my hope, like most people, that I will leave behind a legacy of sorts.  Something that can’t be corroded with time, or hocked off for some mullah.  The right legacy should not be high-maintenance and should have a timeless shelf-life when handled correctly.  But how does one leave behind a legacy that clearly states that yes, this man, or woman, did indeed, walk on this earth; and walked well.  Walked with kindness and walked with love.  With wisdom and with honour.  Courage and valour.  Love and empathy.  With compassion and humility.

In this digital era that we live in, it is clear that our life on earth can be captured through the medium of high definition video footage shot in glorious Technicolor.  But is that enough?

My initial thoughts are that the only way to leave such a legacy will require that I live in a manner, such, that I exude and personify all that I believe to be right and good and true.  I can’t help but wonder if it really is that simple.  My best answer at this time is, perhaps.

Now that we have entered June 2012, and I await my fifty-fourth birthday later in the month, I’m going to take this month to reflect on what has been and ponder a wee bit on what will be.  There is no doubt that the church’s headline is true; and, for that reason, I will take the time to go within to make sure that I am on-track, so that when I leave, I will not only be remembered, but I will not be forgotten.

Sunday, 13 May 2012 ~ THE VIEW; OTHER-SIDE, INSIDE-OUT OR OUTSIDE-IN

So let’s start with the grass.  After all, as with everything, grass is viewed.  Meaning it has to be seen.  I wonder how many of us remember that old American (yes, it would appear to stem from the United States circa 1957) proverb of discontent that states “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence”?  What initially surprises me is that grass has probably been around since the year ‘dot’ and fences – of one sort or another – probably followed in short order; whether man made or animal made.  Yet this proverb is only a little bit older than humble me.

But I digress.  I am here to talk about views; from the outside-in, or the inside-out or even as viewed from the aforementioned other-side.

I was always happy with the view on my side (of the fence), but fell afoul of a clever seduction in recent history.  So, to quote another famous proverb… “Look before you leap”.

So, now that I have been ‘seduced’ to the other-side because the view from the outside, looking in, was enticing; I took my eye off the ball, by forgetting that the view on my side of the fence was perfectly fine.  Once I was inside, looking out, the view changed quite dramatically.  Here’s another one for you; “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig”.  Yes indeed, it is somewhat profound, I agree.  The point is, from the outside, looking in, my view was distorted by what I thought was a thing of beauty; I didn’t see the pig for the lipstick!  And for a while I couldn’t get that lipstick off my collar.

What I am talking about here is my work.  My career.  My livelihood.  However it could be your partner/soul-mate, your house, your car… anything.  With all of the due-diligence done, I was still taken for a fool.

Being the eternal optimist, I was able to overcome and then I simply moved on.  As it turns out, I am now more in control than I ever was, and better for it to boot.  So I give out many thanks to the pig!

Moral of this story?    Before you make a major decision, even after all of your due-diligence, try to dig deeper so that you can see the view from the inside-out before you actually venture in.

ABBREVIATE OR AMPLIFY?

Tuesday, 8 May 2012 ~ ABBREVIATE OR AMPLIFY?

Did you know that the official abbreviation for the month of June is Jun?  You need to be in a real hurry, one would think.  The thing about the month of May is that the official abbreviation for May is, May.  One can see immediately, that the angst of making any abbreviating decisions, and related indiscretions, has been eliminated.

This particular day, 8 May 2012, is the second anniversary of my dear old mum’s passing.  I, with my sister, was at her bed side when she left.  I was grateful for that because my sister and I live in Canada and mum lived in England; just outside her beloved Liverpool in a town called Runcorn.  Within 48 hours, our spouses were with us.  We had 2 weeks to clear out mum’s house.  The 4 of us abbreviated my mother’s whole life of 72 years, 6 months and 6 days in to 2 weeks.  The emotions of overwhelming sadness and guilt for what, and how, we were ‘abbreviating’ mum and her history is beyond words for this entry.  What was important was that nothing got wasted.  There is nothing sadder than a life wasted.  Most of the furniture went to charity; as did mum’s extensive wardrobe with some of the most exquisite robes that date back to the 1960’s.  Yes, it was like a time warp.  A trip back in to our childhood when we last saw the young and vibrant mum dressed to kill with dad on her arm.  I brought home some furniture that has some sentimental value.  I also brought home my mums’ life; her photographs and her music… including all the vinyl.

Today is not a day to abbreviate my mum’s life.  Today is a day to amplify my mum’s life, with music, and a wander through the mists of time in the endless photo albums that she made with such care; including all the comments! 

Go out there and amplify someone today.  And remember; it’s Mother’s Day in just 5 more days’ time.  Sunday 13 May 2012 is a day to honour our mothers.  I have done that today for mine.