Counting My Blessings

Events of the past few weeks have given me pause to take stock of all I am thankful for. The result is sort of a reverse bucket list, if you will, a catalogue of things I’ve done rather than things I hope to do. Only got some of it down before a cramp forced me to put down my pen. Even so, there is much – good and bad – that reinforces my belief that I’ve had a wonderful life. A full life. While I have no plans to exit the scene any time soon, God may have other plans. So it seems this is as good a time as any to share some of my blessings, and to thank all of you who played a role in the story of my life. Much of what has brought me so much joy would that never have happened – or been the same – without you! Here’s the partial list (items listed in no particular order):

• Have never known war, hunger, thirst, prejudice due to race, gender or sexual orientation
• Had a good education and access to excellent healthcare
• Exceeded my life expectancy
• Have been a medical guinea pig
• Have remained extremely close to both my parents throughout their lifetimes
• Cultivated an amazing group of friends
• Been baptized in a natural body of water (Porpoise Bay)
• Joined an wonderful faith community
• Own house (along with the bank)
• Had a career I loved
• Lived in different parts of the country (urban and rural regions)
• Volunteered at an art gallery, as a brownie leader, an educational tutor, writer/editor
• Produced a radio program – won “rookie of the year” award at the station
• Played (tried to play) a musical instrument – accordion and flute (at different times)
• Took dancing lessons – ballet, ballroom, tap (at different times) but still can’t cut a rug
• Had solo art exhibit at a respected gallery
• Exhibited my artwork in a national gallery and in a gallery in foreign country
• Achieved a Masters degree
• Became proficient in most needle and textile arts
• Won two blue ribbons for weaving
• Raised award-winning rabbits, geese, chickens, and ducks
• Passed two levels in WSET training plus obtained Spanish wine educator status
• Helped better a stranger’s life – set up two educational endowments
• Donated my late father’s papers and photos to the Vancouver Maritime Museum where they are now known as the Collins Collection
• Flew in a glider
• Flew in a helicopter
• Rode in an ambulance 
• Went whitewater rafting
• Rode through the Rockies on horseback
• Made homemade marshmallows  
• Touched an elephant and a bat ray, had a butterfly land on my face
• Caught a snake with my bare hands
• Touched the waters of all five Great Lakes, James Bay, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
• Stood at most easterly point (Cape Spear, Nfld) in Canada
• Stood in all Canadian provinces (except PEI + 3 northern territories) and 18 of the United States
• Went caving, and fossil hunting
• Paddled with an outrigger crew
• Class president in high school, student teachers' rep to the Vancouver School Board
• Volunteered at an MP’s office in Ottawa
• Was chased by a shop owner in Nogales, Mexico for bartering too low for something I kept telling him I didn’t want
• Sewed through my finger with an electric sewing machine
• Built a treehouse (with help from Dad and Phil’s dad)
• Learned to ride a bike
• Learned to drive a car
• Went skinny dipping in Meech Lake while Mulroneys vacationed in “cottage” nearby
• Witnessed the magic of a photograph developing in a darkroom
• Walked on stilts and used a pogo stick
• Slept in hotel room once occupied by Gertrude Stein & Alice Toklas
• Slept in at least one haunted hotel room
• Slept on a beach with a loved one
• Kissed a loved one in the rain
• Spent a whole day at a spa
• Watched a distant electrical storm, also watched lightening run down an interior corner of a house that was equipped with a lightening rod
• Gave friends “an experience of a lifetime” for a milestone birthday – motorcycle ride for one, drum lessons for another
• Attended governor-general’s New Year’s levy at Rideau Hall (Jeanne Sauve, Ramon Hnatyshyn)
• Performed a May Day dance for Queen Elizabeth II
• Climbed the Black Tusk
• Took rowing lessons (single scull)
• Skied on virgin snow – downhill and cross-country
• Enjoyed hot pancakes and fresh maple syrup at a sugar bush
