Facebook poked me yesterday, pointing out that it’s been 18 days since my last post. Does anyone know of an app where I can give it sharp jab back? I feel secure knowing that my legion of followers (all eight of you) are a compassionate, understanding lot.

I admit, I’m a little off course. Deadlines, commitments and ‘to-do’ lists have sucked up my time. And, a  pain in my foot has turned my Prozac-replacement-hikes into more of a root canal without anesthetic. Sleep is an elusive bugger and I’ve bought into the lie that since chocolate comes from a plant it’s a vegetable, or at the very least a fruit.

No, no, no, this is not a whine. I’m lucky, lucky, lucky. I have exciting things to do. Access to physio, drugs and enough dollars to buy ugly orthopedic shoes. I have soft pillows and good books filling the sleepless hours and Lindt Mousse au Chocolat is on sale at Winners.

Far beyond the trivial waves under my canoe, this past month I’ve bumped into several seasick travelers navigating big swells: infertility, illness, bankruptcy, abandonment, betrayal, bereavement… a lifetime of dreams consumed by fire.

Oh, sure, there’s the inevitable flotsam and jetsam littering the shore, beached whales and down-side-up turtles but then you come across treasures like these:

• Last week I met a brilliant young writer who has been handed the words ‘terminal’ and ‘incurable’. The tale she weaves is heartbreaking, yes, but each line is mercifully punctuated with tenacity, gratitude and hope.
• A Syrian family arrived in Guelph this week and I swear I could hear the joy-filled song of both the helpers and the helped all the way up at the farm.
• Standing in line at the No-Frills I saw a skinny boy in droopy pants take twenty dollars out of his pocket and put it in the collection box for the victims of the Fort McMurray Fire. Adds up to a bit of a magnum opus, don’t you think.

Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats. ~Voltaire

Whatever we’re facing, I figure, taking a deep breath and belting out, oh let’s say, a little Neil Diamond can only make the rocky seas a little better. Sweet life of mine, do-do-do. Good times never seemed so good…

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