Camp 2

     For several years our eldest daughter has had the privilege of attending Zajac Ranch for Children. For those of you who don't know, it is an amazing place where kids of any age, with any disability or any medical issue are cared for and welcome. Having a daughter with epilepsy has been stressful but we have never worried about her at Zajac Ranch. In fact it was one of the few places where our daughter could be without us and we would feel confident. The camp counsellors, the nursing and administrative staff are all so in tune with children who need extra care. And while there the kids can swim, kayak, climb high ropes, ride horses, do crafts and archery, sing, dance and just be kids at camp. What a special place!
     We have been extra blessed by having the kind folks at The Center for Epilepsy and Seizure Education in B.C. help with our daughter's camp fees. Not only have these nice people given us encouragement to participate in Purple Day events, giving us seizure information brochures and other educational items to hand out but they have made it financially possible for our daughter to attend camp. We are so appreciative!
    As you can imagine there are not many benefits to having epilepsy but getting to know the generous people at Zajac Ranch and ESEBC are definite advantages. They are caring, compassionate folks who love children and want to see disabled kids have all the fun that typical kids do. They now have opened the camp to young adults with disabilities. And so our daughter arrived home today, tired but happy and full of stories of all the fun she had and the new people she met this week. It is a gift that she will carry with her always: happy memories of summer camp.... Thank you!

Photo Credit: Camp Zajac

Pray

     Religion and politics, two of the three topics we don't discuss because things will get heated or awkward or both and then what? However I would like to tell you that I am a big believer in the power of prayer. Of course prayer is different things to different people. Depending on your religion it can mean meditation, contemplation, supplication or hymns. There is empirical evidence which shows that a positive attitude, an uplifted focus on what you want, a release of that desire into the universe is more likely to be realised than a negative, unspoken or hidden one. Prayer can assist with mental and physical health as well. Clay Routledge wrote at length about this topic in the National Review published in April of last year.
     Part of the reason I believe in prayer is that my most fervent prayers have been answered. From the times when I was in trouble as a teenager to anaphylaxis and near death as a young adult, to the times I grieved multiple miscarriages and then for my daughters to be born and in good health my prayers have been granted. Since then for almost two decades I have daily prayed for the health and safety of our daughters, one of whom has epilepsy but who is now about two and a half years seizure free. My prayers for them and others have not stopped and probably never will. Prayer increases a sense of hope in my life and hope is a substance in short supply some days.
     Don't get me wrong, not all my prayers have been answered. All I know is that the big ones have been. And for that I am truly and perpetually grateful. And that is the other reason I pray: to express thanks for all the blessings in my life which have been so many!

"Prayer is, at root, simply paying attention to God." Dr. Ralph Martin

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/04/what-prayer-is-good-for-and-the-evidence-for-it/

Drive

    Every once in a while I am ashamed of my species. Actually that happens quite often but that's a rant for another day. One of our daughters is learning to drive which means that my husband and I are being driven around our neighbourhood as often as possible by a new but enthusiastic and careful driver. I am saddened to report the number of times that she has been tailgated and/or sworn at for doing the speed limit. We have an L on our car which means that a learning driver is operating the vehicle. We live in a rural area which is close to a busy suburb but relatively quiet. The speed limit is 60 km per hour and she is going 60 or slightly over. Did I mention that we have an L on our car? I am shocked that people would take the time to pull around the vehicle, roll down the window and yell "F#&k you!" to a teenager while she is attempting this new, difficult and potentially dangerous task. I really am appalled.
    The driving courtesy that we experienced in places like Australia and Scotland was so exceptional. My husband felt like a new driver, driving an unfamiliar car on new roads, on the opposite side of the street in the seemingly wrong side of the car. But people were kind, courteous and patient, no matter how many times that we went around the roundabout. Why does it seem as if Canadian drivers are getting ruder and more impatient? Maybe our city is getting more crowded and our roads busier. Or perhaps I am just getting to be an old lady, one embarrassed by human beings who are giving the rest of us a bad name....