Well, I'm back. I have returned from my week long course in Calgary and am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. I think of my trip to Calgary as a kind of "cross cultural" experience and in the next week I'm going to describe a few of my experiences. In the meantime though, I want to send some thanks out.
First of all to my gracious and long suffering hosts and friends in Calgary, Mike and Rayna. Do you have the kind of friends who you could show up at 2:00am in the morning and say "Um, can we stay here overnight?" Those are the kind of people they are. They took me into their home for 6 days and gave me lodging, food, transportation, entertainment, and best of all friendship. Thanks guys. Thanks too for letting me in your lives. Having a guest in your home kind of disrupts your whole existence, even if they are your friend. I totally enjoyed my visit and playing with Rhys (an energetic and cute two year old) was awesome.
I also want to thank Jay for doing such an awesome job guest posting on the blog. I see that my hits went up higher they have ever been! What happens when the guest blogger is better than the original blogger? It's easy, he should have his own blog. Or he should do a weekly post. Either way, I'd say the experiment was a success. Thanks Jay, you truly are a witty and enjoyable to read writer. I look forward to hearing more from you.
I feel most blessed to have such good friends.
May Light increase!
The howler monkeys of Belize
3 hours ago
5 comments:
Bah, I'm no better at this than you Mark; I think the difference is that in addition to everyone who reads your blog, I also brought along some people that know me and not you, thus inflating the numbers.
Plus there was me checking constantly for comments. :)
Glad to have you back brother!
Jay
Welcome back Mark! I hope your trip was successful and that you learned what you needed to learn on your course. I know that Jobina is happy to have you back home! I'm just sorry I missed you in Calgary. We had talked about going to see you but Jobina said that you would have your hands full with that course. Ah well, another time.
Looking forward to your next post!
Michele
Welcome back Mark! I hope your trip was successful and that you learned what you needed to learn on your course. I know that Jobina is happy to have you back home! I'm just sorry I missed you in Calgary. We had talked about going to see you but Jobina said that you would have your hands full with that course. Ah well, another time.
Looking forward to your next post!
Michele
Hmmm . . . what did I learn from this course? In a nutshell - crisis is about loss and loss is coming to everyone. Also, no matter how strong you are, eventually you will encounter a loss you don't know how to handle and it will throw you for a massive loop. It was a stark reminder of the human condition and that the world is a place of suffering and pain. Also, there is hope. Of course there was more, but I think you get the gist of it. . .
Hey Mark -
We were happy that we could have you. Rhys adores you - every time that Michael is gone and I say Daddy will be home soon, he says "and Mark?" and I tell him that no, Mark went home to his kids. It's nice with someone who has been a good friend for a long time how comfortable you are and it didn't feel like we were entertaining a guest at all.
Rayna
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