Whistle Stop Tour

My blog has been quiet - thanks to those who notice and messaged me..... I heart that you care at all!

Life is just a LOT at the moment which somehow seems unfair in the Summer when we're led to believe the living should be easy and fun and ....well...it isn't always.

But I took a break from all that yesterday to have an adventure with three beautiful friends who had never been to Whistler.  What a privileged to drive someone on that highway for the first time.

One thing to do it with visitors who "ooh" and "ahhh" as expected but these are not visitors.

These are new Canadians.  This is their new home.  It was almost a sacred moment.

I thought a lot about where to to stop and what to show them.  To try not to let my own deep love for those mountains, that water,  that waterfall, view, trees, rivers overwhelm the experience for them.  To share enough but leave space for them to take it in.  To contemplate this time and place they find themselves in.

 And to know that while being there, seeing all that majestic beauty, helps ground us but it doesnt take away the pain and grief of the immigrant experience.  We talked about that and a good many other things.  This is a hard journey for anyone and to do it with two younger children even more complex.  Their resilience and quick adaptation is impressive thanks in large part to the careful planning and steadfast love and security of their parents.

We marveled together at Whistler - hot and bustling and tried to imagine it in Winter.  Some of us wanted to see a bear but some of us did not. We played and walked and ate and took it all in.

We had a beautiful day of connection and conversation and as much as they saw and enjoyed another small piece of their new homeland, I too was immensely blessed to raise my head and look beyond my desk and my personal circumstances and see.

See how very grateful we can be for where we live.  For the community and friends we have.  For the means to explore.

Thanks Ladies.  Where to next?

PS:  I may have introduced them to the Byres Jump Shot......