The home of Buddhism, Martial Arts, Diabetes and health…
Author: Shawn
I am a practitioner of the martial arts and student of the Buddhist faith. I have been a Type 1 Diabetic since I was 4 years old and have been fighting the uphill battle it includes ever since. I enjoy fitness and health and looking for new ways to improve both, as well as examining the many questions of life. Although I have no formal medical training, I have amassed a wealth of knowledge regarding health, Diabetes, martial arts as well as Buddhism and philosophy. My goal is to share this information with the world, and perhaps provide some sarcastic humour along the way. Welcome!
I have a pretty heated love/hate relationship with dentistry and dentists’ offices. It all stems from a very young age, when my parents started to bring me to the dentist office against my will. Imagine that, even as a young child I didn’t like being told what to do. Funny. But in all seriousness, when looking at it from a child’s perspective, we drag our kids in to a dentist office with their best interests in mind. After all, oral health is extremely important. But then, we subject the kids to random strangers basically grappling their way around their mouths and expect them to sit still and be happy about it. It can be difficult, at best.
For me, it came down to the speeches. I’m not one for being lectured. In fact, I was once sent home from elementary school after telling my principal that my parents weren’t paying him to lecture me. I don’t remember what I did to get sent there in the first place but as you can imagine, it didn’t go well. As you can no doubt imagine, I wasn’t a huge fan of brushing my teeth regularly and my parents would usually give me grief over it. It got to the point where I would almost try to sneak into bed and pretend to be asleep so they’d leave me the hell alone about it. It became a point of contention throughout my childhood and especially when I’d get scheduled for an appointment at the dentist’s office.
Picture this: you’re constantly getting grief from your parents over how well you brush your teeth, despite how much effort you put into it. Then, they bring you to this medical office where random strangers basically finger-blasts your fuckin’ mouth for an hour before a “doctor” comes in to look at you and tell you how bad you’re doing and how you need to brush more, floss more… basically tell you what you should be doing in the comfort of your own home where he has no dominion. I make it sound like I’m petty and bitter, but bear in mind that I’m recalling these things from a child’s memory.
The point is, is got frustrating enough for me that I began developing a deep, sincere hatred of dentistry from a young age and that frustration carried on into adulthood. The biggest piss-off was when I would be telling the staff that I was just there for a cleaning and didn’t want an examination to be given or a speech on oral health, only to be told my parents had requested the exam and I had no choice. I’d give my parents crap for it afterwards, but obviously that had little effect. So much for consent.
This dislike of having strangers in my mouth (insert oral jokes here) carried on into adulthood, to the point where I occasionally neglected my oral health for months on end, going well beyond a year. There was always an excuse; either I was transferring between postings or moving houses or tied up on shift work… When I’d finally go in, I had done myself more damage than good since my cleanings would take longer due to the prolonged absence from the chair. I eventually came to accept my fate of having to visit the dentist’s office every four months at their recommendation.
It still isn’t easy; I usually schedule a cleaning only to have the hygienist say, “I see you haven’t been examined by the dentist in quite a long time. Can we fit him in with you, today?” In the interest of my oral health, I’ve often said yes but for the most part, I usually make it clear that I’m only there for the cleaning and want nothing to do with the dentist. It makes for some tense visits but it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks and as an adult, I’m paying for the cleaning so do the cleaning! (Takes deep breath and exhales slowly).
In recent years, dentists have begun addressing a recessed gum I have at the gum line of my bottom teeth. Although I understand the logistics behind what’s happening and the risks, I have no interest in having the roof of my mouth painfully grafted to attach to a single tooth. I’ve been through enough pain in my life. Last Wednesday, I had a cleaning appointment where they addressed this concern yet again, which I promptly responded to leave it alone and just do the cleaning. like parrots, these guys…
All jesting and complaining aside, good oral health is important and quite integral to one’s overall health. In recent decades, studies have shown that poor oral health can contribute to heart disease, cancer and can even have an effect of Diabetes. HealthLine.com has a good article on the topic that you can read here. And that’s on top of the obvious stuff, such as cavities, gum disease and tooth loss. So despite all my pissing and moaning about it, oral health is pretty important, especially to people with Diabetes who are basically affect by EVERYTHING.
All in all, it doesn’t have to be a complicated thing. Good oral health starts with you, at home. Brush your teeth regularly. Although the mantra was a MINIMUM three times a day when I was a kid, the prevailing number is at least two. Brushing first thing in the morning gets rid of all that bacteria that accumulated and is conveniently sitting in your mouth, not to mention getting rid of that nasty morning breath. Pair that up with a decent mouthwash and you’re good to go. Brushing right before bed ensures that you remove all the food particles from your mouth rather than let them sit against your teeth and gums all night while you sleep and decay your teeth.
