Mother of an adult child? I am not ready for this :(

It has been a long time since I blogged and this isn't some highly controversial topic, so whether it gets read or not will remain to be seen.  To be honest, if it doesn't, it's okay with me as I am writing this one for me.

Today is a momentous day in our lives.  Our first born child turns 18.  That means he is now an adult.  No longer a child.  So what? He's only a day older than yesterday, right?  True, but so much changes with the stroke of midnight on the first legal birthday.

All of a sudden, he can vote.  He can go to the bar (in Alberta, anyhow).  He can get married without my permission.  He can get a tattoo without my permission.  Borrow money (from someone other than us).  His taxes go up.  He starts paying into government programs that he will likely never get to use.  It's all just a little too much for me to wrap my head around.

This is all mixed up with immense pride at how far he has come.  How he has grown from tiny baby of 7lbs 10oz to 135lbs of man (that just does NOT seem right - man???)?  How can it possibly be 18 years since we were in the hospital in Lacombe dealing with awful back labour and every doctor, intern, nurse and random guy off the street was popping in to check the expansion of my nether regions?  How can it be 18 years ago since members of both sides of the family were sitting in the waiting room waiting on news of the first grandchild on either side of the family (for my mom on my side at least)?  

 Why does all of this looking back make me want to bawl my eyes out?  It's not like we have raised a serial killer or I am concerned about him being a deadbeat or that I think he's going to be living a lonely, sad existence.  I am not.  He has good morals, he is a hard worker, he's smart, he's so kind and genuine, he has good taste in friends and in girlfriends and he is good to his family.  All of these are things for hubby and I to be proud of.  From our own early days as a young married couple without a clue what to do with this baby we had planned for to today with a really good life - we managed to raise a smart, kind, loyal, able-bodied, funny, genuine young man.  So, why the sadness?  Why the aching heart?  Why the tears?

Here's what I think.  I think that it is all a little too much, too soon.  I mean, from the time they are born, we are always thinking about how we can't wait until they say mama or dada and we can't wait til they walk, can't wait til they go to school, can't wait til they go out into the world... The fact is, we wish away so much time.  Even if we are enjoying the moment, we are still wishing for the next big milestone.  Well, one of them is here right now and I don't like it.  I don't want it to be time yet.  I am not ready.  Dammit, I AM NOT READY.

It's not that I feel old.  I don't care about my age.  I am still alive, I am in pretty good health, I have a good life.  It is just a number.  What I feel is sad.  I wish I could go back and slow those moments down.  That I would have hugged him a little longer, snuggled with him a few more times.  I wish I could put into words how full my heart is of love and pride.  I wish that I hadn't wished so much away. I feel like I just want to go back in time and start again.  Chances are, if we did, we would screw it up, but I am just not ready to be done with my job.  Our daughter is probably going to hate me because I will be needing to feel like I have to hang on to her a bit tighter and smother her a bit more for the next 2 1/2 years.

The hardest thing I ever did in my life aside from saying goodbye to my grandmother what I felt was 20 years too early, was leaving our boy in Alberta when we moved.  In a sense, he has been an adult since July 20, 2017 as he has been on his own since then.  But this sort of finalizes it.  It is sort of like someone has taken a machete to the last invisible remnants of the umbilical cord and sliced it away.  For as much as I am proud and full of love and hope and happiness for his future, I am sad that 18 years went by so fast.

Take my advice... Hold onto the moments.  Don't wish away time.  Don't wish that you had more time to go on vacation, that you had more time to read and do all the things YOU want to do.  Just embrace the little moments, celebrate the big ones and do yourself and your kids a favour and be present.  Get off your phone.  Get them off theirs.  Take pictures but don't get so busy taking pictures that you forget to enjoy the memories your are capturing.  Hug them a little longer than is comfortable for them.  When they want to snuggle, don't brush them off because you have stuff to do.  The stuff will wait.  And in the end, if you are like me, even if you do all of that, you are still going to wish you had done more.  You are going to think that it went by too fast.

We only get them for a short time even though it may seem like forever when you first feel that nudge of life within you.  They should never doubt they are loved by their parents... EVER.

