It began with the wedding of my daughter's best friend where I happened to run into two of my childhood friends who I haven't seen in some time. It was good to share memories and get caught up with their lives. It was wonderful to witness two young people beginning their life together. There was so much to be thankful for.
Sunday morning, a friend and I headed over to Gabriola Island to do some caching and to meet up with our kayaking friends on the beach for lunch. It was a beautiful day and we needed to be outdoors. The day before we had lost a good man who left this world way too young. So we spent the morning finding caches and then we received the coordinates of where our lunch gathering would be. Being great "cachers" we had no problem at all finding the lunch "cache".
It was good to be with pals and share stories about our friend , it was a time to laugh and a time to mourn and in sharing our grief the healing process began.
Gabriola Island is full of parks and trails and we never seem to have enough time there. One could walk for hours crisscrossing the trails near the shore and traveling to all the little beaches.
Today was our lucky day. Just before heading back we found two caches that we had searched for three or four times before. Today we made the two quick finds and so our bushwhacking effort was well paid for and we left the island feeling quite successful and a little more accepting of the sadness in life.
The following day I was blessed to be able to go kayaking with my buddy who paddles as often as I hike, actually more than I hike. We headed out from Genoa bay and traveled down the coastline and around Separation point to Sansum Narrows. It was a glorious day to be out on the water.
The waters were calm and so it was an easy paddle and a time to be reflective and just enjoy the animal and sea life we saw along the way. I found it especially wonderful as I could look up at the hills I normally hike and see where the view lookouts were. It was great to see it all from the "other side". It is always helpful in life to be able to see things from both sides, it just gives one another perspective.
We stopped at three beaches, morning hot chocolate break, lunch break and then a final stop to hide a cache and take a swim. Yes, the water was a bit cold but totally refreshing. It was a day of light conversations, sharing of childhood stories and just being thankful for natures beauty.
It's hard to believe that so much could happen in just three days. Life for one ended, a marriage began, friends explored the outdoors together connecting with nature both on the land and on the water. Sometimes I wonder if I should keep myself so busy but then something happens and once again I am reminded how short life really is and how precious each moment is.
Time spent with family and friends needs to be valued, time spent outdoors on the trails or on the water needs to be savoured. When the time comes that I am no longer able to hike or explore I want to be able to look back at all the wonderful times I had being out in creation and remember how healing it was. Life is hard, but life is also very good and for me, to keep it all in balance I need to connect with creation often. It gives me time to breath, time to reflect and reminds me of all the good in life there is. The blessing we have here on our island are abundant and they out weigh the hurts and the pain we sometimes feel, a million times over. Life is good.
