First Family Camping Trip

It's Sunday morning, the sun is shining and I am thankful.
I live in a beautiful neighborhood, surrounded by nature and the comfort of familiar smells. I have an amazing little family, a daughter whom I admire for such imagination, creativity and talent, and a partner whom I love and respect so dearly for all that we have accomplished together. They both mean the world to me.

Today we are packing up to go on our first camping trip. We will stay one night at the Long Sault Parkway. Becca is so excited. So am I. I can't wait to have this special family time together, because I remember so fondly that camping was the highlight of my youth. As a child I'm sure that I have probably camped every single year up until the age of 18. Now as we pack on this trip, I realized for the first time that I haven't camped out in almost eight years. So I am really looking forward to it. This is one tradition I hope to pass on and one that I hope Becca enjoys as much as I did.

Give

What I would give for your pain to go away
I'd give you the strength to face another day.
What I would give to see that smile upon your face.
I'd give you all the love I have to fill that empty place.

I was looking back through some old notebooks... Notebooks from more than four years ago when I used to live in Ottawa. I would write fairly consistently in my travels because I always traveled by bus and I would always meet the most interesting people, so I never left the house without my writing tools. I wrote of this one woman, whom I spoke with who really struck a chord with me. What got our conversation started was a book that I was reading at the time called 'The artists Way'.
'That's a really good book.' She said. 'I wish I had read it when I was your age.' We talked for quite some time when she told me that she was approaching her fifties. What really spoke to me that I felt necessary to write down was when this complete stranger told me that 'Life is not about caring what other people think, or shaking it up on the dance floor or looking gorgeous. It's about confidence. Believing in yourself and holding your head up high. I'm not thin like you, but that does not mean I am not beautiful. I know this because I used to be a size 3, and I am more happy now than I was then. Be happy with who you are and that is all that counts.'

To love... and be loved

I love you. I love everything about you, and I accept you no matter what... as you are.

Come back little toad

I can't stop watching this video... I took it last august, after I found a toad in the garden. Becca loved it.