This prompt has reared its ugly boring head several other times I’m sure. Gratitude, meditation, exercise, journaling…blah blah blah. I mean what else are we supposed to say? I’d honestly like to see someone be real and say they start the day by doing a line of cocaine.
Okay, not sure where that came from, I have personally never touched cocaine but I’m just saying…
I’m going to hijack this prompt and say Happy Birthday to my son Taz who’s 21 today! He lives three provinces away so we won’t get to celebrate with him unfortunately but I know he’ll make sure he has a good day.
He’s off in the paradise that is Vancouver Island, working on getting his Aircraft Maintenance Engineer license. He says he’s going to try and get off of work early and go golfing.
I can’t believe 21 years have gone by since he came into this world. I always described him as my happy little puppy dog. If you imagine an illustration in a children’s book of a puppy running across a hilly, grassy field with his tongue hanging out and a smile on his face, that’s Taz.
He’s had to overcome a lot in his short time on earth. In grade 8, he lost a close friend to a drowning accident. Four people perished in that canoeing accident and it impacted our whole city. A difficult thing for a teenage boy to deal with and get through.
Then the September he started Grade 12, on the Labour Day long weekend, his best friend in the whole world was killed in a drunk driving accident. An unimaginable loss. He hurt for a long time even though he would never admit it.
As a parent, you are unprepared with how to support your kids through these challenges. Or at least I was. First of all you don’t think tragedies like this will be something you need to deal with once, much less twice. And any parent knows, seeing your kids hurt is more painful than your own hurt.
Anyway I don’t want to sadden this day. It’s his birthday. I hope he has a great day. He’d be thrilled to know I dedicated my post to him today but I’m not going to tell him.
bloom.planted.north 
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