He's 18 today.  My heart is full, so are my eyes.  It went by too fast.  I am so not ready for this, but it's not about me anymore, it's all him.  I know he's going to do great things and make his mark in this world.  I hope he just remembers once in awhile to call his mom.  To tell her he loves her.  To come home to visit.  To snuggle on the couch like we used to, even when he's 40.

Who would have thought this would be such a bittersweet day?  I am just so not ready for this...

How much can the rural Canadian take?

Alberta Farm Express Article

Financial Post Article

Western Producer Article

It seems that yet again, there are upcoming changes that are not supposed to be aimed at the working class that are going to impact the bottom line of many throughout the country.  It is getting to the point where we are going to be working until October to pay the government instead of June with so many taxes on everything.

The move to BC from Alberta has definitely brought with it an unpleasant shock of how the PST really affects the bottom line of your budget.  We knew there was tax when we moved here, it's not that we didn't, but when you go to pick up $650 worth of windows and your bill is $728 of your after income tax paid earnings, it starts to feel like you are spinning your wheels to go nowhere.  5% GST is first and then PST of 7%.  

When we look at what the Liberal government is proposing, as one of the people who will definitely be affected by the changes, I am a little tired of being nickel and dimed to death.  Oh wait, I am a lot tired and it's Loonie-d and Toonie-d to death.  The Liberal government has yet to define what they perceive is the "middle class".  Is middle class everyone just above the poverty line to $60,000/year or does it actually consider the actual Median total income by family in Canada in 2015 was $80,940?  

With all of the changes thrown at us both from an agricultural perspective and a business perspective, plus minimum wage changes coming up in both BC and Alberta, Bill 6 in Alberta, NDP governments in both provinces looking to tax the middle and upper to support the lower, it feels damn near impossible to get ahead.  The impact all of these changes will have on our rural communities could be huge.  Will the businesses be able to stay viable?  Will farmers give up and just sell their land to the big corporations?  Will there be any time or money left at the end of the day to enjoy what we all are supposedly working toward?

We worked our butts off to get to where we are today.  Prior to moving we were in the 35-45 age group with dual income and a sizable income tax bill every year.  Yet, every year we have paid it.  Mostly without complaint.  The reason we don't complain is because we believe in infrastructure advancements, health care benefits, education for the masses.  What we don't believe in is lining politicians pockets with our hard-earned money.  We also don't believe that the hard-working achievers of the world need to support those who choose to sit on their asses instead of getting out there and going to work.  Do I think there are those who legitimately need support as they are unable to work?  Absolutely.  Do I think that there are people on assistance and EI that should be working, you bet I do.  I love the idea of socialism and taking care of each other.  It is a fantastic ideal.  But shouldn't those of us who work hard to make a better living for ourselves be left with enough money at the end of the day to look after our own first?  

According to a Fraser Institute report done in 2014, the average family's tax bill has risen by 1832% since 1961.  We start with income tax - federal and provincial (pre-deduction if there is any left after the government continues to make changes to the system), the average of which is 42% according to a National Post article from 2014 (probably higher now).  So, we are down to $0.58/dollar earned.  Now we have GST at 5%, PST at 5 - 8% in various provinces, property taxes, fuel taxes, import taxes, land transfer taxes and of course sin taxes.  What does that leave to use for groceries, clothing and shelter?  

