Yes I am home. A great time was had by all! Whistler is nothing like I remember. It's been about 16 years since I visited. Everything - from the drive up to the village itself is new. Wow.

I really enjoyed my day. I walked, watched, window shopped, read and rested. Just what the doctor ordered. Can I recommend it to everyone?! Just one day!

When we returned home, Reid's sister and her husband from Nova Scotia came for the weekend. Her husband came out for a work conference and they are making a holiday of it. It was great to see them. We had a beautiful day on Saturday and there is nothing better than showing off our town of Hope in the sunshine!

But all good things come to an end...so I am off to clean my kitchen, do a truck load of laundry and get ready for school.

DEEP THOUGHT OF THE DAY: (by Jack Handey)
If you are robbing a bank and your pants suddenly fall down, I think it's okay to laugh and to let the hostages laugh too. Because, come on, life is funny.

Reid & I are hitting the road! Two nights at Whistler! We are very excited. Reid has to work but I...well, let's just say I get to spend my day doing ANYTHING I WANT!! Just hanging out, people watching, reading, walking...*sigh*.... I am so ready.

In a totally unrelated (random!) thought - I have been thinking about Mother Teresa the last couple days. Not sure why! Here's some wisdom from her...

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.

Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person,
a beautiful thing.

I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each
other.

Intense love does not measure, it just gives.


She's got so many wise words....these are just the tip of the iceberg. But perhaps enough to think about for the time being.

Last night's community meeting was, for the most part, a very useful meeting. It was an opportunity for Trustees, for educators, for students, for community members and for parents to come together and voice thoughts, ideas, concerns and excitment. I thought that, with the exception of one angry person, it was respectful and thoughtful.

I guess I want to be clear on a couple things. One, I am certainly not totally opposed to this venture. I can see where it has potential to be a great thing. I am not convinced that the HSS venue can accomodate the co-location idea - but I do see the merit in the idea being proposed.

Two, it would seem that many people are picking up on this "fear" point. Fear is really the wrong word here. Perhaps the problem is the limitations of words - I may talk a paragraph of concerns and yes, a point in that paragraph is related to the idea of my child's safety. But it is much more multi-faceted than straight fear. My inability to express the larger picture here probably contributes to this perception but hear me when I say - physical safety is a very minor point in this equation.

I am also not completely hung up on criminal record checks being done as a means to ensure safety of HSS students. A comment on my previous blog made me realize that it is difficult to explain fully thoughts and ideas in cyber-space! I don't think that having safety expectations reinforces stereotypes. But I do see the point being made. I don't think that if we brought UCFV students into HSS that it would be beneficial to have them all do record checks. To give some context to my train of thought, in a previous meeting, parents were told that UCFV students would have to go through some sort of screening process before they would be able to go to class at the HSS campus. What does that look like? Is that something that can REALLY be done? And is it something that should even be done??

If anything, I feel optimism after our meeting. I think that it was clear that everyone felt that this idea, no matter how good, may have been rushed and there needs to be more diaglogue. I think it was recognized that the process so far, has been flawed. It appears that this will be remedied. I think many very legitimate concerns were raised and I certainly hope they were heard. I think that in the world of academia - everything looks and sounds good on paper. The ideas of why this could be a good thing were certainly lovely. Idealistic even. I am just getting stuck in the reality thing. I want to see how this could play out in real life.

I hope they continue this discussion. Not just in terms of mandates and education ideals (and no, I'm not saying these don't have a place!) - but in terms of what it could really look like. Start laying out some concrete plans. And bring them to the public. Let's discuss them. Then go back - maybe re-work them - and bring them out again for discussion. I don't think that time should be considered - we need to give this all the time it needs.

The idea, and all the students affected are worth a good deal of time and effort.

Can I rant? Just for a minute.....or two.

Tonight Reid & I will be attending a Community Meeting to be held our our High School to discuss the University College of the Fraser Valley and our Highschool joining together in a co-location agreement. In short, UCFV will move its classes and offices into our local HighSchool.

