May 18~ June 22: Settling, Realizing and Gratitude

We are beginning to feel somewhat like locals; it has been 4 months since the border crossing incident and since we committed to the north shore way of life. The settling portion of this blog explores how living in one place gives many opportunities to build relationships, explore locally and sink into gratitude practices.

This last week in particular was a week of truly living it up on the north shore. It seems if you are settled here you are either biking, hiking, paddling or all of the above and more. Between the two of us, we did it all in this last epic week of fit and fun. It was Luke's birthday on June 20th which gave us a kick to rent a sea kayak and two paddle boards. Not on purpose—it turns out that I am not willing to push myself anymore and the kayak was way to heavy to carry, so we traded it for paddle boards. We did get out for one paddle in the kayak, with the help of some locals, who helped Luke lift it off and on the car :)

Notice how busy this place is...it's in Deep Cove, the most popular place for water paddling of every kind. There was a race happening this night, we just missed the crowd launching. We are enjoying people watching after our paddle, as we eat our picnic dinner.

Birthday Man, waiting for his birthday lunch—accessing the child within

Gratitude is a thread in our lives, and I notice how much it shifts my attitude, particularly in the present moment. When I made the call that in fact the kayak was too heavy, I was letting go of a "hard ass" part of myself, and inviting in a balanced and fit for life, part of myself. Not always easy, but always rewarding when gratitude is chosen as a virtue. I am grateful that I listen and that there are other choices—like paddling boarding!

I looked over at Luke tonight on an evening walk through Capilano canyon, when I noticed that he has truly transformed. I am inspired and grateful to be this man's partner in life. He has been particularly focused on becoming physically fit, using the Strength For Life program by Sean Phillips. Look at this guy!

Luke preparing to crush his favourite—stuffed French toast, Luke rocking' a gelato; and lastly Luke on his birthday at one of his favourite restaurants, Buddha-Full getting ready to decimate a vegan apple sage sausage wrap.

That's a wee joke (a little insiders view of my type of humour). On a more serious note look at this fit man. I am so blessed!

It is a balance of fuel and fitness!

I would like to touch on the realizing part of the blog now. As I mentioned earlier, I realize that gratitude is essential for full living. I also realize that living in a city is really hard for me, even though there is major nature steps away and much adventure and fun to be had, living next to the buzz of a major city like Vancouver is rather challenging. The exhaust, the sheer number of cars and the tourism is wild. A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of working downtown, right in the thick of it, next to an apartment building designated for drug users. The smell of urine and garbage, sprinkled with syringes was part of the hardness of being in a city. Yet, I was grateful to offer service and be introduced to an amazing organization, The Native Court Workers and Counselling of BC. I felt welcomed and had wonderful, humour-filled conversations! Would I do it again?... probably not...my level of sensitivity, which is a gift, can not tolerate that type of treatment. The treatment of riding transit, walking with hundreds of people and being surrounded by concrete and darkness. Realizing and settling into my unique needs, knowing my boundaries and how to support my gifts. I am so GRATEFUL!

On another note, I would like to end with sharing about beings with feathers. A wee new robin on our deck—I just love baby birds. A family of geese, strolling along a city path, such a good example of how it is possible to grow and live in the city. A crow, no need to say more here. And a heron; heron medicine is very strong for me right now. I feel like heron is speaking straight to my heart, asking me to rise up and BE ME!

*a note on the baby robin in case you are concerned about her, as I was (this is Luke). She was just standing there, two feet from the front door, and not moving when I came close. I thought I might have to adopt her as my mom had 10 years ago when she found one with a deformed foot with a dog fast approaching it. (She ended up raising it to maturity and it flew off and joined other robins at the end of the summer). I googled it and found this great video that cleared up a widespread misunderstanding about what to do with baby birds out of their nests (assuming they aren't being stalked by dog or cat). Essentially, if they've got feathers, like this one, leave them, they are fledgling and the mother is likely around within a couple blocks. They are in a phase of mostly hopping around on the ground, practicing hunting, but still being fed and looked after by their mothers. Indeed, 20 minutes later, this little one flew up into a tree.