Alberta Roses in Full Bloom

Today I'm stopping to appreciate the beauty of wild Alberta roses- a perfect representation of the amazing people within our great province. To the city workers, volunteers, positive thinkers- near and far - you are the Alberta Wild Rose! What an incredible sight to see our province, especially Calgary, in full bloom after such a storm.

In the twenty-some years that I've lived in Calgary, I've never seen such turmoil. But my mood today is fanatically positive and militantly optimistic. I'm hopeful and confident in our ability to go back to our roots and grow together as a community- stronger and more beautiful than ever before. 

With true Albertan love & pride!

J.

Alberta Strong

June 20th 2013. A date Albertans will not soon forget. It will be forever remembered by Calgarian's as the day we awoke to find our city in a frenzy, lying beneath an outstretched river.

It’s rare for me to sit in front of a blank white computer screen and lose the battle of the unfailing flashing cursor. But today I am speechless. The battle has been lost. In these moments I trust only 2 things to adequately explain exactly how I feel: borrowed words from my favourite writer, and photographs of memories frozen in time. 

"There will be bad days. Be calm. Loosen your grip, opening each palm slowly. Now let go. Be confident. Know that now is only a moment, and that if today is as bad as it gets, understand that by tomorrow, today will have ended.Be gracious. Accept each extended hand offered, to pull you back from the somewhere you cannot escape. Be diligent. Scrape the gray sky clean. Realize every dark cloud is a smoke screen meant to blind us from the truth, and the truth is whether we see them or not - the sun and moon are still there and always there is light. Be forthright. Despite your instinct to say “it’s alright, I’m okay” - be honest. Say how you feel without fear or guilt, without remorse or complexity. Be lucid in your explanation, be sterling in your oppose. If you think for one second no one knows what you’ve been going through; be accepting of the fact that you are wrong, that the long drawn and heavy breaths of despair have at times been felt by everyone - that pain is part of the human condition and that alone makes you a legion. We hungry underdogs, we risers with dawn, we dissmisser’s of odds, we blesser’s of on –we will station ourselves to the calm." - Shane Koyczan

Listen to the full quote here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPU3t-x3Vz4
(Seriously, listen! I promise you won't regret it).

For my favourite city park - now submerged under water - a place that has always inspired and motivated me to strive for success in all my endeavors. You will never be quite the same. That's okay. Neither will we. Trust that we will rebuild you – so you can inspire our next generations to go fearlessly in search of new and unlimited success.

We are Alberta strong - we will carry on together.

Prince's Island Park - 03.2013

With faith, admiration & appreciation.

J.

Lessons & Contentment

I've learned two very valuable life lessons this past week. The first was this: the best thing you can do when it's raining... is to let it rain. Some things I simply cannot control. Although it seems like a rather obvious concept.. it still admittedly took me ~25 years to fully grasp. Oh well.

It rained nonstop for 7 days in Northern Alberta this past week. I realized I could never live anywhere that gets that much rain. Arriving back home yesterday after a very long work week, and an equally long commute back to Calgary that involved a helicopter ride, and a prop plane ride through a Tornado in Edmonton, I was beyond thrilled to plant my feet on YYC soil. I got lost in the sunshine I'd been craving all week.

The second lesson I learned this week- one that I'm ever digesting- is to be content with what I have. In moments that I realize there's nothing essential lacking in my life I am overwhelmed with gratitude and contentment. Health, family, food, water, love (the pisces in me wants to list music). Five (six) check marks.

There's nothing quite like the feeling of going to bed utterly exhausted, knowing you've done good work, and waking up the next morning feeling like you're still dreaming- completely content.

Happy ordinary Thursday. 

As always, with love.

J.

Size 8 Font Love

Earlier this evening, over a ridiculously large piece of cheesecake and a few similar sized lattes, one of my best friends shook my world to the ground with a nonchalant comment she made about love...

"I have this very quiet, very patient, size 8 font love for him."

she whispered through her fantastically contagious smile. It was a smile so uncontrollably addicting-- the type of addiction that can only be understood when described in reference to new love-- that I myself couldn't help but smile.  I still can't seem to keep that all too familar goofy smile from taking up residence on my face.

With one descriptive sentence she rekindled my love of love (and love of language) and lit a small, very warm fire in my heart. Perhaps it was a combination of her brilliant wording and that smile that got to me... But of all of our human qualities, to be graceful in love is absolutely the most underrated! I am continuously mesmerized and inspired by all shapes, sizes, and fonts of love. 

For BM.

I love the way you love. 

J.