Today I turned 49

Not a bad age but to be honest, I wasn't really happy about it when I woke up this morning(and by this morning, I guess I really mean yesterday morning, but as I haven't been to bed yet.. This morning it remains :o). 
It wasn't so much about being older..I'm ok with that. It was more a case of what I've accomplished in my 49 years of life or more to the point, what I haven't accomplished.

I crawled out of bed and felt what is becoming the all too familiar aches and pains of starting my day, and noticed that I had already received some Happy Birthday texts..As I drank my morning juice by my computer I saw that my e-mail,Facebook and Twitter were also filled with kind words from my Phenomenal family and friends... 
I have to level with you... It took me out of my Birthday doldrums and made me smile Huge.
It also changed the way I was thinking and I started reevaluating my life and this past year, not so much in the things I may have accomplished or how much money I may or may not have, but in terms of what I have learned.

This year, for example, I learned to be kinder in how I view others. I learned that sometimes when you see what appears to be an homeless man on disability balancing a 24 of Budweiser on his walker, that sometimes that box is not actually full of beer, but instead full of food from the food bank. You wouldn't actually know that unless you watched him long enough to see him stop and pull out a jar of peanut butter to give it to some other person that he felt needed it more than he did.

I learned that in relationships, perhaps what we are capable of is less important than what we are willing to try.

I learned to follow through when I get that feeling to write or call someone, because sometimes they might need a friendly voice, or even a hug(and everyone needs hugs :o)

I have learned that there isn't a joy or sadness that isn't made exponentially better by sharing it with someone who cares about you.

I have learned that to be a true friend means not only being there for someone, but allowing then to be there for you as well.

I have learned that there is no reason to give a false or insincere compliment. Everyone has real gifts and qualities, and we only have to look into their personal pool of awesome to find something real to compliment them on.

And not lastly, but the last one I will write about in this post;
If you spend your time with others, building them up and helping them see their inner awesome.. Sometimes when you look in the mirror at night, you will see a glimpse of your own.


Thank you to my Amazing Family and Friends... For making this day and all of my rest..... Completely Awesome.


Peace Kiddies  

Lesson Learned

So here I was one lovely evening on a bus, reducing my carbon footprint on the environment(My P.R. person tells me that women find that statement sexy LOL) and listening to some happy music on my mp3 player when I glanced to my right and spotted a man somewhere in his 30's doing the same thing.. But with one difference. I was sitting still and expressionless, but he was Air Drumming,... in public,.... on the bus, and not caring one iota who was watching, snickering or even laughing behind his back.

Now I admit that my first reaction to seeing him was one of thinking that he was less than sane.. I mean who does that? Then I looked around and saw that most of the people on that bus were doing the same thing as me.. Listening to their music.. Straight faced and devoid of any exterior emotion.. And it occurred to me that my someone eclectic co passenger was actually the most sane one of us there.... Music evokes emotion.. it makes us move,dance, clap and sing along. I was listening to Annie Lennox, "Put a Little Love in your Heart".. if I had been at home alone when that was on, I would have been singing and dancing away.. But I have taught myself to sit there unmoving when I am in public.

It got me thinking about how we do that in our day to day life... When we look at children, they are unrestrained.. They Love and Feel with their whole hearts.. When a child gives you a big hug.  You know that you've been hugged, but as we grow older and put on our Grown up pants... We slowly learn to tuck that all away.. We may have moments of  doing or feeling with abandon, but they are pretty sparse compared to the hours we spend being and behaving the way we think adults are supposed to.
Isn't that why young love is so beautiful? They haven't been scarred yet, so they go into it fearlessly with everything they have.. When we get older.. we kind of dance around it.. We don't want to play all of our cards and spook the other person, or open ourselves to hurt.
But I have to ask myself, what are we missing out on?


Honestly I have no answers...No big piece of advice to tie this all together. I only know, that I learned an important lesson that night from a complete stranger. I know that I am going to make a point of letting my inner 6 year old come out and play.. and allow myself to feel and live with my whole heart. Yes, it could lead to more scars..but it also leads to joyful tears and belly laughs...It leads to being awestruck at the full moon and cherishing the Suns rays and of course being silly for no reason at all.

