Christmas Letter 2013

Hullo,


Another year of good times has flown past. This time last year Clive and I returned to Australia and New Zealand. There we renewed many great friendships and were welcomed with warm and generous hospitality. It was an exceptional time.



A degenerative tear in my left meniscus marred the ski season for me. I am happy to say it is almost 90% better and I am about to go skiing again!



I was in Scotland for two and a half months while Clive was there for 4 months. I spent the first two weeks in May with Shona and then Chris and his girlfriend, Emma came in June bringing exceptional weather. The main purpose of the visit was to see 96 year old Theo, Clive’s father who still lives on his own. He has an unbelievable constitution.



Clive and I biked the C2C across Northern England, hiked and biked on the islands of Canna and Rhum. In June we headed to Austria for 3 weeks and met up with Karen and Tim from NZ. Unfortunately we had to abort our planned trip after 4 days, as the weather was similar to a Canadian winter! We had an attempt at a high mountain but again the snowy weather forced us down. We met a violin player in the Vienna Symphony who had been lucky enough to be rescued from falling into a crevasse. Clive and I headed to the Leinz Dolomites which was lower and did a few trips then met Alistair and Margaret from NZ for a couple of fun days.



Meanwhile back in Scotland my niece gave birth to a beautiful baby girl Esther Grace and a fine addition to her family Daniel 5 and Kirsten 3. After some time with them I returned to Canmore mid July to write and hike. I did some great trips in the extraordinary Rockies and made progress on my writing. Clive went sailing for a month in the west coast of Scotland and helped his dad out. He returned to Canmore in September and promptly went mountain biking.



In the fall I created and taught a new course, ‘Writing the Seasons.’ I loved the concept of looking at life and projects as seasonal. The idea uses journaling as an integrative tool and I am excited to teach it again in February. It is a good addition to the work I do with Conflict Resolution.



Chris has had a good year and was in a ski movie called ‘Into the Mind’ which was creative and courageous for the ski world. (You can buy it on itunes!) He works for Salomon freeski TV – you can google this. He and Emma just bought a house in Revelstoke. We are heading there for Christmas with Shona and Andrew. Shona has had another busy year. She is in her third year of environment geology at the University of Calgary. In the winter on weekends she is a ski coach and in the summer she and her Olympian friend run ski racing camps in Whistler for young girls.



Clive and I just escaped a very cold snap here –37 in USA, mainly Arizona. I have to say it was fascinating and good to visit with friends. However we are happy to be home in this beautiful community, minus the endless malls and 4 lane highways!

I hope that 2014 brings lots of laughter and good times.

Lessons picked up on the beach.

I brought back a bag of rocks and shells, treasures from the beaches of Australia and NZ. Not the perfect shells I used to search for, but cracked and broken ones revealing inner spirals and iridescent coatings. Back then I thought it was possible to have a perfect life. Now I know that life is messy. Risk, chaos and uncertainty are catalysts for transformation in the process of becoming.

The trip provided an opportunity to revisit previous choices, decisions, the pain and suffering of friends living with illness, and the joy of others. The integration of these experiences is fertiliser for new growth. As I let go of worn out stories, relax into the space between my thoughts; I am propelled forward on my growing edge. Brokenness reveals an inner magnificence not seen in perfection.

“It is the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance” Bette Midler.