GLIDING WITH EAGLES

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things . "

Antoine De Saint Exupery

OK, so I did it - spent an hour in the air in a high performance glider, fulfilling a dream I have had since I was a young boy. Soon after I learned to read and discovered the adventures held in my local library, I began reading a series of books about the exploits of bush pilots in Northern Ontario. I forget how many books there were, but the whole experience fired up my juices for doing something that challenged and excited me. That was also a time when avionics and the possibilities of space flight, Buck Rogers and travel to other worlds was starting to stir the imagination of the world. The space race began when I was in grade school and I briefly flirted with a career as an aeronautical engineer (airline passengers everywhere can be thankful that I didn't do that) but at some point, I discovered information about gliders and how they worked. Like many areas of interest, I did nothing about it and other than on one occasion, never pursued flight in small craft of any kind even though I harboured a wish to learn to fly.

Over the past 10 years, I have played golf and visited the Invermere Valley of BC many times and often stopped to watch the tow planes taking up gliders from the air field but it wasn't until our friends, Bob and Rose told us that they had taken a ride in a glider from the same location, that it occurred to me to think about doing the same. I mentioned last spring that I thought that I would do the same this summer and was informed that, indeed a flight had already been booked for my birthday - WOW! And WOW, is the right description - it was everything I imagined and more. A crystal clear Saturday afternoon (following a flight cancellation due to rain on Friday) and I was loaded into the back seat of an incredibly sleek craft with the call numbers 007 (I thought about wearing a tux and drinking a martini). The tow plane hauled us up to 8,000 feet and we let go into a steep right turn and a view of the mountains that took my breath away. No, it's not like flying in an airplane - it's so much more intimate and personal and fantastic and also much safer - consider what would happen if an airplane lost an engine. A glider can stay up forever.

In any case, the hour went way too fast and it was all that I had ever hoped for....until next year when I want to glide over the glaciers west of the valley. Next up though....introductory scuba!

100th BLOG and 60th BIRTHDAY

"too soon we get old and too late we get
smart"

I started this blog as a bit of a lark and it seems to have succeeded in allowing me to blow off a little steam, share some personal thoughts and insights and generally fulfill the idea of an online journal. September 13 is my 60th birthday and sometimes, as we reach age-related milestones, we begin to assume that we have a bit of wisdom to share and every once in a while someone asks for some of it. Not that that is necessarily the case at the moment, but in the event that anyone should ask, I think I'll list a few random things I've learned over the years.

So, in no particular order:

1.) the older I get, the more I know I don't know

2.) chaos is much better organized than I thought

3.) real power is never having to tell anyone you have power

3a.) the same for independence

4.) the difference between success and failure is not education, luck, birth, God, race, geography, politics, astrology, work ethic, environmental, intellectual, creativity or anything other than "thought." Simply put, we are who and what we think we are!

5.) the answer to any problem is always within ourselves - looking to some outside source for an answer is a cop out

6.) buy on rumour - sell on news

7.) other people will always rise, or fall to our level of expectation

8.) including ourselves

9.) common sense when reviewing marketing, political, pharmaceutical and religious claims is more important than celebrity endorsements

10.) avoid people who claim to never take vacations - there is something wrong with them

11.) don't hang out with people who proudly proclaim that they never read a book

12.) ignore "breaking news" items on TV after you have already seen it twice

13.) do something every year that will scare the crap out of yourself

14.) scientific fact is simply a theory based on current (and surprisingly out of date) information combined with opinion which has been spiced with all sorts of social bias

15.) if the opportunity to do something you have never experienced before presents itself, never say "I don't have time, I'll do it later."

16.) double the above if it is suggested by one of your children

17.) get a colonoscopy

18.) find some way to lower stress - focus on the cause as opposed to the result and it shouldn't be a drug

19.) never accept the responsibility for a project if you don't also have the authority to manage it

20.) out of great emotional upheaval comes the possibility of self discovery

21.) there are 8 senses - touch, smell, sight, taste, hearing, humour, intuition and the most important - COMMON

22.) the best teachers are our own mistakes

23.) trying to use only the last 100 years of recorded history to explain and understand planetary forces like evolution, plate tectonics and climate is not only myopic but stupid

24.) the " F " word may be the most flexible in the English language as it is used variably as a noun, a verb, an adjective and an adverb (sometimes in the same sentence) but there is an inverse relationship between its frequency of use and the knowledge level of its user

25.) contrary to what most of us have been led to believe, there is no such thing as a perfect relationship - it's always a work in progress

26.) what goes up also comes down including oil prices, house prices, stock prices, interest rates, egos, media hype, temperatures, water levels, airplanes, reproductive appendages, inflation, hot air and stress if you insist

27.) there are four highly secret additions to the Recommended Canada Food Guide - popcorn, wine, ice cream and chocolate - you know it's true

28.) laughter really is the best medicine

29.) gratitude = completion and leads directly to wholeness

30.) happiness is a natural state of being, not a goal

31.) being smart and being knowledgeable are not the same thing

32.) we need to tune all 8 senses into seeking out the inspiration that surrounds us

33.) getting older gives us permission to do more of what we want and less of what others want

OK, presumably I have learned more than this over the past 60 years but I have probably bored you to tears by now and I need to leave for my next adventure in a few moments. It has been an incredible 60 years and the last few weeks have been absolutely fabulous - 10 days in Myrtle Beach, SC with my family - playing golf with my son on some of North America's finest courses along with great nightly dinners, shopping and beaches for the four of us, we returned home to a backyard full of white tents, caterers and friends and family offering bottles of incredible wines and port and now, in a minute or two, we leave for the Invermere Valley in B.C. and a glider ride over the Rockies and valleys and lakes that I have been looking forward to since I was six years old. We return Sunday night and begin plotting the next adventure. Thank you to everyone who has crossed my path over the years - "may you live in interesting times."