This begs the question - at the end of the day, what do I get for my tax dollars?  Military?  Well, I guess it's nice that we can send Peace Keepers to other locations in the world with less than stellar equipment (until we buy new planes from Boeing so we can help them out with tax dollars for the umpeenth time), but we don't take care of our veterans when they get home.  Education?  Well, public education is subsidized so that bill is only going to be a couple hundred dollars for our one child in school this year, however when looking at University courses and costs for a 4 year undergrad program, we are looking at about $80,000 out of pocket.  Infrastructure?  Well, BC & Alberta have pretty good highways, so I guess that's good, though I would love for the construction fairies to do all their work when it doesn't inconvenience me, kidding.  However, when we look at the wildfire fighting crapshow going on in BC right now, I am not so sure that the infrastructure dollars are that well spent.  Health care?  This one grinds me.  As a relatively healthy family of four, we don't see the doctor a lot, thank goodness.  We do have a few monthly prescriptions which cost us around $150/mth and another $150 for BC Care (provincial health care), which is $3600 minimum a year out of our pocket, plus the $75/bi-weekly that we pay for my husband's crappy benefit plan at work, so that is another $1800.  Despite the fact that we pour so much of our tax dollar into the health care system, a relatively healthy family is still paying $5400/year for health care services.  (This does not include the cost of physiotherapy, chiropractic, massage, etc.)  Our homeless shelters are overflowing, there is still an unacceptable level of poverty in our country given how much money we send elsewhere to third-world countries in support, our veterans are left high and dry, our seniors are treated like animals in assisted living facilities that aren't staffed properly or fit for anyone, let alone someone who has spent their time contributing to our great nation.

It is no wonder that everyone feels pinched and is utilizing the options available to them through succession planning on farms, income splitting through businesses and every other possible solution as we are already paying an incredible amount of tax and I really don't think we are getting much bang for our buck.  Do I think that the millionaires need to pay their fair share?  Yes, I do.  Do I think that we need to look out for each other and take care of our neighbours, yes I do.  Do I think that the tax money could be spent better?  Absolutely.  

Our family is what I would call the upper-middle class from an income perspective and we worked damn hard to be here.  With all of the taxes calculated in, I would say that in our years as tax payers we have contributed more than a million dollars in taxes to the system (probably more, but I can't bear to do the calculation).  I can't say that I feel like that million dollars was well spent and I certainly don't want to have to donate more of our hard earned money to the various levels of government so that they can mismanage it.  Imagine if we had that money at our disposal to invest it into the economy and grow it and make our communities a better place.  

It is time to get educated, write letters, make noise.  I am concerned about how these changes will affect my family, but more importantly, I am concerned about how it will affect rural communities throughout the country which is a demographic that no one in the current provincial (BC & Alberta specifically as my knowledge of the others is not first hand) and federal governments seem to give a damn about.

Where is the love?

How in 2017 can we possibly still live in a world where we have rallies of white supremacists?  How?  I can not fathom why this type of thinking even still exists in this day and age.  Extremist groups of any form are scary and it doesn't matter what the collective "ideal" is that joins them together.  

As someone who lives a pretty mundane existence, grew up on a ranch in Southern Alberta when the school I went to from K-9 was 99% mormon and 100% white with the exception of a couple first nations foster kids throughout the 10 years I went to school there.  I went to high school in a town with the Blood Indian Reserve right next door, some who attended our school and very little else in terms of racial diversity.  From there I have lived in primarily caucasian and primarily Christian locations, not because we chose that, but because it is the nature of rural Alberta.  Despite my upbringing surrounded by people of my own "colour", I have no ill will towards any other race or ethnic group.  (I won't get started on how I feel about religion - that's a blog for another day).

If a caucasian, small town Alberta girl can have an open mind and heart to live and let live, why can't everyone?  Many days, I wish that people presented to each other as souls and not as human flesh.  Would we be so quick to judge then?  If all we saw was another's deepest desires, their longing to be loved and accepted, their ambitions, dreams and fears, would we still have hate in our hearts?  To me, it is no different if you are LGTBQ or any other variation.  The only place that I draw the line is at those that harm others with criminal intent.  Once you have crossed that line, I can no longer support your "right" to certain freedoms.  You chose to forfeit those when you committed criminal acts.

At the end of the day, what difference does it make to anyone if my skin is purple, brown, green, white or orange?  Does it change who I am on the inside?  If I prefer to sleep with women instead of men, does that make me someone less worthy of love, kindness and compassion?  Who would I be harming in those situations?  No one.  So, why do people judge?  Why do they assume they have the right to judge?  Why do people feel they have a right to be superior over any other human?

In my work as a lightworker or energy healer, I firmly believe that we are all made of energy.  When you break every person, plant and animal down to the barest of bones, we are molecules and atoms banging around together making us a certain form.  If every single person on earth is made up of energy, are we not all one and the same?  And if that line of thinking were true, then how can any one person be "better" energy than another?  

