Day 4 - 172 -- Triple Treat Day

Another year and another day with three things to celebrate -- my best friend since infancy has a birthday today; it is the first day of summer; and it is National Aboriginal Day in Canada. Today the temperatures and humidity moderated, so it was more bearable outside and inside <smile>. I had a wonderful conversation with my friend who is geographically far, far away. The meeting today spent time discussing indigenous programming in our department. All three events falling on this date gave me something to smile about today. The day ended with a light supper at the pub with a colleague and friend. So, many things to smile about today.

Stresses in one part of life can cross over easily to other parts. Trying to focus on the positives can be challenging. Sadly, it is often easier to obsess on the negatives. It takes great strength of will to pull out of that downward spiral to see the bigger picture and move to a better place. Today, this made me take time to look at the sky and flowers when walking and take a moment here and there to check in with myself to be sure I was moving up and not heading into the abyss. Some days this works better than others -- today was one of the good days.

To welcome summer I thought of many songs, but wanted one by a Canadian -- part of my challenge to myself to use Canadian songs and artists in honour of the sesquicentennial. So -- only one stuck with me for very long and I'll share it with you all today. The lyrics seem to embrace the ethos of trying to cram a full year  of living into the 3-4 months of summer-ness. Enjoy!

Summer of '69 -- Bryan Adams