Finding Peace

Canadian skiier Sarah Burke died tragically on January 19th. She had an accident training for the half pipe, on January 10th and severed an artery going to her brain. She was placed in a coma for 9 days, but suffered too much irreversible brain damage to survive. I must admit that I had heard of Sarah Burke and knew who she was, but never really followed her, or her husband Rory Bushfield's careers. She lives in Squamish, and when something like this happens to someone your age, so close to where you live, you can't help but pay attention. But this death has shaken me more than I would have ever expected. I have watched videos, read articles, and done so much research since her passing. I am truly, truly shaken, and a bit terrified. What she does is dangerous, and there are extreme risks involved. Risks that her and her family knew, but when you love something, you just take that risk. In one video of her and her husband, they say that the mountain is where they met, it's...

I remember always having this thing in the back of my head, from the time I was a teenager, that I wouldn't be able to have kids. That's kind of wierd, isn't it? I knew from a young age that what I really wanted out of life was a family. As corny as it sounds, the dog in the back yard, the small house with the white picket fence. I remember Christmas at Nanny and Papa's, in their house that appeared to be small from the outside, but was so big and warm on the inside. I loved that house. But what it was about the Christmases were all the people, all the love, all the noise. I wanted that for my kids. Cousins, playing hockey on the side road, building snowmen, having snow fights. The family. Yes, I knew I wanted to be a teacher at a pretty young age too, but ultimately, all I wanted was family. I don't know if I had a bad dream one night about being able to have kids or what it was that ultimately put that seed into my mind that I wouldn't be able to have kids, ...

It has been quite a year this year! * Brady proposed to me in the sweetest, most thoughtful way I could have imagined. Down on his knee at the end of the dock at Nanny and Papa's cabin. It was a busy year of planning, but I enjoyed every second. We had OUR perfect wedding - although much of it would not be what our families would choose for themselves, I think everyone knew that it was all perfect for us. * Kai and Lizzie are the lights of my life. It may sound silly, as I am only an Auntie and not a parent, but I adore them more than I can imagine adoring anything in my life. I talk about them more than I ought to and want to see them again the day after I have left them! More than that, I think that Uncle Brady is most certainly a favourite. They adore him, and Kai asks Christine for playdates with Brady on a weekly basis. We continue to arrange with Stephanie to have Lizzie over for a sleepover once every couple of months. * The highlight of 2011 was certainly our wedding,...