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Three little words: Ruminating on June’s Pride Week
Three little words. Three little words have the power to change lives. Almost thirty years ago, three little words changed two lives as “I love you” was spoken and a life together was born. Fast forward fifteen years and three children later and three different words changed five lives forever. It’s the leadup to the annual Pride Parade in Toronto, and just like past years, I approach this time with a real mix of feelings. During this time each year, we read stories from around the world in the papers and heard others on TV about men (and women) who come… Read more…
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From idea to reality
When I was a little girl, I loved to play make believe. I invented stories about who I was, where I lived and who I was going to grow up to be. Times were simpler then. Black and white TV, no cell phones, no internet. Lots of time to read books, ride bikes and scribble in journals. There were woods to walk through, ponds to find frogs in, hills to toboggan down, a creek to paddle up, and lawns to stretch out on while staring up at the clouds. Sometimes I was a princess, sometimes a teacher. One day I was… Read more…
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Musings on memories
Memories are funny things. Some are so vivid it’s like they happened just yesterday. Others tease and tantalize you with barely-there wisps of something so close that you can almost grasp them – but that scatter when you try. I love looking through old photo albums. I am sure that memories are heightened – or even formed by photographs. I am sure that some of my childhood memories are only be “remembered” through family retelling plus a photo I’ve seen hundreds of times. Memories can be made sweeter – or more bitter – with the passage of time. For me,…
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Unravelling the sweater
Unraveling of colourful knitted garment Knitters among us know that you can spend a long time knitting, purling, slipping stitches over and dropping them to create beautiful patterns in knitwear. Big chunky wool for a winter sweater, nubbed cotton for a shawl to throw over your shoulders in the summer or fine, soft yarn for a baby’s layette, it’s all wonderful to work with. To be honest with you, it’ s been a long time since I’ve tackled a knitting project as big as a full sweater. For the past few winters, scarves, mittens and toques have been all I’ve… Read more…
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It only takes a spark
One of my favourite quotations is from American novelist Edith Wharton. She wrote about two different ways to lead. One is to be the candle that lights the way. The other is to be the mirror that reflects that candlelight. I’ve always thought it was a great metaphor for what Communications professionals do. We help others tell stories. We take the ideas – the original thoughts – they have, shine them up and make them accessible and understandable to the right audiences. I always thought that was exactly what I wanted to do forever. But increasingly I feel as if a tiny spark is growing within… Read more…
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Loosening up the muscles
You know how muscles atrophy when you don’t use them? The seize up and they stop working properly. When left for too long they can actually wither away, causing adjacent damage. That’s how I feel right now about my writing. I took on some big challenges at work at the beginning of this year and that left me with less time than ever to write outside of the office. As a result, my creative writing muscles have weakened. They’re stiff, and even the ‘idea generator’ in my mind is turning over at lower than optimal speed. My writing on this blog suffered as a… Read more…
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Six degrees
When I was in university, we played the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game. A take on the six degrees of separation idea, originally set out in the 1920s, we worked hard to connect actors or musicians of any stripe back to Kevin Bacon in just six steps. It was fun back then, and entertained us for many a beer-filled evening. Recently though, a series of seemingly coincidental connections has me wondering if it really is possible to connect anyone to anyone else in the world in just that few steps. And are coincidental meetings really coincidental? Through a colleague, a hospitable… Read more…
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Three for three – the last one spreads her wings
Cup of steaming tea in hand, I glanced in her bedroom this morning and for the first time since June, I saw her sound asleep, with her hair streaming behind her on her pillow and her long lithe legs sticking out from the covers, while the cool breeze moved the blinds on her windows. Fall is coming and I have my daughter home for two nights before she starts her new university life half way across the country.The sight made me smile, but it also made my breath catch in my throat. I’ve written about Son number one and Son number two going off… Read more…