Flossing or using a water pick, which was recommended for me this time around, is also important. Oral health starts at home with you. We get so busy in our daily lives that we often neglect little aspects that are important to pay attention to. Good oral hygiene and health is an easy way to prevent issues that would otherwise burden and endanger one’s health unnecessarily. Will I get over my dislike of dentists? I have faith but I doubt it. When something is rooted in your psyche since childhood, it can be difficult to drop. But that won’t stop me from taking my own steps to ensure good oral hygiene. With everything Diabetes throws at me, it’s one less health problem I need to be worrying about… ☯️
Martial arts is pretty old… In fact, setting aside my personal preference towards karate, there are styles that are thousands of years old. In fact, I found an interesting webpage that has a list of the oldest recorded martial arts. You can check it out here. Please bear in mind that I don’t know how complete this list is and I didn’t research any of these styles, so take it with grain of salt. My point is, martial arts is not a modern thing. And it can be very difficult for someone from the modern world, even an avid practitioner, to consolidate ancient methods with modern mindset.
The key point is that you can’t “modernize” martial arts. You can bring martial arts INTO the modern world and it’s certainly good and important to be open to new learning methods. The issue and point of today’s post, is that unlike most things in this modern world, martial arts is not technologically driven. Nothing will be done for you. No steps will be taken on your behalf. There are no participation trophies in karate and if you’re part of a dojo that awards them, run in the other direction as they obviously don’t have your best interests at heart.
Karate and the martial arts in general, come from the heart. It requires a person to dedicate themselves, sacrifice themselves and their lives. Not in a deadly way, obviously but in in the form of their time, their leisure and their energy. I lost count of the number of times I was nixed by my peers in my younger years for choosing to go to karate instead of staying at a swimming hole during a hot summer day or leaving a get-together in favour of training. Non-practitioners would have no way of knowing and understanding this importance. But it exists regardless.
You have to commit your heart and spirit to the art, work hard and be willing to understand and accept that this ain’t a knitting circle; there’ll be injuries, fatigue, pain, slip-ups and misunderstandings and disappointments at seeing others progress where you may feel that you should have, as well. reasonably speaking and with no malice intended, if you’re unable to put your heart and spirit into your training and sacrifice what’s required, martial arts may not be for you and you shouldn’t even be iIN the dojo. Martial is particular thing that is set apart from traditional sports. Thos who complain and whine abut the process are not deserving of the result. ☯️
I got creative with my title, this morning. Basically, it’s nice if you can have yourself travelling on track… plans, goals, ideas and motivation are all important aspects of life and one can often feel as though they’re “on track” when they’re focused on working on those aspects. The problem with a vehicle that rolls on tracks is that it’s also limited and trapped by them. When was the last time you saw a train travelling down a paved road? The same can be said of one’s goals and plans. As I often say, life rarely cares about one’s plans, and it’ll kick you in the ‘nads if you try to oppose it.
Tracks can also be representative of something far worse, which is when someone has a narrow, isolated view of something and refuses to broaden their perspective in a constructive way. This can often lead to that person feeling isolated, alienating others and causing more issues within their own life than they rightfully would if they’d just take the time to open up and recognize the difference between their perception and what is. This is what’s often referred to as having a “one-track mind.”
Let’s take an example of “Person X” who converses with a random person who may make a comment that X may takes offensively. As the old saying goes, we can only control our words, not how others interpret them. X may feel as though that other person has offended or disrespected them, even if the person in question meant nothing of the sort. It’s a difficult line to draw, because no one should be telling someone how to feel. But by the same token, one can’t allow themselves to get offended and hurt every time they hear something they don’t like. To do so isn’t conducive to good relationships, efficient networking and even a balanced career.
At the end of the day, all one can do is try to be aware of other people’s perspectives and be willing to broaden one’s own. We live in a modern world where people get easily offended by just about everything. It can be murky waters to navigate and one could easily argue that it isn’t their job to adjust themselves to someone else’s sensitivities. Although this is true to a certain extent, there limits to both sides of that equation. If you are the “offender,” just bear those things in mind. If you are the “offendee,” and you find yourself getting hurt or offended by almost everything everyone says, it may be time to stop and take a good look at your life, your perspective and your views. A little change never hurt anyone. Food for thought… ☯️
I’ve almost finished my first full week back to work since coming back from vacation. Unlike most people, I chose to drag my work laptop with me and complete certain tasks while I was away. I’ve received mixed comments for various people on this practice… Some, believing I should completely shut out work while I’m gone and others admiring my tenacity and loyalty to the work. For myself, my OCD just wouldn’t allow certain tasks to go a full two weeks without my hands on it so there I went.
