I'm pretty sure that a Canada Heritage Moment told me that Inukshuks indicate the direction that one is to travel or where one has come from. Perhaps this is why I'm so drawn to this image - I'm in a place where I'm reflecting on where I've been while wondering where I'm going.

I've just spent the summer surrounded by family. It started with my brother's wedding in early July and culminated with a week long camping trip with my parents, brother, and new sister in-law. Spending that much time, on the heals of a month long trip with my mom, with family was perhaps the most I've spent since living at home in high school. In the midst of the summer of family was the trip to my father's neurologist - that was a mind numbing experience. Getting the new diagnosis was a bit of a shock as was the reality of what MSA is really like. The lesson that I've learned from this so far is the 'it is what it is' and what is really important is sharing experiences and building memories.

I was fortunate this summer to get to spend quite a bit of time with my dad. Cameron and I took him to a football game while in Ontario - we really didn't care about the outcome (Argos vs Stamps) but we had fun finding dad sushi (thank god for blackberries!) and making bets on the outcome of the game. I won but Cam and dad decided that I got to pay for the Tim's on the way home!! Once we got home I went camping on the west coast with dad and Gran in the new trailer. In fact I managed to make three trips to the west coast to hang in Gran's new palace on wheels!

I started this post quite awhile ago but have been wrapped up in my life to the point that I haven't been back here to complete and post it! Over the past month I've been focused on teaching my classes (it's always good to do what pays the bills), getting healthy (work-out 3 times a week and runs 3 time a week!), and learning to speak French. Sometimes I wonder why I've chosen to take all these things on but most days (today not being one of them) I'm really excited about the changes that I've made in my life!

The WARRIOR program that I've joined is killer! We work out at 5:30 am Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and then are to do cardio on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I've been taking advantage of the great weather we've been having on the coast to do my cardio at Westwood Lake. The workouts are killer but a lot of fun - today we did a couple of circuits that all revolved around boxing - that's right I'm learning how to box as part of this so watch out!!! I think that I end up doing almost a thousand squats and an equal number of crunches each week! That doesn't even begin to count the lunges, push-ups, and steps each week! Today I think I threw a couple of hundred punches (Look out Cam!!) alone! So far I've managed to lose about 10 pounds and a couple of inches! If all goes well I'll need to purchase myself a new wardrobe for Christmas! I'll post some before and after pics but not until there's a lot more of a difference!

That's it for now - have a great day and I hope that you'll enjoy the journey as it moves forward.

Aggie