Standing in the grasslands with my once-in-a-lifetime grief
My work has slowed for the summer months. While that gives me plenty of time to work on the plethora of side projects that were left on the back burner, it also gives me too much time with my thoughts.
Do I belong in church?
It’s Sunday and I’m thinking about church. If you’ve known me in my adult life, you may think this is strange. I’ve had an aversion to structured religion since my late teens/early twenties. It wasn’t always like that. I grew up going to the Gaetz United Memorial Church in Red Deer. I participated in the youth events, went to Sunday school, and for a period I felt religion very deeply.
Opinion | How a late ADHD diagnosis let me find peace with myself
For nearly my entire life, my understanding of ADHD was wrapped around boys who couldn’t sit still and often had behavioural issues stemming from impulse control.
Beyond that, I didn’t know much. If I ever thought of what ADHD looked like in girls, I imagined the same characteristics. Kids who couldn’t sit in their chairs, lashed out at teachers, and were constantly on the cusp of failing.
Opinion | When it comes to grief, there is no substitute for showing up
My mom died in mid-May.
Like all the oldest baby boomers, she would have turned 80 this year. Many people attended her funeral online. Far fewer sat in the pews. I was grateful for every expression of sympathy, whether it arrived as a phone call, a message, a card, or a name in the livestream. Yet, as I looked at the empty seats, I found myself thinking about what it means to truly show up. In an age of constant connection, we are losing the value of simply being present. Physical presence in grief and caregiving carries a kind of weight that digital connection cannot replace.
Opinion | The family history I never knew: How being adopted hid a life-saving clue
Whenever a doctor asked about my family medical history, I waved it off with a flippant hand. As an adoptee from a closed adoption, I couldn’t answer. I would shrug and say, “I don’t know — I’m adopted.” I didn’t have any control over it, so I tried to let it go. How do you explain that your life began with a mystery?
Opinion | If Albertans want their voices to count in Ottawa, the path forward is not separation, it’s electoral reform
For decades, Quebec has been the province to voice desire for referendums, but recently talk of separating has been blowing over the prairies. This latest iteration is being pushed under the banner of autonomy and fairness, driven by frustration over another federal Liberal government and a growing sense of Western alienation.
Opinion | ‘My parents weren’t ashamed, they were worried.’ How getting diagnosed with ADHD as an adult brought me and my squirrelly brain peace of mind
“I specifically asked the class not to use scrap paper for this project, and this is what Shara turned in,” my Grade 5 teacher told my parents as she slid my art assignment across the table. My parents, who were also teachers, had carved out time after work to hear about the ways I was failing.
The Green
I’m running through the woods, lost in the forest around me. My sister is counting, “Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten — ready or not — Here. I. Come!” Her footsteps are crashing, but she’s not close enough to see me. I press myself down onto the ground, flattening the previously untouched grass around me. It’s tall and thick enough to enclose me back into its cocoon.
The Witching Hour
“Take the next left.” The old woman nodded nearly imperceptibly at the turn that would take them off the wide boulevard and down a dimly lit side street.
The cabbie glanced at her in the mirror and then at the meter.
A Bumpy Road, but Heart Lake Makes It
Heart Lake truck stop development finds a way through, despite many hurdles.
Local non-profits put themselves on the MAAP
Local non-profits join together with new society.
Paper Dolls
Blood.
It flushes through the body, revitalizing, fuelling, regulating, transporting. Rushing along thin-walled passages to fulfill the needs of the body, protected only by layers of delicate tissue.
The Japanese Squatty Toilet
This was originally written in 2003, after I spent over a year in Japan. My apologies if the information is outdated or culturally insensitive. I was in my early 20s at the time and this piece is meant to be light hearted and warm. Japan holds a special place in my heart …
Toilets were not the first thing that came to my mind when I planned my trip to Japan. But I would soon learn that broadening my horizons would include re-learning how to pee.
In Tokyo the pressing issue is so complex that how-to posters are posted at the airport to instruct confused tourists and other uninitiated.
More than one terrified traveller has attempted avoidance instead of voiding.
