Little Things

Sometimes in life small things come along and they are incredible. Yesterday I had one of those days. I have log gate entrance into my property.  It had been in place for about six years and it was time to stain the gate.  Because of its height I had to rent a lift to be able to sand and stain the gate.

Now there are few things that make me uncomfortable but heights is one of them anything over about 10 feet I tend to get very uneasy unless I have one hand holding something.  This make doing this job slow and a little tougher.

On Friday when I told my son what we were doing he said he would come by and help. Well he ended working the lift doing all the sanding and then working the lift as we stained.

It was a real proud Dad moment to see him take over the project and get it all done.

Start of the Hockey year

This time of year has always been a new beginning in our family.  It does not mean much to some but for us it is the beginning of hockey for the year.  Not counting the years that I played and refereed the game, our family has been involved in minor hockey for the last 15 years.  For myself, I have been coaching in one capacity or another for the last 12 years with one year off and my wife for as many years as well. 

It is one of those things where I have told myself internally, I would just like to be a spectator this year.  Sit in the crowd and watch the game and cheer on the team.   I was hoping that this year would be like that.  I got a call on Saturday asking if I could help coach again this year.  Of course my answer was yes I would.  I do have some constraints with training but it will work out. 

For people who do not volunteer there is usually no understanding of the time and commitment it takes whether it is helping out in a sport or any other volunteer activity.  It is usually a few people doing the majority of the work when it comes to making a year of hockey successful. 


Now,  as I compare what we are doing in I Ho Chuan to Hockey and other volunteering I have done,  I am blown away.  We should never underestimate the high level of commitment we have as a I Ho Chuan team.  It is something I have never seen in my life.  Sifu Brinker has brought together a number of very different  individuals to have a common set of goals.   To see the participation level is, in my mind, extraordinary.  We as a team should never forget this.  This is one of the life changing opportunities, that belonging to the  I Ho Chuan team, gives us.

Education vs Schooling

So the new school year starts.  I was able to see my friends posting pictures of their kids on social media.  Many proud parents.  My youngest son begins grade 10 this year.  But on his first week of school we did something different.  School learning (ie Book Learning) has always come easy to myself and my two boys.  We are fortunate to be able to learn the way schools teach kids.  This is not true of all kids.  Each kid needs different drivers or motivators for them to learn and unfortunately sitting in a classroom and listening to lectures or reading from books does not work for them.

This is why I have always championed education rather than schooling.  Education encompasses much more than what is taught in our schools.  So for my son's first week of school his education was learning to ride in the back country and fish in mountain lakes.  Our experiences are what makes us individuals and our experiences in life are our education.

I've never let my school interfere with my education.

Mark Twain