When it comes down to it, we have choices to make.  We can choose to be part of the problem, or we can choose to rise above, choose to educate ourselves, act in kindness and love.  Even more importantly, we can lead by example, we can teach our children and our loved ones to treat others with kindness and love.  Wars could not be created if everyone acted out of love and compassion and worried less about money, power and greed.  Can you imagine the vibration of the world's energy if every person acted in kindness instead of hate?  How amazing would it be to see each person you pass on the street smiling and greeting others?  How terrific to see people helping those less fortunate in whatever way possible?  

Do people really willingly choose hatred and fear?  Why?  Because they don't know better?  That is no excuse in this day and age.  Those of us who do not choose it need to retaliate against the hate, the fear, the rage.  However, we must be strategic in our retaliation.  Destroying symbols of the extremist groups is simply sinking to their level.  We must retaliate with love.  Kindness. Compassion.  Set an example for others, educate some, stand up for those less fortunate, the down-trodden, those who cannot stand up for themselves.  Small acts of kindness in our every day lives go a long way.  We need to do them not because we will be recognized for it, not because others are watching, but because it is the right thing to do.  We need to look into the eyes of the souls of the people we come across and not look at their clothes, colour, religion, sexual orientation.  

Will you join me in standing up and spreading love?  One person really can make a difference.  Can we show the world where the love is?  Of course we can, but will we?

Common Sense - Where are you?

What in the world has happened to our human race?  Why is common sense a thing of the past? I can think of so many examples of common sense being thrown out the window.  In particular, what has me fired up right now, if you'll pardon the pun, is the idiots in fire ban areas having campfires (non-propane) and throwing their cigarette butts out the window.  

You would need to be literally living under a rock in BC to not know that the province is on fire.  Even my father-in-law who lives off the grid with no power lines or cell phones knows.  If you have walked outside anywhere in the province south of Prince George in the past week alone, you would have seen smoke 4 out of 7 days or more in most areas.  You would have smelled it.  God knows as obsessive as people are about social media these days that you would have read about it, heard it in a coffee shop, seen it on the news, heard it on a radio.  There is no way that you can convince me that someone has not heard about this.

Just this morning I read an article about a fatality occurring in BC due to a cigarette butt being thrown out a window.  Someone stopped, picked it up, followed them and threw the cigarette butt at the woman who had tossed it.  A fight followed and one person ended up dead from hitting their head on the counter in Starbucks after being punched.  Now I am not saying this is the right way to handle this situation, but I can understand the frustration behind the punch.

There have been a number of people fined for having campfires in fire ban areas.  Someone was celebrating his return home to his evacuated community by getting drunk and setting off fireworks.  What in the hell is wrong with people?  Have we become such a selfish and entitled first world culture, that we don't even comprehend anything outside of our own perceived reality?  How could anyone possibly think that having a fire right now is a good idea?  I won't even use our barbecue.  Not only do I not want my place going up in flames in the tinder dry conditions, but I can't imagine how I would feel if I was the cause of my neighbours losing their livestock, their homes, their livelihoods. 

People are up in arms because they aren't "allowed" to ride their ATVs in the crown land. I love quadding and it is a ton of fun; it is a great way to spend a weekend.  It is not worth sparking a fire and lighting a thousand hectares on fire though.  Not for a couple hours of fun for me.  

These kinds of selfish acts make me mad.  Who never taught these people to think about someone other than themselves?  Where I grew up, we were outcasts in the community due to our not being a part of the predominant religion and yet my parents and grandparents still taught us the importance of family, friends, looking out for others less fortunate, contributing to the greater good where possible, building a better community one quilt or one dinner or one small gesture at a time.   Where is this message lacking these days?

I wish I had the answer, unfortunately, I truly don't know where that gap is.  The fact is, we have surrounded ourselves throughout our lives with like-minded people.  We have volunteered in many ways to help build stronger communities, assisted neighbours, cooked meals for busy friends and been on the receiving end as well.  How can people grow up with no common sense?  No sense of something bigger than themselves?  So incredibly entitled?  