Despite having had my computer and access to emails, one of the things that surprised me the most upon my return was the accumulation and piling of work that continued to happen. It’s made this week somewhat hectic, especially in light of specific issues I’ve had to deal with. One of those issues, as one could well imagine, is my lack of fitness. I’ve fallen into the same precipice as most people who go on vacation; I never exercised.
Don’t get me wrong; I went swimming a couple of times with Nathan and had several reasonably long-distance walks. But in terms of working up a sweat for something other than the New Brunswick humidity, I was found significantly lacking. This is why, once we were safely back home, I decided to knuckle down and push myself to include a number of steps in my daily routine. My job is very sedentary, seeing me at a desk for several hours a day. Even with the occasional health break to get up, stretch and take short walks, this style of work can be detrimental on the body, especially if you aren’t exercising outside of work hours.
If you’ve my blog for even a short period of time, there’s no need to remind you that just about EVERYTHING affects Type-1 Diabetes, especially the blood sugar levels. Working at a desk all day, followed by a carb-heavy supper and flopping on the couch for a couple of hours before staggering your way to bed in a half-awake stupor is not conducive to good blood sugar levels. Hence, the need for some fuckin’ exercise in one’s down time.
I decided to incorporate a few easy changes into my daily routine. As I mentioned above. I promise I’ll stop repeating myself. Carrying on. I’m starting my morning with a smoothie. This doesn’t seem like a big change but the reality is that starting your morning off with some form of breakfast is important. although there are different schools of thought behind this, starting your day with a positive boost of nutrition is integral to having the kind of energy you need to reach the end of your day. I also still have a BlendJet and I never use it, so this justifies my purchase. But I digress…
Next, is a daily workout. This one is a bit more difficult, especially since I have a tendency of overdoing it and injuring myself. For example, I did a short, body-weight and dumbbell only workout on Sunday evening before starting back to work. My goal had been to wake up early on Monday morning and do some light cardio before work but my legs refused to function and basically stuck a middle finger up at me (or is it middle toe, since it has feet?). The goal is to start small and work one’s way back up. Here’s the workout I did…
On its face, it’s nothing out of this world and I should have been able to do it with ease… Such was my mistake. Even simple workouts will require some easing into after a hiatus of any length, even a short one. But staying active is important. I don’t have the space to post all the benefits of exercise, honestly. But doing so helps with cardiac health, weight management, blood pressure, blood sugar levels… The list goes on and on. Karate classes also start up again next month, so that should be fun.
Last but not least, which has also elicited some mixed comments from folks, is I’m doing an alcohol-free month. I should have waited until I made it to the end of the month to include this or write about it but who am I kidding? I’m too stubborn NOT to stay off the hooch for another two weeks. It’s not that there’s a problem with my alcohol consumption, per se… But sometimes I get a bit too comfortable sipping wine or a straight whiskey when I’m writing. But I I’ll write a more comprehensive post on THAT aspect next month, once we hit September.
It’s amazing how just a few small changes can help with any aspect of one’s health. Whether you’re goal is to increase you cardio/stamina, lose some weight, manage your blood sugars or just become stronger, healthier and live longer, you can’t lose. You just have to keep moving. After all, no one ever won a race by sitting still. Food for thought…☯️
Despite how I may have been giving off a negative connotation about my trip out East, there were some good aspects to it. The best was getting a briefcase from my father. Although getting a briefcase doesn’t sound like a big deal, it’s what was contained inside that caught me by surprise. Watch the following YouTube video to see some of what was passed on to me by my father on this last visit. Enjoy! ☯️
Hey folks, I’ve been blogging for a few years now and it dawns on me that I don’t often get many questions or comments on my writing (unless it’s something negative that usually isn’t commented visibly). Anyway, with my recent purchase of some new media equipment, I thought I would take this show live and actually do a Facebook Live event where I could answer questions as they come in. Topics of discussion would include health & fitness, Diabetes, martial arts and thoughts on general matters. I’d love to give this a go and see if it’s potentially something I could start doing regularly.
