Life is a journey

From the Arequipa airport you get a great view of Chachani, the highest of the volcanic mountains that surround the city of Arequipa in southern Peru. Monday, Dec. 31, 2018 We have arrived! I don't want to see another airport anytime soon, that's for certain. Our flight from Montreal to our first stop in Cancún, Mexico, lacked leg room but was smooth and on time. We had an 11-hour stopover there and hoped we would be able to make a quick trip to the beach for a first taste of winter sun, but pouring rain and no way to store our luggage put a damper – so to speak – on that plan. So after clearing Mexican immigration and customs and finding the shuttle to Terminal 2 we spent countless hours at the airport's Guacamole Grill nodding off, nibbling and killing time, then eventually checked in, passed security and spent four more hours nodding off, nibbling and killing yet more time. We finally did leave Cancún and made it to Lima on a cramped, uneventful la...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone; Bonne Action de Grâce.  I've been thinking that while we don't give this holiday as much importance as many others, it is quietly becoming one of my favourites. In Canada it has, thankfully, not become super-commercial the way it is in the United States, and I sure like the idea of a holiday centred around gratitude for what we have. A long weekend in order to spend time with family over a meal full of autumn's bounty? What better reason to celebrate? And to be thankful. And right now, as I watch leader after leader come to power based on divisive, anti-immigrant, anti-minority platforms that reinforce us-versus-them sentiment, mistrust, fear and even outright hatred of the "other," I feel extra grateful to be surrounded by my (multi-ethnic and multi-religious) family, including my parents who raised me to be inclusive rather than exclusive, generous rather than selfish, fair-minded rather than judgemental, kind rather than cruel; ...

This year's Mother's Day is an emotional one for me with difficult and sad events surrounding me and some of the mothers in my life. My mother has spent most of the last month in the hospital, and the Mother's Day back at home we had hoped for this weekend was not to be. We had our "brunch" this morning in a hospital emergency room, but my mom is doing OK and she was surrounded by her loving family, which is what matters most. And yesterday I attended a memorial service for the teenage son of a longtime friend. It was a beautiful and utterly heartbreaking celebration of a life cut short. But there is something good to be found in the most terrible places, and seeing how a community came together to support a family at such a very difficult time was a truly wonderful thing. This year, my heart goes out especially to mothers who have lost children. Such a loss is unimaginable to those of us who have not lived it, and on this day my thoughts are with those who ...

I had talks this week with my pre-teen daughter and teenage son about #metoo, and I basically had to tell my daughter she is pretty much guaranteed to be faced with at least an incident or two in the next few years. (Already a letter from her school has been sent to parents because some pervert exposed himself to a group of Secondary One girls in the field behind school last month. He was caught, at least.) The #metoo hashtag campaign was launched to show the magnitude of the problem of sexual harassment and assault. And it has been successful, I believe, in showing the incredible vastness of it as well as in getting people talking – and writing – about this ongoing problem that shows little sign of going away.  Of course, harassment, assault and rape happen to women (and men) of all ages, but the teenage years are definitely the worst. Creeps and predators like easy targets and the younger we are the less we are equipped to deal with these kinds of situations and the less ...