If you have thoughts on it, I would love to hear them.  My sentiment is that we have gotten too far away from the Darwinian principles.  We have bubble wrapped the people who should have perished from their own stupidity long ago, and instead they are a danger to the rest of the world.  If you don't know that the coffee you are ordering from Tim's is hot, you shouldn't be out on your own, you certainly shouldn't need a cup warning you about it.  If you cannot comprehend that the bears on the side of the road in the national park and backcountry are WILD animals and not a backdrop for an up-close selfie, you probably deserve to get eaten by the bear.  If you break into someone's house and you get shot - that is karma, that is a natural reaction of self defense - that is not someone infringing on your rights as a human being.

Every day, our news and social media feeds are full of things that some idiot has done because they are selfish and feel entitled to something which in turn has endangered them (oh darn) or endangered others, the environment or more.  Instead of an $1150 fine for having a fire in a fire ban area, I think that they should have to put in 115 hours on the front lines with the firefighters.  But no, that would be "too harsh".  

Unfortunately, most of the entitle folks I have met, are not willing to be educated out of their selfish ways.  So, now I am asking, what can we do to have a more other-ish culture going forward.  The kind that takes care of our elderly, that ensures our veterans of all ages and from all combats have food and clothing, that would never consider having a fire in the midst of the worst wildfire season in over 60 years?  How can we bring our children up to be other-ish, to think about the greater good, the environment, the neighbours, the animals?  

I don't know if we have succeeded, but I know we have damn sure tried with our kids and we have tried to instill it in other ways through our own volunteerism and leading by example.  I am in no way perfect and I have been known to be selfish on occasion, but I am always aware that my actions have a reaction and it is important that the reaction will not hurt other people, animals or the environment.  

Who Says I Should?

I always meant for this blog to be a trip through the random thoughts in my brain, not just horse and rodeo related thoughts.  My last blog had 130 views which is insane.  Prior to that my most viewed blog was 46.  So, WOW!  The power of a few shares on social media!

This morning as I was doing my "morning pages" part of a project I am doing called the Artist's Way created by Julia Cameron, I had a couple thoughts come to me.  I was reminiscing on yesterday and how much unpacking I had done, tidying, sorting and trying to make our new house a home.  As I was doing that, I also thought about my indulgent binge watch of ShadowHunters on Neflix starting at about 8:30.  What came next is what has me drawn to blog about it.

As I was thinking about the 5 episodes I watched until 12:30 or so in the morning, I started to feel guilty that I hadn't gone out and rode my horse instead or that I didn't finish unpacking the boxes in the kitchen.  All these "shoulds" were going through my brain.  "Instead of wasting time watching TV, you should have been going out for a ride, you should have been painting the last bit of bathroom that needs a second coat, you should have been unpacking the last two boxes in the kitchen, you should have, you should have, you should have."

To that, I say - WHO SAYS I SHOULD?  Why do I have this inner voice that guilts me at every single turn?  Why have we created such an existence where a little downtime is something to feel guilty for.  I left my job at the Credit Union one month ago due to our relocation and ever since then, despite fitting in ridiculous amounts of things in a month, all I could think is that I should have done more.  How much can one person do?  I am not superwoman.  I know that.  So, why do I hold myself to such unrealistic standards?

So, what I am really pondering is where the voice in my head is coming from?  Is it my mom and dad in some buried memory?  I don't think so as my mom was a farm wife who baked, cooked, cleaned, ranched, helped with calving, drove us to 4-H and sports and still had time to watch Another World and General Hospital in the afternoons most days.  Dad worked a day job (after his years as a long haul trucker) and he ranched in the evenings, but he almost always sat in his recliner after dinner for a drink and a smoke and a relax.  My grandmother was one of the hardest working women I knew and she still took time to play in her flower beds, read a book on a lawn chair in the sun.  

Is it my husband?  Is he behind the "shoulds"?  No, I really don't think so.  He is an incredibly hard working guy and he doesn't make a lot of time for downtime as he likes to keep busy, but I don't recall him ever telling me that I should be doing something other than what I was doing.  Sometimes I feel lumped in with the kids during his "lazy ass" rants at them when he's frustrated at them; I honestly don't think he means me when he does them though.  