Like many of you, I discovered this co-location agreement only upon reading about it in our local newspaper. There was NO discussion about it with educators, parents or students. That in and of itself is apalling enough. The whole idea, while it may not be the worst thing to ever happen, raises many questions that need to be answered before entering into such an agreement. What will be done to ensure safety - am I really comfortable with my just turned 13 yr old walking the halls with adults who, as students, have no need for a criminal record check? Will adults pursuing entry level college courses really be comfortable in a highschool? Given the range of ages that will be attending classes - how much will that affect the quality of the highschool students' experience? What concerns were ever addressed by the Trustees? Why can't UCFV used the HSS facility after regular school hours? Was there input from teachers at HSS?

Of course these are just a few of many questions that need to be addressed.

And this doesn't even touch on the issue of what our elected officials have done. They made a very serious decision without ANY consultation. None. In fact, a friend attended one of the school board meetings and one of our trustees said that in expressing our (parental) concerns, we were making a 'mountain out of a molehill!" and worse yet it was her belief that in cases such as this, the board needs to make decisions for the public even if it means they "Take the pulic kicking and screaming!" WHAT??

So tonight we enter into our one chance for public debate. I'm SO looking forward to it.

Simplicity of Character
is the natural result of profound thought.

~William Hazlitt (1778-1830)

Reid & I watched the Michael Moore film "Sicko" last night. I have to admit that I am a fan of Michael Moore although I do understand why there are those who take exception to his style.

"Sicko" compares the American Health Care system with those of the so called Socialist systems found in Canada, Britain and France.

I was so grateful - hugely grateful - to be Canadian. I cannot believe that Americans are not protesting in massive outrage against the Health Care system in their country. I love being part of a country that values all human life. That the quality of my care is not subject to how wealthy I am. HealthCare should never be a choice that we have to make based on our bank accounts. Phoebe spent a week in the hospital when she was less than 6 months old. She had whooping cough. I think that event would have changed the course of our lives had we lived elsewhere. My niece had to have life saving surgery when she was days old. How different would her family's life be had they not been in Canada? Even my accident and all the tests and exams and therapy I needed as a result. I can't even imagine how we could have paid for it all. Even if we had health insurance (although, it would appear that Reid & I would not be eligible for insurance because of his high blood pressure and my heart problems!) we still would have wound up in debt.

It's a good watch. Entertaining, disturbing, thought provoking. I would encourage you to see it. It'll make for some great discussion.

Moments ago I put down a book.

A beautiful and powerful book. I don't think that I could express to you the jumble of emotions I feel at this moment - and even if I could, I'm not sure I'd want to. What I do want is for you to read this book. Really.

The book is called "The Shack" by William P. Young.

I'll be really honest - today I feel overwhelmed, profoundly and deeply sad. Even as I look outside and I see glorious mountains capped with snow, blue sky and spring flowers starting to bloom. So while MY world is beautiful and blessed - elsewhere it just ain't so.

Our world is so broken. Maybe I should stop listening to the news. But maybe it is important to have my heart break with the tragedy of the world. It started a couple days ago as I watched the frustration and irritation of the people of Zimbabwe as they wait for results from an election that, with each passing day, appears to be rigged. This morning I heard a radio documentary about babies in Kenya. Babies born of incest that are abandoned because of the deep rooted cultural belief that these babies are cursed and that they will bring death and destruction into any village that they are a part of. Incest and rape are a huge problem. Why? Because AIDS has left children vulnerable and open to abuse. Social agencies cannot keep up with the volume of babies in their care. And this is on top of children living with AIDS already in the care of agencies. These children are virtually un-adoptable so they will live and die in government run homes. This documentary was followed up by a story of the men who died off the coast of Newfoundland/Labrador. Lost at sea while being "rescued" by the Coast Guard. Four families forever changed. This all on top of Iraq and Afghanistan, of violence in Somalia and Tibet.

Our world is broken.

I don't necessarily want to be cheered up. I actually think it is a good thing to feel the weight of the world's woes on occasion. It keeps perspective for me. My life is not the norm for the majority of the world. It is easy to become self centered. So I guess I'll accept the sorrow of this day knowing my sorrow is nothing compared to the people who are enduring the pain directly.