2014 BC Provincial Wheelchair Curling Championships

Best selfie ever!

This past weekend, the BC Wheelchair Championships took place in my community. When I heard we were going to be hosting, I called our local club and offered to volunteer. As it turns out, I was the only outsider (non-curler, non-club member) to be involved. That said, the Coquitlam Curling Club members were incredibly friendly and easy to work with. 

I was really grateful for the knowledge I'd gained serving two terms on the city's Universal Access-Ability Advisory Committee around accessibility and inclusion-it served me well for this event and was something valuable I brought to the table.

Friday night, there was a banquet for the athletes, sponsors and organizing committee members. The guest speaker was Richard Peter, a 5 time Paralympian and gold medalist in Wheelchair Basketball at the London 2012 Paralympics. We shared a table at dinner and he really is a lovely man.

Richard was kind enough to pass his medal around so everyone could enjoy it. It really is a thing of beauty.

While the athletes were curling over the weekend, I was entrusted with looking after Rumour, the service dog. She is so sweet. I have a very soft spot for Labs, so I was more than happy to have her keep me company. 

Rumour's athlete was playing on team MacDonald and they made it to the finals, only to be defeated by team Neighbours. Team Neighbour's skip is Paralympian Darrell Neighbour. Team Neighbour will be going to the Canadian Championships in Montreal in April. I wish them the best of luck!

This was the first time the new Poirier Sports & Recreation Centre has hosted a wheelchair event and I think it went exceedingly well. It's great to see our community hosting accessible sports events like this. I hope we see more in the future!

Good Things!

I thought I would do a quick catch up before the holidays. I've been scarce around here, not because things aren't happening (they are!) but because typing is quite uncomfortable right now. The incision in the heel of my hand hurts, alot. I am taking some special neuropathic pain medication to try and calm the nerves so my hand doesn't feel like raw meat all the time. (I know that's a rather ugly description, but try living with it-it's the kind of pain that forces you to think about it every second of the day. Not fun.)

Anyway, in the good news department, I have the following to report:

My husband and I attended his company Xmas party. Prior to the party, the boss sent a note home asking that the men submit their wives' wish lists and maybe they would receive something from it. Less than half the guys read the note and did this. When the boss called those that had to come get the gifts for their wives, my husband came back with two boxes for me. As I started ripping the paper off the first one, I realized that it contained an iPad mini. The second box held a wireless keyboard for it. This was the only thing on my list and I had hesitated to let them know-it seemed like just too big an ask. We both got teary over their amazing kindness and generousity. This gift makes a huge difference in my life in terms of accessibility. I can now take notes at meetings-something that was impossible for me to do before. It will make the work I do much, much easier. I am so very grateful.

This week I won a box of turona chocolates from Purdy's, a BC chocolate company. When I was 16 and lived in Barcelona, I tasted turona for the first time and instantly loved it. It's a special chocolate that is sold during the holiday season in Spain. They are shipping it to me, so I am looking forward to a good mail day soon!

I also got an email about the work I submitted for a book, which was accepted a couple months ago. The author told me which pieces are going to be included in the book and I am really pleased with what she chose. The pieces were made using antique photos of my extended family. Yay! The book will be on shelves in the spring of 2015.

In January, I'm going to be doing some filming. I am going to be part of an educational video for a new medical program at UBC. I've been serving on a Health Mentors' advisory committee since September. The program is to help established health care professionals develop and strengthen their skills around patient-centered and collaborative care. I'll be filming my thoughts and experiences on this subject. For the first time I'll be using a teleprompter-I wrote the "script" (my answers to three questions on the subject) and it will be run to remind me what I want to say. This should be interesting, since I usually just speak without a speech or notes when I am presenting. Hopefully everything will go smoothly!

Before I sign off for now, I wanted to share with you a song I downloaded from the Indigo Girl's new Xmas album, called There's Still My Joy. I'd never heard this song before. It's wistful, sad and hopeful all at once. 

Here are the lyrics to give you an idea of what I mean:

I brought my tree down to the shore

The garland and the silver star,

To find my peace and grieve no more

To heal this place inside my heart.

On every branch I laid some bread

And hungry birds filled up the sky.

They rang like bells around my head

They sang my spirit back to life.

One tiny child can change the world.

One shining light can show the way.

Through all my tears, for what I've lost

There's still my joy,

There's still my joy for Christmas day.

The snow comes down on empty sand,

There's tinsel moonlight on the waves.

My soul was lost but here I am

So this must be amazing grace.

One tiny child can change the world.

One shining light can show the way.

Beyond these tears for what I've lost

There's still my joy,

There's still my joy for Christmas day.

There's still my joy for Christmas day.

Go download it from iTunes. I promise you it's beautiful.

I wish each of you a beautiful holiday season, however you choose to celebrate. 

Be Open to Whatever Comes Next

A message of accessibility in Whistler Village.

Yesterday I got the most wonderful opportunity offered to me. My friend Andrea Bundon. emailed to ask if I would be interested in joining her for the Skiing Is Believing clinic at Whistler Olympic Park in March. The clinic teaches people with disabilities and a friend or family member to ski. Because the March event is the final one of the season, they have also invited the junior ski team and the Para-nordic race team to join them. 

 They're running a shuttle bus up to Whistler and back, so it will be a relaxing trip and after a brief orientation, everyone ski till 1 pm, have a lunch break and then casual group skiing or games till the bus leaves for home at 4 pm. Sounds like alot of fun! My job is to take photos of the event that can be submitted to their funders-the Canadian Paralympic Committee and Cross Country BC, which is circulated to a few thousand skiers in the province. (WOW!)

 Andrea also said that if I wanted to try skiing they would happily provide me with equipment and a coach. Or I could spend some time taking photos on my own-whatever I like! It would be a great opportunity to strap on some skis see if I can still do it. I haven't cross country skied since I moved to BC from Manitoba 27 years ago. I used to cross country ski alot in the winter. I loved listening to the rhythm of my breath, the swish of my skies and the deafening silence of the countryside. Cross country skiing is like a zen meditation.

I of course have jumped at the chance to help Andrea and support Para sport! I can't think of anything that would make me happier! I love the Paralympics, I adore Whistler, the sneaux and I love to volunteer. It's a win-win, any way you slice it! I've got March 16th circled on my calendar in big red pen and am counting the days! I just need to purchase a new pair of sneaux boots and beg or borrow a long lens for my Rebel and I'm all set!

The mountains are calling and I must go!