• Viewed the Northern Lights in Iceland
• Watched a meteor shower
• Lay on a beach with friends and counted shooting stars
• Swam with wild sea turtles
• Saw whales (orca, grey, “pot head”) and dolphins in the wild
• Swim with “wild” dolphins at a resort in Hawaii
• Milked a cow
• Sailed on an America’s Cup contender
• Skated the full length of the Rideau Canal
• Stood on the roof of Centre Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa
• Overcoming fear of needles (still working on this)
• Grow some of my own food
• Caught a fish and ate it
• Heard the sound of waves in a seashell
• Made a whistle from a blade of grass
• Dyed my hair pink - once
• Caught fireflies in a jar, and watched bats tumbling in the night sky
• Had a newt stuck in my hair during a camping trip
• Saw the tidal change in the Bay of Fundy
• Kayaked on the Saint John River
• Picked fiddleheads
• Sipped a glass of Henschke Hill of Grace Shiraz 2004
• Danced at a powwow
• Walked/slipped on a glacier
• Drove along the Oregon Coast
• Held and petted a golden eagle and a saw whet owl
• Met interesting people including Pierre Berton, Kurt Browning, Bryan Adams, Gary Farmer, John Perry Barlow (of Grateful Dead), Moshe Safdie, Nancy Greene, Yousuf Karsh …
• Saw Cirque du Soleil’s “O” in Las Vegas
• Played blackjack in Vegas, slots in Vegas and Monte Carlo
• Went topless on a beach or three along the French Riviera
• Had a blind tasting of chocolate collected while traveling to different countries in Western Europe
• Ate Belgian waffles in Brussels – and moules frites
• Sipped café au lait at a Paris café – and pastis
• Shot a .22 handgun (at a shooting range, not my idea but gives TV police shows a whole new slant)
• Have seen both a lunar and a solar eclipse
• Test drove a Lamborghini (okay, it was a professional driver but 210km on a country road is impressive no matter who is in control)
• Rode in a model T, on a miniature train, and a horse-drawn carriage
• Sampled 100-year-old balsamic vinegar straight from the barrel in Modena, Italy
• Got married (better luck next time?)
• Learned about unconditional love – from my dog
• Sat in a box seat while attending first night at The Proms at Royal Albert Hall in London
• Sat in the choir of Westminster Abbey during matins – choir boy an arm’s length away
• Attended an opera at the Met in New York – Stravinsky’s “Rake’s Progress” for which David Hockney did the set and costume design
• Listened to the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall in New York
• Listened to the National Symphony (under guest direction of either James Levin or Andre Previn? – fading memory) at Kennedy Centre in Washington, DC
• Saw the world premiere of Janacek’s opera “From the House of the Dead”
• Saw Olympia Dikakas in Greek tragedy “Hecuba”, Sheila McCarthy in “Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Stratford (Ont), and Mackenzie Phillips in “Vagina Monologues”
• Saw Miles Davis in concert four times
• Saw my heart beating via ultrasound, and a scan of my skeleton
• Visited every Smithsonian museum on the Mall in Washington, DC
• Walked through homes of some of my favourite architects: William Morris, Victor Horta, Antoni Gaudi, Frank Lloyd Wright …
• Viewed the New York skyline from the top of the World Trade Centre (in 1987)
• Took in the same view from atop the Empire State Building – alas not on Valentine’s Day
• Saw natural wonders like the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls
• Discovered more than one of my friends talks in her sleep
• Learned I snore
• Had a birthday picnic on a snowy mountain top, another at centre stage of the Kits Show Boat (after dark, thankfully). Other celebratory events venues included a laundry mat, a seniors’ line-dance class, and a bowling alley
• Coaxed more than one orchid to re-bloom
• Rode the White Pass & Yukon train
• Rode the rails across Canada, along the west coast of the US, and throughout Western Europe
• Slept on an overnight train – sitting up in a seat, in a private compartment, and in a shared compartment (different trips, different countries)
• Was stung by a wasp, bitten by a bedbug (see shared rail compartment above), nipped by a pony, and bombed by more than one bird
• Watched rabbits being born, ducks and chickens hatching

and so much more!