Funeral for a friend

After months of visiting her at Calgary’s big new cancer centre, it was time to travel to her funeral. I’m so fortunate to have had her as a friend for a very long time. What I have been most amazed at, when I reflect on her life, is how many times she adapted her...

While you were out

I was a receptionist in a Calgary office back in the late 70s when we smoked cigarettes at our desks and had drinks at lunch. We used little pink phone message pads back then, where you would record the name and number of the person who called and then put a little...

The Birthday Suit

It was all arranged. I was to spend my 65th birthday naked in front of a large group of people. No, I wasn’t going to streak through the downtown streets, I was going to be a nude model for a second-year drawing class at the college. I would summon every ounce of...

Don’t respond with silence

We were driving into our favourite off-leash dog park in Red Deer the other day when we came across a man collecting signatures for the Alberta Separatist movement. A large provincial flag was flying beside him, as he chatted eagerly with a nonchalant-looking young...

The case of the missing shoes

I was perplexed recently. Well, likely more than once, but this particular time was the result of finding my shoes missing when I went to leave my yoga class. My fellow yogis and I retraced my steps – had I worn a different pair than I thought I had? Did I really...