The Linwood Road

Treetops are ablaze smoldering into the evening sky. The taste of crisp clean air feels like satin on my lungs.  The orchard smells of autumn, of quiet and of serenity. I feel awakened. 

I watch for fallen apples, causalities in the war of fruit versus gravity, so I don’t trip and fall. The devil lights a match in my throat, as I start to pick up the pace.

The faint sound of clinking lets me know he is two paces behind me. Clink, clink, clink. Like a fork tapping a glass. Clink, clink, clink. The river babbles quietly beside me and I lunge over fallen tree trunks. The bark scratches my skin as I breeze by. The silence is golden, like the leaves.

The taste of salty sweat creeps in on my upper lip while I pound my feet into the uneven ground. The tall grass tickles my bare calves as I make room for him to run beside me. Clink, clink, clink.

I’m almost there – the opening to the even clay road I’ve been desiring from the beginning. I stop to draw a deep breath to put out the fire in my throat. He stops with me, waits and smiles.  

I smile back and we’re off again. This is the part I enjoy the most. The clay earth now feels like foam beneath me. I feel protected by the shadows of the trees draping over me and the narrow road. I look ahead at the hills in front of me, like dimples in the skin of the earth. The air starts to cool as the evening sky creeps in.

I no longer need to listen for the clink, as he’s in front of me now, excited to be going to one of the places he loves the most. SPLASH! He always arrives just seconds before me. I watch as he drinks, his body semi submerged underwater. The moment is untainted.

He’s beside me again.  As the faint smell of wet fur slips beneath my nose we begin our journey home, while the clay clumps beneath his dampened paws.

My wish for you

When a loved one is diagnosed with a life threatening illness it can be frightening for the whole family, a feeling I know all too well. When that loved one is a child, the news may hit even harder. Imagine having the honor to work for an organization that has a mandate of granting wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. I can proudly say that I had this honor.

I worked for the Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada – Prince Edward Island Chapter from May – August of 2009. As a part of my first co-op experience, I joined the small team at the PEI Children’s Wish Foundation, as an Events & Promotions Student Assistant, or better known as simply “Summer Student” to some.  

Sidenote: When I was asked to write a piece on “A job I once had,” I contemplated sharing a ludicrous job I had one summer at the Lucy Maud Montgomery historic site in Prince Edward Island. I had to constantly tell visitors “No, Anne is not real and she did not live here.” Following my short and usually snappy comment I would typically end up consoling many tourists as it turned out I crushed their childhood aspirations of going to the house that Anne of Green Gables “lived in”. Too bad, so sad.

My first day on the job will forever be imprinted in my mind. The employees eat lunch at a small table in the Director’s office (perhaps not something she thoroughly enjoys). As we gathered around for lunch I pulled out my freshly made (well … made that morning) tuna sandwich.  Bad idea. “I hate tuna, it smells and tastes like cat food – gross,” said my new colleague. Great way to make new friends at work. Mental note: Never bring tuna on the first day of a new job, ever.

No day at the Children’s Wish Foundation was the same, which is something I enjoyed. It was a relief from the prior repetitious summer positions I once had. From rolling pennies (not something I thoroughly enjoyed), to attending press conferences, to scooping ice cream – there was never a dull moment.

The best part of the job though? The kids. The privilege to see the immediate results of all of your hard work - granting the wish of a child. I mean, we were all kids once, right? We all had dreams of flying in a helicopter, meeting the backstreet boys (or NSYNC – whichever you preferred), going to Disney World or getting the newest techno gadget available. The job instilled passion.

My wish for you, yes YOU, is to find your own passion in your work or life. Because once you find something you’re passionate about – there is no turning back.

Who I really am & what matters most to me.

As I sit here staring at a partially blank Microsoft Word document with the title: Who I really am – I think to myself, “Huh, it's funny how the word ‘really’ is incorporated into the topic title.” What’s the difference between who I REALLY am and who I am? Perhaps, the difference is how people perceive me and how I perceive myself? Perhaps, the word “really” is just a tactic to make us go deeper into reflection to write something totally kick ass.

The funny thing is I don’t think anyone REALLY knows who they are. Half of our lives we graze through life being told who we are, what we’re good at and what colors look the best on our skin. The other half is spent, for some, breaking free of what we’ve been told our whole lives and trying to make sense of it, incorporating our likes and dislikes.

Is this getting too deep for you? Do you need a shovel to dig yourself out yet?

Let’s get to the good part then: me. I mean, that’s why you’re reading this, right? Because you want to know who I REALLY am? Or, perhaps you think you already know? In any case, I’m not going to supply you with an inspirational three sentences encompassing my 21 years on earth. It’s not my style. What I can provide you with are events from my past that that make me who I am – or who I REALLY am.

We’ll start with the basics. I’m from Clyde River, PEI and am a fourth year PR student at Mount Saint Vincent University.

Growing up I had the pleasure of being the eldest of three children and seven grandchildren. Due to this, I developed “things need to go my way” syndrome at times paired with “I’m the oldest, so what I say goes” disease. I can remember a few years ago one of my best friends that lived across the street from me for 18 years told me that she hated playing with me as a child, because I was too bossy.

Sidenote: My tastebuds are telling me I need to consume a diet coke ASAP.

I dismissed this comment and focused on my own assumption which I had for the previous 18 years - that she hated playing with me cause’ I was fat and couldn’t participate in fun sports games.  Now I can go onto my next point about growing up (for which I created a brilliant transition). I was fat.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t due to eating too many processed cheese strings (which also happened as a child) it was from necessary ingested steroids to control lung deficiencies from which I almost died from at the age of three. Apparently I put my parents through much anguish as a child and nearly shattered their lives when the doctors told them I “wasn’t going to make it” and that they should “start making arrangements”.  Do you need that shovel again?

Coming back to the fat childhood remark – I will tell you to just watch an episode of “I used to be fat” on mtv.ca. It basically encompasses my experiences in elementary school.

Now that you know two things about my childhood I believe we know each other well enough for me to list some of the things that matter the most to me. (You’ve probably been wondering what they are, considering “what matters most to me” is in the blog title).

1.       Family and Friends.

2.       Traveling and experiencing the world.

3.       Having fun.

That’s a pretty basic/lame list eh? I contemplated putting “my coach purse” as #4 but felt as though it didn’t fit with the whole theme. In all seriousness, my family and friends are definitely the most important things in my life. (Big shout out to Mum, Dad, Alyssa and Mike). My parents raised us with great morals and values and have definitely played a large role in creating who I REALLY am.

My love of travel stems from an International Student Volunteer trip to Thailand I took in 2008 where I worked in a small fishing village working on community developing programs as a part of sustainable development initiative for the country of Thailand. The trip was definitely a fundamental pillar in creating who I am and steering me in the direction for my future.