Summer Break??

Summer is in full swing around here. It's hot, just like a Kelowna summer should be. The garden is up and running and pumping out radishes at light speed. My ten year old son, Hunter, loves to find the best and biggest radish of the day, pop it in his mouth, roll it around in there, spit out the dirt, and chomp away. The carrots are still the size of toothpicks, but hey, a little anticipation is good for us. We are sliding in to our summer routine, which is basically...no routine. Every June, I determine that this will be the year that I am on top of things during the break. I will get up early three days a week and exercise. I will make a chore chart for the kids to follow. The house will sparkle with the care and attention it is receiving. We will take weekly jaunts to places yet unseen, hike the trails behind our house, and I will ride my new bicycle every day and ride my old horse twice a week. Oh and I will also write one hour every day. All this should be easy, because I am not working this summer, and I need things to do!
The reality is a bit different. We sleep in, skip breakfast, swim in the pool, have lunch, do a few errands, barbecue something yummy for dinner, swim, read and sleep again. What happened?! What is it about summer, this short Canadian season we all look forward to for ten months, that wreaks havoc with all my good intentions and plans ?
I think I am learning something here (maybe). Perhaps this is the season to allow our plans to fly out the kitchen window along with the cherry pits my kids love to launch out there. I think there is a beauty in letting the days slide into each other. In foregoing the gym for a swim. Letting the house get a little grungy. Maybe this year I can let go, and be okay with my non-schedule for a little while.
I do want to write, and I think about writing every day, so I intend to get cracking in that regard. And I fully intend to read every book in the large stack by my bed. And bike. And ride. And....oh, forget it.
Me and the fam are going camping next week....in a motorhome....to Oregon. I'm sure I will have lots to write about when I get back.
Stay tuned.

Shiny Happy People

We all want to be 'Shiny Happy People'. We want our lives to go well. We want to be happy. We want to have fun, to be carefree, to have no worries. Isn't this the Great (North) American Dream? To have enough money to sustain our lifestyle, with extra to pay for our toys, our trips, our dinners out. This, we say, is the life. Who could ask for anything more?
The flaw in this design, the fly in the ointment, isn't always clear. Sure, we are happy. Days slip away, one glorious self-indulgent day after the other, like so many grains of sand running through our fingers. Sure, we hit the occasional speed bump on our fast track to the good life. Sickness, divorce, a drinking problem, maybe a troubled child. These speed bumps jar us out of our slumber. We shake our heads, blink wildly and glance around, trying to get our bearings. Where are we? How did we get this far without really noticing? The speed bump acts as the proverbial smack on the back of the head, to shake us out of our complacency. And it works, for a little while. We hold our loved ones close. We are kind to our neighbour. We appreciate the beauty of our surroundings. We are thankful.
And then, slowly, quietly, we slip back into our self-absorbed snooze. Our focus shifts back onto ourselves and we blissfully allow it.
Genocide in Darfur? Hmm. Political unrest in Sri Lanka? Wow. Neighbour lost their job? Too bad.
What will it take to make us aware of our surroundings? and not just aware, but involved? Not just seeing, or hearing, but doing? What will it take to cause us as a people, a nation, to turn from our fat, spoiled, pampered selves to the dirty, gritty, sometimes smelly suffering that exists all around us? To ask ourselves, how can I? How can I help my neighbour, my country, my fellow man in pain? And then to do it?
We need to get our collective heads out of the sand. No more 'tut-tutting' about the plight of humanity. Let's educate ourselves, gain knowledge of those around us who are hurting, and then act in compassion. Have your jobless neighbour over for dinner. Volunteer at the food bank. Donate funds to one of the many organizations working tirelessly overseas.
We must get outside of ourselves. Once we take that first scary step that says 'there are more important things in this world than myself' we will be changed. We will be awake, and aware, and we will no longer be content to simply accumulate toys and plan our next trip.
The world will break our hearts, and our broken, bleeding, weeping hearts will in turn reach out to that world and change it.