So, why?  Why do I feel this overwhelming sense that if I sit still too long, I am a useless bum?  Why does sitting on the ground playing with the dogs feel like something I should hide from people?  Sitting in my backyard enjoying a beer or wine makes me feel guilty.  

It has to stop.  I am guessing somewhere buried in my psyche, I felt unappreciated or unlovable or something that has me in a guilty flurry mentally every time I stop doing.  A big part of our relocation was for us to slow down the almighty chase for the dollar, the constant 24/7 nature of the oilfield, the 2 full time jobs, 2 kids in multiple activities that we could never attend, 20+ horses and dogs that forgot what we looked like.  Not having a job has me rattled as other than mat leaves, I have worked for the past 24 years.  Not having a job off the ranch doesn't make me an unemployed bum, though.  It is not a reason to feel inadequate.

It's time to grab this bull by the horns and castrate the sucker.  I refuse to live my days feeling guilty every time I sit down.  I am going to work on shutting that voice in my head up, or at the very least spinning it to a positive vibe. How enjoyable can life be if we never sit still and enjoy the moment?  I want to be able to have a FaceTime conversation with my friend or sister and not think about what I "should" be doing.  I want to go for a ride on my horse and not worry about the fact that I didn't sweep the floors before I left.  I want to putz around in my garden and flowers and not feel like I should get a job and do something "worthwhile" with my time.  So, that's what I am going to do.  It will take time to break some of these habits and self-talk that is disturbing my peace, but I am determined to let this new adventure actually sink in, enjoy conversations with friends back home, enjoy spending time with my daughter just hanging out in the pool or backyard, enjoy throwing a frisbee or ball for an hour with a crazy dog, watch the horses eat grass, on occasion binge watch some silly show on Netflix. 

Life is too damn short to get so tied up in the shoulds that we don't enjoy the NOW.  What we SHOULD be doing is smelling the roses, spending time with our loved ones as we never know what tomorrow could bring, walking the dog, enjoying the beautiful bounty of mother earth, the smell of horse sweat on a nice long ride.  So, that's what I am going to do!  My challenge is for you to do it too, especially if you are a "should-er" like me.  

Brain Bucket? To helmet or not to helmet?

Life has been more than crazy for the last 3 months which is why I haven't taken the time to blog.  Now that I am into my new adventure and have a few minutes to sit down with my coffee, I am dedicating time to my writing. 

Today I want to touch on a topic that is a hot one and has been a source of irritation and contention in our household.  Western and rodeo riding with a helmet. 4-H Alberta requires helmets for anyone born after 2000.  Our kids both hated their helmets, though our son was far worse than our daughter.  Every 4-H ride was a fight.  Because the region we were in required helmets for everyone, we enforced that at our club level.  No amount of discussion, workshop on benefits or fighting would convince our son that wearing a riding helmet wasn't all that bad.

To be fair, we have never worn helmets as western riders in our lives both prior to and while being parents. The kids of course want to know why we don't and they have to.  Because I said so doesn't seem to be an acceptable answer.  I tried one for awhile because as the 4-H Leader, I felt I should lead by example.  I found it uncomfortable, constricting and I have to admit, though I wouldn't call myself vain - I thought it looked dorky.  Hubby tried it for a few rides, but due to his rather large melon, we would have had to spend $300 to find one that would even fit his head, so he stuck with his cowboy hat.

On the flip side, we NEVER ride our quads without our helmets.  I would never consider allowing our son to ride steers without a helmet.  So, why is it any different when riding a horse?

There is plenty of research and proof that helmets have the potential to save lives and at least reduce the severity of injury, yet we have not embraced it from a western riding culture.  Insurance is pushing harder and harder for under 18 riders to be wearing helmets at all times in various associations.  I can see this becoming an issue for rodeo associations around the continent, including High School and especially Junior High Rodeo.  If it comes down to an association being able to put on their event or not putting on a revenue producing event for the community, they are going to do what Insurance says they have to.  (I will save my rant about Insurance for another blog)  

In December, I was at a local gymkhana with my husband, daughter and some friends.  It's a super fun group and we had been having a lot of fun with the series.  I was running two horses in every event.  I had run my little mare in barrels and all went off without a hitch.  Next up I had my big gelding to run.  This horse is placid, laid back and slow.  I was really riding him just for fun because he's never shown any interest in speed.  We were running home after 3rd (I use the term running loosely, but he was going about as fast as I have ever ridden him).  Something happened and I lost my seat and came off the side of him.  He cut hard left at the fence and I kept going right into it... with my head.

