This is Life! Isn’t it grand!

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Ellie and I drove to Saskatoon on Friday so she can have a week at ‘the spa’ with her master, my beloved C.C., and I can fly off to Vancouver and then Gabriola Island today so I can have a week at The Haven  with… Mark Nepo — author and guide of The Book of Awakening.

Ask me if I’m excited.

Okay, I’ll tell you anyway. Yes! I’m excited.

Firstly, I love being on Gabriola Island and being at The Haven is pretty darn close to what I imagine heaven on earth to be.

Secondly, the description of the course thrills my heart. It calls to my soul and awakens my imagination.

The workshop will explore our ongoing need to stay vital and in love with this life, no matter the hardships we encounter. It is an invitation to personalize the common and unrepeatable journey we all encounter in being human. Using ancient and contemporary stories, poetry, journaling, and dialogue, Mark will invite participants to befriend their own stories and listen for their own wisdom in this reflective and transformational gathering

I mean seriously, can you imagine anything finer than spending time on the west coast surrounded by the sea and salt air off Vancouver Island? I’ll be immersed in wind and sea air and seagulls cawing and waves lapping and words floating all around, bubbling up out of the ocean waves, cascading down from wet skies and sunny horizons? Can you imagine anything more inspiring than being surrounded by others willing to explore our ongoing need to stay vital and in love with this life?

And with Mark Nepo to boot!

Yup. I am excited.

So is Ellie. She’ll have an adventure — who knows what those two free spirits will get up to in the snow.

‘Cause that’s the other thing that excites me.

Leaving the snow to surround myself with the creaking of towering pines bending against coastal breezes filled with salty brine, the sweet melody of daffodils and crocus peeping their heads up out of the earth in anticipation of spring’s bounty, and the cracking open of the buds on the cherry trees pushing their way out through the hard shell of winter.

Ah yes, I’m off to the coast today for a week of sensual immersion in the beauty and wonder of life on the edge of the continent.

And… Bonus!  I’m meeting up with my eldest daughter tonight before I travel over to the Island and will spend a day with her at the end of the week before returning home to Calgary where C.C. and Ellie will meet me and I will hear all about their adventures together.

How perfect is that?

An adventures into words and thoughts and ideas and feelings bookended with Love?

Yup. I’m excited.

Just as I’ve been excited to spend this weekend in Saskatoon with C.C. I’ve loved the snow. The winter falling from the sky. The walks to the park in the cold frosty air. Ellie burying her nose in drifts and leaping through soft powdery snowbanks. The trees standing in silent snow-clad wonder, the sky heavy with cloud.

It has been beautiful — and relaxing. Running into my sister (she too lives in Calgary!) and her step-daughter at the market. A hockey game to watch ‘the twins’ (my sister’s step grandsons) play (one even scored a goal). Reading. Chatting. Cooking. Being together.

Yes. This is life! Isn’t it grand!

 

The Every Day A Poem is posted over at A Poetry Affair — Becoming One.

27 thoughts on “This is Life! Isn’t it grand!”

  9. Nothing is more uplifting than reading the words of someone who is rejoicing in their life and all it brings. This sounds like a wonderful time away for you, and most certainly Ellie will enjoy her time as well. What a lovely and welcoming pair to return home to at the end! Looking forward to your experience, it sounds perfect for you!

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    • Thank you lovely Jennifer.

      Off to the island today. Had dinner with my daughter last night and my girlfriend who is going to the retreat with me. We laughed, teased, joked and shared. All is well with my world.

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  11. How wonderful for you! Having taken just a one-day workshop with Mark Nepo, I can tell you, you’ll come back changed. He’s so warm and intelligent, has experienced deep pain, and writes beautiful poetry and prose. Enjoy!

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