Am I that parent? Am I pushing my kids towards things that I wish I had been successful at? Or worse—am I steering them towards areas I think they should be successful at, that they might not even love? I always claimed I was going to be the kind of parent who allowed my kids to [...]
Just prior to heading into the summer vacation, the secondary staff gathered together to have their final meeting of the year. At the tail end of the meeting, one of the staff members, Gary Verbeek—in typical Gary fashion—took over the meeting and announced that the staff needed to listen to a praise song by a [...]
Over spring break, our family had the privilege of travelling to Hawaii. It was a gift from Heidi’s parents to take some of their family with them to Honolulu. It seemed unreal as we packed for it—but we did have the opportunity to spend 10 days on the trip of lifetime—one our kids will never [...]
I love soccer. It’s by far my favourite sport. I've participated in it for the better part of my life, and I truly consider it one of the pure joys of my childhood—playing club and school soccer. I distinctly remember the year that the Bowmanville (my home town) Rangers took home the regional cup in [...]
When I was in high school I played in the school band and enjoyed it. I had some success and by my grade 10 year I was asked to play first chair trumpet in the senior level band. But, in grade 12, our band teacher left and a new teacher was hired. Rumour had it, [...]
It was Heidi’s birthday this past weekend. Heidi and I have had a long tradition that instead of buying gifts for these occasions, we go on a dates together (including a special dinner) and spend our money on an experience that has lasting memories. For whatever reason, I was having a tougher time trying to [...]