I am 8 months post skull fracture, concussion, traumatic brain injury.  It has only been in the last week that I have been able to open a horse up into a lope.  I have had ongoing Post Concussion Syndrome, a consult with a neurosurgeon about repairing my fracture, there are bone fragments floating around between my brain and skull.  My memory is crap, I had terrible vestibular issues which seem to have resolved themselves in the last month and most of all, I have a form of PTSD.  This is not war veteran stuff or sexual assault victim severity and I want to clarify that. However, despite riding since I was 2 years old, I have become almost terrified to get on, let alone lope a horse.  So, going for a ride this week on two different horses and loping on both of them with less fear of coming off was refreshing and downright breathtaking (in a good way).

Guess what?  I am now wearing a helmet.  It turns out, with all of my ongoing troubles, I am not willing to become a vegetable and not be around for the next 50 years to torment my husband, support my kids, help out my parents and snuggle any grandbabies that might come my way.  The thought of going through further memory loss, issues with vision, vocabulary issues and possible brain surgery scares the crap out of me.  

I had been borrowing my daughter's helmet whenever I was able to convince myself to get on a horse, but a couple weeks ago we went shopping and I bought myself a new helmet.  It's one of the Fallon Taylor ones.  That's not why I bought it though, I bought it because it's comfortable.  AND my daughter says on a dork scale of 1 - 10, it's a 4 and hers was a 6 on me.  I still feel weird putting it on to jump on a horse in a western saddle.  The fact is I stared in the face what I was willing to lose and right now, I feel like it is enough to give me confidence to ride and allow me a buffer of safety for my brain as God only gifted me with one of them.

So, to helmet or not to helmet?  English riders have been wearing them forever.  Extreme sports wear them (dirt biking, quadding, skydiving and more and more in bull riding).  As I look around the rodeo arena though, I wonder what is the difference between a bull rider and a bronc rider?  Why would a bull rider strap on a helmet more easily than someone who is likely to get thrown farther at a higher rate of speed from the back of a running and bucking horse?  How many times have we seen a barrel racing wreck that ended up with the rider hitting their head on something (ground, fence, barrel, horse)?  I commend Fallon Taylor for doing her part as a high profile rodeo contestant for wearing helmets and making it less taboo for young girls starting out.

I am still of the opinion that it is a personal choice.  In this case, it isn't like drinking and driving where you are putting others at risk.  This is about what an individual feels about the risk involved and their ability to manage the risk.  At this point in time, I am choosing to manage my risk by wearing a helmet.  My husband and kids are choosing not.  However, they are making an educated choice as we have had workshops and education around the benefits of helmets.  They have seen my struggles and dealt with them firsthand.  

I still think I look dorky, I still don't really like how it feels, but the risk of living more months the way I have lived the last 8 is too much in my mind, so I am mitigating it with my "cute" Fallon Taylor brain bucket that has a pretty, but subtle pattern on it.  I have loped on two different horses in 3 days which is something I haven't done since my wreck.  I feel confident about getting back to gymkhanas and barrel jackpots, so I guess I will learn to be the dorky looking one and know that my brain is better off for it, both physically and mentally.

Living Rural: People make the difference

Well, here it is, the end of an 8 year era.  Josh and I have been together for nearly 21 years.  Wow!  I don't feel old enough for that to be the case.  Our first 13 years together included many moves for school, for work, for school and work.  From our humble beginnings in Pincher Creek as teenagers, to Red Deer and Lacombe for me to go to college to Veteran for work to Crossfield for Josh to get his trade at SAIT to Lacombe because we love Central Alberta to Beaverlodge for Josh's work, to Central Alberta because we love it to um... well, truth be told, that's a big question mark right now.