All in all, I think that's worth risking a few scars over... Don't you?




Peace Kiddies :o)

Jann Arden 2012 London!!!! Review

I can sum up Jann Ardens show in London last week in one word... AWESOME!! If I could use two words then they would be Fabulously Awesome. I can tell you that I laughed, smiled and even choked back a few tears. That's the thing with Jann's music, it touches your soul.

I should start by saying a bit about her band. Such a gifted group of Musicians.. After listening to their intros that highlighted their individual talents, I had the strong impression that each of these amazing performers could have been center stage for their own shows. In fact Allison Cornell who did vocals and violin has her own solo work out(She was quite amazing), and yet they played together as if that was all they had ever done, each complimenting the others in their performance. It just shows the caliber of artist that we were privileged to see.
Jann Arden herself was wonderful, The girl is just so funny, she had us laughing one minute swaying to her hypnotic  voice the next. She looked so incredibly at home on the stage and immediately had us feeling like she wasn't so much headlining a concert, but instead entertaining a gathering of friends.

She started out with some of her new stuff, which includes some old classics like Rocket Man and Misty Blue, then eased us into her older hits, including everyone's  favourites "Where no one knows me", "Could I be your girl", and of course "Good Mother".

Her music is filled with warm breezes, smiles and memories of driving down the road with the radio cranked singing at the top of your lungs, and I felt it all sitting there.
While some concerts have you leaving ready to "fight for your right"..  I left that show with a smile on my face and my world being a little lighter, brighter and warm.

Even though the show was about 2 hours long,  time flew by. No sooner had it begun it seemed they were doing their encore, leaving us wanting more, of course, but also going home feeling better than when we arrived. It's a week later and I still carry it with me.

In closing I would like to thank The John Labatt Center for providing the tickets. My Friend Cheri McLeod for spear heading the project to go as reviewers, and lastly, but certainly not least, Jann Arden and her Awesome band for sharing their talents with us. I can't wait until the next time :o)

Peace Kiddies 

Message for Friday

On those days, and we all have them. Where you don't feel strong enough, or smart enough...When you have done something that you regret and just don't like yourself.. You look in the mirror and all you can see is that your hair isn't right, and you don't look like a fashion model or Antonio Banderas..Those days when you just don't feel "good enough"...
Close your eyes and think of the one who loves you best of all... Take a moment and see yourself through their eyes... They see you for all of your wonderful qualities and your worse flaws and love you anyways.. Remember the look, and the feeling. Then take a deep breath.. smile and carry it with you through out your day.
It may not be a significant other.. Maybe it's a friend, or a child or even a parent...Who ever it is.. hold it with you and know that you are strong, smart and beautiful... You are more than good enough. You are AWESOME!!!

Now go out and let your Awesome shine.


Peace Kiddies

For Today

Today, I leave you with just a thought:

You never know who is having a bad day, who is feeling alone, you never know who can't see their own "Awesome" in the mirror.. So today, lets give those random Hugs.. lets share that extra smile.. Lets spread Joy where we go, because we have no idea what a difference it could make.


Peace Kiddies {{{HUG}}}

Why the heck are you asking Me?

I read something funny on Twitter today, and I stole it.. The tweet went something like “Someone asked me a question about relationships. That’s kind of like asking the Pope to name all the members of Korn”.

It was funny because about 2 hours later I received an e-mail from a buddy of mine that I haven’t seen in a while asking ME relationship advice.. Me, Mr. Divorced, no relationship Dude.. So I threw that line at him and he now thinks I’m way funnier than I am(Yeah Me).

He was wondering if the woman he is seeing is “The” woman…

After cracking the joke, this is what I told him..

