Another Year Down....

As I sit on the couch drinking coffee and taking in the carnage of Christmas surrounding me it is hard to believe 2013 is coming to a close. It seems like just yesterday that we were enjoying this same scene wondering what 2013 would hold in store. As I reflect on the year, a truly great year I must say, I realize, as most of you reading this will already know, we did a lot of the same things in 2013 that we did in 2012... and 2011 .... So instead of a year end review I have decided to share with you a couple things I have learned in 2013.

First, time is the most valuable thing we own.  It is believable to me how fast time seems to be moving at this stage in our lives.  It seems like just a winter or two ago that Marla and I were loading up the boys in the sleds to pull them around West Lake.  Then all of a sudden Graeme is turning 15 in a couple of weeks and Connor is tying his tie to go to Christmas dinner (ya, don't ask about the tie thing at least it is not a cape and fuzzy pants, been there done that).  Time together with family and friends is so precious and there always seems to be something competing for this finite resource.  I have realized this year that unless you are willing to make time, say no to a few things, turn off the outside noise and be present in the moment no one is going to do it for you and before you realize it those moments will be gone. It seems simply and really boils down to time in has to be greater than time out. 


Second, work is work, play is play and play is always better!  Both Marla and I have had a great year at work.  We both enjoy our jobs, work with people we value, have a good mix of stimulation, fun and reward and are lucky to have much more good than bad in our work days.  However, with that all said work is still something you do so you can enjoy the play (even if your play often looks like work).  Work comes with rules, regulations, procedures, commitments both mental and physical.  Play is passion, compromise, liberating and empowering.  Too often the work part of your life takes over and reduces your willingness or ability to play.  Play is what feeds us and we need to nurture it, even if that play looks a lot like lying in the sun having a nap.

With New Years staring me in the face I don't really believe in resolutions but I am going to try and keep these two things firmly in mind as I make my way through 2014.  Graeme will be heading back to Kelowna in a few weeks, Connor is quickly approaching the end of Elementary School and we are too quickly moving through this stage of our lives so I am going to try and slow things down and make sure we enjoy it all.

 

Heroes

 

Yesterday the world lost a great man, maybe even one of the last truly great men left.  Nelson Mandela died at the age of 95 leaving a legacy of hope, justice and forgiveness behind.  I became aware of Nelson Mandela in the 1980's when the issue of Apartheid in South Africa was the popular issue for world activists much like Free Tibet is today.  Songs like Sun City, Biko, and Free Nelson Mandela along with movies such as Cry Freedom brought the issue of racial segregation to the middle class suburban masses of Canada and the United States.  It was through the story of Nelson Mandela that as a teenager I became interested in history and the stories the world held beyond the typical cold war rhetoric I had grown up with.  For me Nelson Mandela became a man to look up to, someone embodied strength, determination, compassion, sacrifice, caring and the willingness to sacrifice himself for his ideals.  Since my teenage years Nelson Mandela has always been there as a symbol that not all sacrifices go unrewarded, sometimes right does win and individuals do matter. For me Nelson Mandela was the living embodiment of histories greatest figures like Martin Luther King Jr and Ghandi.

The world is messier now than it was then.  We like to focus on the failings of people and we live in a world where people's personal lives and every misstep are often exposed to the world.  Professional athletes are regularly in the news for being arrested, our politician caught in scandal, our heroes constantly being brought back down to earth.  Mandela and his fight against Apartheid reminds us of a simpler time when there was a right and wrong stance and it was OK to pick sides, even if the people you were siding with weren't perfect.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/nelson-mandela-dead-at-95-1.2417872
Mandela's Release from Prison Speech
Who's is Nelson Mandela
Mandela, The Man and His Country