8 years we have called this piece of land between Clive and Tees home.  Here's how I know that people can make all the difference in the world.  When we first moved here, we knew a lot of people in Lacombe from the 5 or so years we had already lived there off and on.  We didn't know many people outside of Lacombe.  The beautiful thing about a rural location is the people.

We moved here in July of 2009. In August, being country bumpkins and rodeo lovers all of our lives, we decided to head to the Tees Rodeo for the day.  The kids had a blast and we could not believe the way the day seemed to go almost flawlessly with only a few people running around behind the scenes that we could see.  We enjoyed the day so much that we went home, grabbed our holiday trailer and took it to the grounds for the night so we could check out the cabaret.  Luckily we found some folks that we knew from our dayhome in our previous life and some friends that we had kept in touch with off and on throughout the years.  We were so impressed that we hit them up about being a part of the Ag Society because we wanted to help out with this fantastic little rodeo in what appeared to be a open and welcoming community.

Anyone who has lived in a small town or rural area knows that able an willing bodies are becoming more and more few and far between, so we were welcomed with open arms, told when the next meeting was and I am sure they thought they would never see us again.  But, we were at the next meeting, and the next and the next.  This little community that we were so fortunate to move into gave us some of the best friends in the world.  It gave us a place to truly call home.  So much so that within a year we were hosting a couple meetings to see if there would be enough interest to start a horse and rodeo 4H club in the area.  Our information meeting, we had 8 families show up.  We only needed 8 kids to start a club and we had two.  From the looks of that meeting we were cooking with gas.

We started our little 4-H club and we created a family.  There are no words to say how lucky we are to have had the opportunity to have these people become a part of our lives.  This is our 7th year of leading the club and all of our closest friends in the area are 4-H families.  We have watched our kids grow together, watched them change, seen them graduate, go off to college and now even getting married.  To me, they are all "my" kids.

There is something about living rural that brings out what I believe is the best in people.  Having animals to take care of takes a commitment level that not everyone is willing to see through.  Wanting to have a community that continues to be a place that you want to call home and teach your children to be involved in isn't something everyone is invested in.  I truly believe that people make the difference when you live in the country.

We live in between a village and a hamlet and both have a passionate volunteer base.  There are people who show up month after month to keep these little communities viable and relevant so that their kids and grandkids have a place to continue to call home.  I am so proud of the contribution we have made to our communities, but moreso, I am proud to call the people who have been doing these things for decades our friends.  Without the people who are willing to fundraise, take care of boring business matters on a monthly basis, make tough decisions to keep things going, apply for grants and submit proposals, these rural communities would all become ghost towns.

The people who show up time and again to do these things are the backbone of rural Alberta.  They are the backbone of the Agriculture industry in Canada.  They are the people who continue to develop and sustain in an economy that is struggling.  I believe it is so important to be these people.  People who care about something bigger than themselves.  People who reach out and work to make their community a viable place.  I want our children to be these people.  People who start 4-H clubs and bring families with similar interests together.  People who are directors on Ag Societies and Community Clubs like the Lions, Rotary, Elks, etc.  People who want to make a difference for other people.

When we moved here 8 years ago and decided to grab our proverbial shovels and dig in to do our part to make a difference, we never realized all the ways that it would come back to us. It has tenfold.  Our lives are so rich thanks to the relationships we have made through our volunteer work.  Our closest friends are those we made through our rural community organizations.  Our kids' closest friends are children of our closest friends.  I know without a doubt that our kids have numerous adults that they could go to if they were in trouble and they were worried about coming to us as their parents.

Being a community volunteer and rural advocate takes time.  It is something that you have to fit in with your jobs, your ranches, your farms, your kids extra-curricular activities.  I am here to tell you that it's worth it.  The people make the difference.  The people have made a difference.  I am proud to be someone who works to make a difference, someone who has had the ability to watch some of the local kids grow up and head off into adulthood, someone who knows that those adults will go on to be stewards of their own communities wherever they end up.  I don't know yet where our journey is going to take us, but I know that wherever it is, we will grab our shovels and dig in because living rural is different and we want to be a positive part of that difference.