Who are We?

Mother, friend, daughter, wife, teacher......

When I sat and thought about who I am, just right now, I wrote down what came to mind.  No writing it, erasing it, putting something else down, changing the order, I just wrote as it came to mind.    Then I read it back and something came to me, no where on my list did I put NICOLE. 

Then it quickly came to me, this is the order I put myself in, first a mother, then a friend, and on and on.  But why am I not on that list of priority?  Why does everyone else come before myself?   Why don't I put myself on that list?  I did not even realize that I was not on the list until I read it back.   Is it because I am not important?   Can't be, because without ME, I could not be the mother, friend, daughter, wife and teacher.   

Too many times when we become adults, and I mean true adults, not "I'm 20 so I am an adult" adult, we lose who we are, and become everyone else.   This is not a fast process either.  It is not like one day we wake up and say, "OK now I am a mother, so I come second".   These things seem to come and sneak up on us, without us realizing it.  That is until someone points it out.

So I am pointing it out to all my awesome friends, family and friends-to-come,  YOU ARE IMPORTANT!!!   Put yourself at the top of that list, realize your importance in this world, cause without you in it, I could not be the person I am.......NICOLE!!!!

Paddling along........

Life is Precious

These past few weeks have been tough emotionally on me,  I have watched my best friend lose her grandfather to old age and her father to cancer, all within 2 days of each other.   It has really made me think a lot about life and all it has to offer.   I have watched the letters of sympathy come pouring in for him, and them.  I have read about how wonderful a man, friend, brother, son  and husband he was.  As I read all of these messages I thought, how often we don't say those things to people when they are alive, we wait until they are gone.  Why do we wait?  As human beings we all like to hear nice things about ourselves or something we have done, so why don't we do it more?  

I read about the pages that turn up on Facebook when someone dies unexpectedly.  When you read them the condolences usually follow with something positive that they remember about that person.  Did that person know they thought that about them?  Probably not and that's a shame.

So I have made a decision, I am going to let those people in my life know how much they mean to me, NOW!  I am going to tell them the positive things they have brought to my life, and why I am who I am because of them.  It might be someone I just met, or a friend I have known for years.  Whether it is a note or a phone call I am going to let those people know that they are important to me.

Therefore friends, watch your mailboxes, cause if you are reading this then you are someone who cares enough about me to read my thoughts, so you can be sure that because of that, you make my life better.  

Paddling down that river called life.......

Scam

The other day as I went to the mail box to get what I though for sure was just more bills, but I got a pleasant surprise.  There waiting for me was a little Canada Post package tag waiting for me.   I felt like a college student again as I got a letter in the mail saying I had a package to pick up at the post office.   Oh what could it be?  As I flipped the sheet over it said that I owed $1.29 in postage to receive it.   I must admit I got a little more excited about this because I knew it had to be something somebody sent, because I figured that a company would ensure that they got the right postage so that I got their "important" credit card information. 

So off Bruce went to get the letter from the post office.  I told him to call me as soon as he got it because the anticipation was killing me.   I know this sounds pathetic that a letter brought that much excitement, but it did.   Bruce calls me when he gets back to the car, and here is how the conversation went:

"What is is?"  I ask.

"A thank you card," he says.

"What?  Why did we have to pay  $1.29 for a thank you card?"

"Because they forgot to put a stamp on it before mailing it."

"Oh, but wait, isn't a stamp only $0.57?"

"Yep, but if they forget to put a stamp on YOU get charged DOUBLE to get the letter"

Are you serious Canada Post?!   I get a letter that SOMEONE else forgot to put a stamp on, and I get charged DOUBLE to get it.   That has to be the biggest scam I have heard of.   I  have to go and pick up the letter myself, and I get charged double.  There really has to be something illegal about this.   Canada post already charges us enough to mail a letter and now this.   I see why I am using email more and more.  And what makes me even more mad, is that I don't even get the mail at my house, I have to go to a box at the end of my street to pick it up.   So in essence I had to walk to get my mail, drive to get a letter and then PAY to pick it up.  Who is making money here!