Besides all that stuff we hear about having things in common and chemistry(which is certainly good stuff to consider), I think that maybe it comes down to a  few things:

1) Does the person give you something that no one else does or can? Even in a relationship, we meet all sorts of people, and can even be attracted to some of them.. But does your potential significant other give you something unique that only comes from them? The way they laugh, the way they make you feel, the way they know and accept you? Whatever that magic ingredient is that makes them special.. If so Great, if not, maybe you’re not done looking.

2)Do you feel better, more complete even, when you are together.. No, you don’t want to be glued together, but you should always look forward to feeling the way you do when you are .. If you do? Great, if not… well, maybe they are not the one.

3)Can you be with them and still be “You”.. That is just so important.

If you can, how awesome is that.. If not.. well you know.

And Finally..

4)If you look at yourself through their eyes.. Do you see the best of yourself? 

Really I should have just forwarded his question to any number of happy couples that I know... But deep down inside, I'm a hopeless Romantic, and for all I know, the Pope may be a huge Korn fan(You never know :o)

Peace Kiddies

The day that I chose NOT to be nice

I know that I talk about embracing each moment a lot, even the bad ones... And I really believe that.. Some days it's easier to do than others though. I share this day with you, to show that for all my good intentions. Sometimes I don't follow my own advice.

Today started out horribly. No particular reason, it's just how I woke up. Normally I wake up, pretty happy for a new day. Today was not such a day. I woke up grouchy and lonely and that kind of made me angry. Now normally I would try and count my blessings, be grateful for the amazing life that I actually have. Today I wanted no part of that. All I saw was the negative, I saw myself in the worse possible light.. 
Some people kindly refer to me as a "Nice guy", and that normally is a compliment for which I am grateful.. But today it actually stung in my mind.. I didn't want to be a nice guy.. Nice guys don't drive cool cars, or take vacations in Cuba every winter.. Nice guys don't get the girl...  And in my foul, sour mood.. I was determined that Today.. I would NOT be a "Nice guy"... Not today, I would be anything but that. This is what happened:

Shortly after getting up and making that monumental decision, I heard from my Step Dad, who is about 1000 years old.. He needed help moving something.. Well not being nice and being a total jerk are 2 different things. Of course I helped him out. My Mom called next, I may have been in a foul mood, but she is the only Mom I have.. so we chatted about a couple of things and she went about her day... Ok. Now I could stop being nice. I was about to take a shower for work, when the neighbour knocked on the door and needed a hand moving a washer...We got that moved smoothly between the 2 of us.
Showered and having left for work..I could finally start to leave the niceness behind me. The Universe seemed to be conspiring against me because as I was driving I saw this Elderly woman, she had been pulling one of those two wheel carts that they use to carry her groceries.. and it had somehow fallen over...Perfect opportunity to ignore her.. yeah right. I pulled over and helped her load up and get back on her way.. and as she was about to leave she gave me a big smile and thanked me for being "Such a nice man"...
I arrived at work and the residents in the nursing home have no idea that I am having a bad day.. and they don't need to. So I did my job as I always do. I did care, I sang, I told jokes.. I tried to make their day brighter.

While I was doing that I received some texts from a very cool friend sending me reasons to smile(how cool is that)..

On my way home my Sister, who is also my best friend in the world sent me a text as she'd had a rough day needed to vent. She would cut her arm off for me if she thought I could use it.. I wasn't about to say no. We had a nice chat.
That was pretty much my day... The day that I chose not to be nice.

I don't write this to show what a great guy I am.. That's not the point.

I'm writing this because I am so grateful for my amazing friends who somehow know when I need a smile.. and I am grateful for those opportunities we get each day to be nice to each other.

If I had followed through on my plan this morning, I can only imagine how I would feel about myself tonight.

True, I may never visit Cuba, I may never have a really cool car.. and who knows, I may never get the girl. I dare say though that what I do end up with is much more important than any of that.. I get to like.. No love who I see in the mirror...and that is good enough for me..


Peace Kiddies 

PS.. Next day add... I know perfectly wonderfully nice people have cool cars and take awesome vacations.. I just woke up with the "Grumpies" :o)