THANK YOU

60th birthday party

The weather was cold and wet, the food was hot and fabulous, the friends were many and smiling, the tributes were funny and heartfelt, the cards were hilarious and touching, the tents and heaters were a stroke of genius and the idea of wine for gifts allows me to remember this special night for years to come. Thank you to those brave souls who came to an outdoor birthday party and brought so much warmth to my life. A special thank you to my family, both immediate and far away for making this such a special occasion.

I have only one question: would it be inappropriate to casually leave the empty Chateau Margaux crate in the living room?

I thought so....

NOW, ON CENTRE STAGE...

I approach events where I am the centre of attention with a combination of fear, ego, dislike, humility and nervousness. I have never knowingly courted attention and sometimes I realize that this is yet another conundrum in my life. The leadership role requires a willingness to stand up and let it all hang out (so to speak) and I have often found myself thrust into the role of leading a group of people. I tend to take on this responsibility with reluctance and yet, I am perfectly aware that this is where I should be. I seem to exist in this state of dichotomy in which I am simultaneously comfortable and uncomfortable with speaking in public and being some sort of lightning rod of attention.
Yet again, I find myself reluctantly approaching the limelight this weekend as my 60th birthday extravaganza unfolds tomorrow night. I was asked last evening, after doing a bunch of yard work in preparation, if I was looking forward to the party and my wife seemed surprised by my answer of "not particularly." Whether it is the accumulated weariness of recent travel, catching up at work and party preparations or just stage fright I'm not sure, but it is also mixed up with hitting an age that I thought would look a lot different. I suppose that it is a time for reflection, but I don't feel like doing that right now, yet this blog is probably part of that process. Knowing that there are more years behind me than in front of me, creates a certain sobering effect that I haven't experienced before. The very recent family vacation has also contributed to some realizations that are new for me. It may sound strange to many of you, but over the past couple of weeks, I seem to have found my place in the family, for the first time and it is a place that seems to reflect my feelings about being the centre of attention referred to in the opening sentence. A place that continues to unfold and also seems to connect rather interestingly with a new blog that I am creating called "My Secret Mother" which is part of the roll out for my new book by the same name. The Chinese proverb, "May you live in interesting times," has always been true for me and I suspect that this weekend will once again demonstrate the wisdom and trepidation of that line.

FORE PETE'S SAKES

It is greatly amusing, in a perverse sort of way, to sit on the deck overlooking the 7th tee box at 8 in the morning and watch beer-bellied, middle-aged, white guys in shorts and mismatched shirts wearing two-colored shoes attempt to bend over and place their golf ball on a tee, then straighten up, look down the fairway, ask "how far is it?" like they had a chance of driving it 374 yards, hitch up their belt, take a half a swing and then step up and plunge at the over-priced white sphere. This is followed by a certain glazing over of the eyes and reddening of the face from exertion and then a combination of the following phrases :"Ah shit! Oh for chrisakes! Agggggh! Hit something! Turn, turn! Get going!" or the always famous, "Damn club!" followed by, "I'll look for that up there."

It would be a lot funnier if I didn't hear the same words an hour later from my own cart!

FIVE YEARS AGO

Five years ago today started an adventure that may be the most profound event of my life to date. My friend Gord and I, after many months of preparation, started hiking the West Coast Trail, a seven day backpacking trip that is always on the top ten list of world class hikes. It's not so much that the five years since have gone so fast but rather, that so much has happened in the interval; new houses, travel, grandchildren, careers, births, deaths, marriages and miracles, health, friends, projects, cars, finding out my birth father is still alive and then the discovery of a passion for writing. This week also marks the launch of my first book, The West Coast Trail: One Step at a Time, the story of that amazing week, on Amazon.com. I also leave today for my second visit to Myrtle Beach and return to my sixtieth birthday party followed by a glider flight over the Rocky Mountains!

I can only say that I am absolutely blessed and truly grateful that I followed that hair-brained idea that was suggested in a coffee shop about attempting a backpacking trip that was far beyond my ability. Life really can change with nothing more than a thought.

DO IT ANYWAY

I was reminded again this week of the number of people that walk through my life who give of their time and fortune without expectation and often without thanks. The following poem was sent to me this morning by a faithful follower and it is attributed to Mother Theresa who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for practicing what this poem preaches.

"People are often
Unreasonable and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind,
People may accuse you of ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are honest,
People may cheat you.
Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness,
People may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today
May be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
And it may never be enough,
Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end,
It is between you and God.
It never was between you and them anyway."