Love is in the Air!

I have an intuition that love is inherently learned. It must be. It is not something that need be taught, but experienced. The truth must be that you can not love until you have been loved. God who formed you in your mother's womb, loved you before you even came into existence. Your mother, when you were first born, held you in her arms loved you. Your grandmother, who went to your Christmas concert, she loved you. We are given love and the ability to love from moments like these.

It's one of those days. I can't help but tell the whole world that I am in love. It is easy to neglect your spouse and ignore all the little things that you truly love about them. I am frequently reminded of how in love I am with Phil in very peculiar moments. I had one of those glimmering love moments today. The picture above is our lovely little dog Ollie, I guess you could call this his "baby picture" he is about 5 times the size now, weighing in at a whopping 7 pounds. I am not one of those purse dog people, but because we live in a condo, we could only have a small dog at this point. But Ollie is awesome, he can run more than 40 km per hour (which is a funny story, remind me to tell it sometime), he is a great hiker and an avid camper... and best of all, he can also kick it on the farm! Anyway, all of my little dog disclaimers aside, I love Ollie! Though my husband doesn't admit to loving Ollie very often, he does it in subtle ways. Today I overheard Phil having a heart to heart with Ollie about why he had to stay upstairs while I was working downstairs. It was an awesome moment! It reminded me that, under the gruff exterior Phil is really just a big softy.

In a related rant, I think that love, in general and in specific, holds great power in heaven and on earth. It fights all of those culturally whorish behaviors that dwell inside of us all. It fills the void we try to fill with sex, stuff and drugs. Love propels to us pursue great dreams. It helps us to realize amazing goals (like changing the world). Love gives us confidence to face the day as our authentic selves. Most importantly, love motivates us to give. I can say with an honest heart that I love my sponsored children, Alvaro is from Guatemala and Mamello is from South Africa. All I have of them are pictures on my fridge and few letters that I have sent to them. But I love them!

So love, love so that others may be blessed.

People of Change

In my life I feel very fortunate to be where I am. I never expected that at 22 I would be married to an amazing man, graduating from university, and have the career of my dreams. I am so blessed to be a small part of what World Vision is doing to change the world! I can't imagine where I would be right now if I would have continued on the trajectory I was on...void of adventure, empty in spirit and cramming for the LSATs! I am so glad that I made the decision (free will or otherwise) to follow my heart, to embrace love, and to choose to make a difference in the world!

I met some really amazing people this week and shared some inspiring conversation about changing the world. I am absolutely certain that Peter Clark and Renuka Mohan are going to change the world! They will be travelling to Rawanda this summer with World Vision's Destination Life Change program and documenting their journey on their awesome website, redtv.ca. Many of my friends have asked me about the Destination Life Change program, and I encourage those of you who are interested to follow Peter and Renuka on their journey!

So check it out... www.redtv.ca!

It started down the hall from a morgue...

In trying to discover my roots I realize that my committment to this idea of leaving a legacy began down the hall from a morgue. I realized that I wanted to change the world while I was working at a hospice in rural Alberta. My office was in the basement of the hospice, symbollic, really, of the difference in life trajectories of those dwelling on the main floor and those working for 8, 9, 10, 12 hours a day in the offices below. Above my desk, next to the clock that frequently reminded me that I had been there for too long, was a scrap of paper rescued from the recycling box in the children's play room upstairs. On this scrap of paper was a picture of Spiderman battling Dr.Octopus, drawn by child. Next to Spiderman and between Dr. Oc's tenticles I had written, on one of my first days at the Hospice, a fragment of a Bible verse, "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be..." That was a particualrily trying day, I could not even bring myself to finish writing the verse because I was not all that sure that those who mourned in the rooms above me were really all that comforted. Over time I began to realize the beauty and infinite mercies of this time of life. One of these such mercies is the idea of leaving a legacy. On occasion, one of those beautiful life filled people who have seen almost everything, who have sucked the very marrow out of life, came to the hospice to die and to tell their story one last time. There were also those that seemed to be engrossed right in the middle of their stories, young, suffering from disease and haunted by the future that they would be leaving behind. They came to the hospice to try and write an ending before their story came to its natural end. And then there were those who seemed ready, their story had come to a natural elipses... The End.

I shared my office with the hospice accountant - a stunningly beautiful middle aged woman with an affinity for red shoes and fiery temper. To one side of our office was the office of the house manager. His office was a wonderment! A cavern filled with oxygen tanks, whirring dials and snaking pipes. Christmas decorations, ceramic pumpkins, discarded wheel chairs and cold cement walls. Jerry dwelled in the underbelly of the hospice. Jerry was the man behind the scenes, often overlooked, always underestimated and the person I naturally gravitated towards. He understood the way the world works, the way people work and had the uncanny ability to see the mechanics of everything upon a first encounter be it an unruly dishwasher, a new staff member or business plan. This character trait simultaneously inspired me and scared the hell out of me. Just a little further past Jerry's office, past the kitchen, past the laundry, was the morgue... The morgue was small, windowless, and empty until it wasn't. Jerry asked the tough questions. And so the idea of leaving a legacy began to roll around in my head - what will I do with my life between this moment of realization and the moment I am wheeled into a small, windowless room?