Canada Day.

I feel like I’m in school and the teacher has just given everyone a topic and we need to write ‘what it means to me’.  Thoughts come to me intermittently during the day but when I sit down and try to write I find that I have drawn a blank.

Many people look forward to this weekend to get to the cottage, campsite or the beach, get out on the water, enjoy the great outdoors.   We all cross our fingers for three days of sunshine!

Others stay put and enjoy Promenade Days in downtown Barrie, sit at the patios that line Dunlop St, enjoy great food and great company.  The younger kids always enjoy the rides and Centennial Beach.

Still others will head to Toronto and take in the Pride Day/weekend festivities, which is a great boost for so many reasons.

We went to a great hockey fundraiser at Nashville North last night and listened to local friends & business people play fabulous music in a couple of bands.  What a great way to reconnect with old friends that you only see in the hockey rink while helping to raise money for boys hockey!   We’ll be getting together with friends again this afternoon and will likely do the same tomorrow. It’s nice to be able to shut everything down for a few hours and enjoy the company of those who we don’t see very often.

But as I listen to the news this week and hear stories about flooding in Calgary and infants dying in the heat of the cars that they have been somehow forgotten in, Blackberry is in a slump and the real estate market is hanging in there, I actually find myself feeling philosophical.  This almost feels like a time for reflection and a time to be thankful for all the things I have.  This weekend feels like a half way point to the thoughtfulness normally reserved for New Year’s Day.

Then I find myself thinking about all the family and friends who have passed away in the first six months of the year.  An alarming number of good people are no longer with us and I am surprised by how much I miss them.

This year Canada Day has allowed me to slow down and be thankful for my three healthy, loving children, my awesome husband, all of my family and friends and all of our good fortune. I am proud of everything we have accomplished in the first half of 2013 and I can’t wait to see how the second half shapes up.  We’ll be busier then ever before celebrating everything from births and weddings, to successful sporting events and school challenges.  I look forward to reflecting on all of it just like I’m doing today.

HAPPY CANADA DAY everyone!