Off to the Coast

Well on Wednesday we are off to Vancouver & Salt Spring Island for my brother's wedding. We are quite excited as we have been talking for years about taking the kids to the coast. I've never been to Salt Spring but everyone who has says it's just beautiful! We are staying in a cabin there - saw pictures - looks great! I am looking forward to a break. We had our Discovery Toys leadership retreat a couple weekends ago and it was also in a cabin. We had someone come in to give us pedicures, somebody else to teach us bellydancing, we made gratitude journals & we were broken into groups so that we each only had to look after one meal for the whole weekend. But I think my favorite part was that once we got there, I didn't drive a car, answer a phone or touch a computer the entire time. It was a wonderful thing. I know there is a place in Edmonton that does spiritual retreats & I think I am going to look into it. I have been trying this exercise that I learned about for meditating & it is simply to count from one to ten without any other thoughts entering your head. You try it!! I couldn't believe how easily I got distracted. "One...two...think about your breathing...crap....One....two...." That went on for about 10 minutes & I don't think I ever got past two. It made me realize how used to chaos & noise & distraction I am and how difficult it is to just try to focus. I can see how important it is to make sure our children get quiet time too. So I will keep practicing & let you know when I get to ten. Until then, I am looking forward to a family vacation on the coast!

The Hard Truth

This came to me via email today & I just loved it. So much truth. Apparently Bill Gates (love him or hate him, his words are right on the mark) was speaking to a group of high schoolers & shared with them this list of things that you do not learn in school. We are so focused on political-correctness that we set kids up for an unrealistic picture of the "real world."
I don't have all the source information from this, just that it is from an address Bill Gates gave to a high school.
So, read & enjoy!

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity . Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now.. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.