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50×50: Traditions
Family traditions. Many have them, many don’t. This isn’t technically a 50×50 countdown item, but being able to spend time with my sister and Mom is always a good time. My niece joined us too and when the four of us get together, hilarity ensues. While our family doesn’t have many, they have a few…
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50×50: Number 35 – See Canada’s team play!
Baseball… Doesn’t seem like a very Canadian sport. In a country where it’s known to be winter six months of the year, cold another two, with the potential of snow two more, it seems odd that a country could love baseball as much as we do! Add to that we actually only have one team…
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50×50: Number 6 – See Caribou in the Wild (sort of)
Since forever, I have wanted to see caribou in the wild. The problem is caribou are a threatened species and are very hard to find. However, year after year, I have tried to seek out the woodland caribou herd that resides in Jasper National Park. Now, there are four herds that live in the park,…
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50×50: Number 24 – Get a tattoo
At the beginning of July, I got a tattoo. I decided to get the tattoo to commemorate my 50th birthday. It is on my left forearm. Loud, proud, and hard to miss. It often startles me. I can honestly say I loved it more on paper than I do on my body. It is pretty,…
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50×50: Number 15 – Visit a new province
Canada is a big place. 9.9 million square kilometres (3.8 million square miles)! It is made up of ten provinces and three territories. The newest territory, Nunavut, coming to be in 1999! Sadly, I have only visited a few of these areas. Alberta, where I live, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Ontario. Until 2023… When I…
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Fifty by fifty – counting down
I have a list of things I want to accomplish before I end my fiftieth year (July 13, 2025). These are things I have not done before – trivial things (make choux pastry) to large things (leave the North American continent). They are all things that are important to me and dreams, hopes, goals, and…
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When the voices whisper…
I realized something Monday morning… I am more depressed than I was. Or am. It has been brewing for a while, just how long, I am not sure. The past few weeks have been a bit of blur. It started some time after or around my birthday. Writing my memories kept me going and gave…
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Writing break & Jasper National Park fire
Chris warned me that writing the memories would be exhausting. Collecting, curating, and sharing fifty memories, he said, would be tiring. Mentally, physically, and emotionally. While I didn’t exactly doubt him, I didn’t quite realize just how correct he would be. Sharing such a large piece of myself with the world, while something I wanted…
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A Final Word: A reflection
Like a few things I’ve done in my life, the decision to write about fifty memories was a bit of a whimsical event. The idea came to me one day, a couple days before I needed to start, and I thought “Hey! I could do that.” Not, perhaps, fully understanding that fifty is a big…
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Memory #1: The boy who made me a Mom
The day you were born, everything changed. They told me to eat a light breakfast (I had toast), not to bring anything (which wasn’t totally true, we should have brought my bag). and come prepared to be induced for labour. They’d induce me, send me home, and we would wait… Probably all day for you…