Reflections on time and loss

 

Loss and grief come untethered to a timeline of our choosing. We lose people we love and care for without warning and even when we know the final bell will toll, we remain wholly unprepared for the absence of their presence in our world. Whether it be someone you see or talk to on a daily basis or a somewhat less tangible connection, the fact that person exists on this planet always means there is a chance to connect with them again at some unknown point in the future. That tomorrow of tomorrows we always promise and when that no longer exists, you feel a tug on your own mortality and see the fragile peace you have made with existence for however many years you have been here.
  We walk through so many days in a sort of lackadaisical shrug toward the routines that bind us. Work, home, school, family, friends and a myriad of variations on those themes propel us forward as the clock ticks, winding down days left even as we seek to speed up the boring, mundane ones to get to the special days off and other celebrations we use to spice up a life often left searching for more meaning. But in seeking a sped up life, we leave behind days that contained small moments of joy and love that we should seek to hold onto because all too soon, they are gone and we wonder where the time went.
  Truth be told, we are all guilty of wanting to get through a day, a week or some longer time frame all through our lives. To get past a particularly troubling time like right now during this pandemic times, we seek the end and a release from what we deem a "new normal" that is anything but. We want to get through the work week to the weekend, through the winter to the spring, from the pain to some relief. But how many days do we leave behind that we would love to have one more just like it when the final bill comes due? How many silly and seemingly innocuous times spent quietly enjoying a day that we then felt we had wasted because we weren't productive would we like to have back at the end of our days?  Every day isn't special, but every single day we get is one less we have left to be here and since we have no knowledge of when that tally runs out, maybe it is time to slow down, even a little, and make it last.
  Embrace your everyday and leave a legacy of love for those who will mourn you. Give them a smile through the tears and a spark of laughter when they speak of you with wistful remembrance. The only thing that lasts is how you treat people, how you made them feel and that is the thing we hold most dear when we miss the ones we love who have left us all too soon for our liking.


Polk

Canada Day 2020 - It's Complicated

My relationship with beer is just as complicated as my one with Canadian history and for that matter, present day. It's not easy to change your world view, to learn and grow and understand that while I am incredibly lucky to be born here, a white male and from a fairly compact and supportive family, being proud of this country needs a little work. If I do anything to distinguish myself or bring joy to people,if I can use my voice for good, then maybe I can feel better or prouder of being Canadian.
  Our relationships with the Indigenous population has particularly become something I want to spend more time with, it vexes me that to this day, so many know nothing of the Residential school system, the genocide that occurred around the founding of this country and the sheer lack of attention to the continuing problems of their communities, including more than 60 that do not have access to clean water. Imagine that in 2020, during a global.pandemic and you have to boil your water before you can use it to wash your hands. Imagine the government taking your children away and sending them to the predatory catholic run schools far from home to try and assimilate them, wiping out your culture in the process. There are countless reports of the continuing mistreatment of  Indigenous people by the RCMP, local and provincial police forces, not to mention the shady dealings of those in power who  have yet to finish promises made long ago and today. So I rant, so I learn and so I shall continue to try and help educate and enlighten, myself and anyone who cares to do more than double click another beer pic.
  The beer in question, @bellwoodsbeer 5.4% Can Conditioned Saison Maison is another delightful pint of beauty from the minds of those residing at Bellwoods. It has all the hallmarks of the style, lots of orange with lemon, bubblegum and clove, banana and a dry peppery back with more lingering spice and citrus.
  Beer gave me a chance to talk to the world, my love of this country and the hope we can right the wrongs committed in its name drives me.
Be good.
Do good.
Drink good.
Cheers! 4.25/5