I’ve already posted about this on my facebook page (yes, for those who didn’t know I have a Facebook page AND a YouTube page! Y’all should go follow those right meow!) and this post will appear there as well. My plan is if I get a significant number of likes on this post, signifying people’s interest in participating, I would schedule the live for this coming weekend and post the schedule on my Facebook page. I could do one in the morning and one in the evening to accommodate folks who may not be available. I’ll leave it to all of you to determine whether this happens or not. ☯️
I haven’t posted to my YouTube page in what feels like forever and I treated myself to some new media equipment, so I thought I’d cover off some of the insights I gained from travelling to New Brunswick. You know, the insights I was supposed to cover on that long-ass post I wrote the day before yesterday? Yeah, that one. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video and I’d be forever grateful if all my followers reading this post would take the time to follow my YouTube channel, as well. ☯️
I recently read something about how one’s heart and mind are a little bit like an attic. It tends to gather and accumulate a lot of stuff that not only will one never use again but it takes up space and can increase the overall weight one is carrying. This can be tedious and can cause a lot of hardship, especially if you’re the type of person who tends to dwell and focus on these old dusty memories and feelings.
Much like a dusty attic, we sometimes need to clean said dust off and eliminate the weight of the hard feelings and bad memories that hold us back. This can be easier said than done, and shouldn’t be mistaken with forgetting the memories in question. After all, those who forget the past will often be condemned to repeat it. But by eliminating the excess pain and emotion and retaining the memories, one can begin to remove the pain and sadness that take up the most place in our heart and mound. And once that clutter is removed, it will amaze you how much farther you can run.
Old quarrels no longer matter. Confrontation, arguments, whether you were right or wrong and painful memories will do very little else than cause further pain. This is why it’s so important to let them go. Like so much sand between your fingers, let these negative memories wash away with the current, free to flow through your fingertips and off into non-existence. Once you reach this level of freedom, it will go a significant way towards eliminating the suffering in your life, which will in turn make it easier for you to help reduce the suffering in the lives of others. Food for thought… ☯️
As promised, here is a post detailing some of our activities during our vacation in New Brunswick. I’d like to premise this post by pointing out that some of it may come off sounding somewhat… shall we say, negative? This trip brought out a significant amount of enlightenment and opened my eyes to a significant fact. Bon Jovi once wrote a song called “Who Says You Can’t Go Home.” Well, Jon, the answer to that is me. I can’t go home. Or should I say, I’m home in Regina. And as I recount my time in Dalhousie, I’m going to explain that statement. Here we go…
We arrived in Dalhousie at a little after 4 o’clock local time after several days of hard travel, which you’ve all read about. I made a courtesy call to my mother to let her know that we had arrived, which prompted her quick arrival at our hotel. That was actually kind of nice and she got to meet Alexander in person for the first time. Once we checked in and unloaded the vehicle, she joined us in our rooms for a brief visit until the boys got to be insufferable. We decided to hit up a local restaurant called Pizza Delight for supper. We would come to dine here often during our stay and would soon realize it was one of our only options. But more on that later.
Supper was exactly what one might expect when dining with two small children; noisy, chaotic and neither kid wanted to eat the food in front of them. Luckily, no dishes were broken and no children were harmed in the having of this meal. All jokes aside, we briefly discussed our plans for the week, which was meant to include an overnight in Moncton to see various sights. Little did we know that any and all of those plans would soon go out the window. That being said, we planned a visit to my father immediately the following morning as I didn’t see any reason to wait.
Together outside my father’s nursing home
Since it was still a bit early when we returned to the hotel from supper, I opted to take a short trip to the cemetery to visit my brother. I think I may have posted in one of my travel updates that my folks got a headstone that has my name on it. Besides being intensely creepy, this was a somber reminder of my own mortality and where i currently exist in life. Not bad for my first day back to New Brunswick, eh? Nathan opted to spend the night at my mother’s, which made for a smoother night since the boys can never seem to be in the same room without destroying everything.
I woke up earlier than my alarm the following morning, which was odd since New Brunswick is three hours ahead from Saskatchewan. We started our day with caffeine and made our way to the nursing home were my father lives. Since Alexander is under five years old, he wasn’t permitted in the home so the only option for my father to meet his new-to-him grandson was to come outside. The photo above shows all of us posing right before both boys started whining they wanted to leave. Part of me understood that they’re kids and they had nothing to entertain them. Another part of me was pissed that they couldn’t accommodate my parents for more than half an hour.
We decided to go hang out, down at the beach. This particular stretch is called Inch Arran and I spent a significant amount of my childhood there. It’s changed quite a bit since that time, though. One change is the ice cream shop that I was standing in when I took the photo above. Alexander had some ice cream and Nathan had a small slushy. We continued on by watching the boys play on the park structures you see in the background. Nathan evidently got curious and wanted to go dip his feet in the ocean. I laughed and tried to explain that the water would be too cold for him.
He pestered me ad nauseam until I finally relented and told him to go ahead and change into his swim gear and to go ahead. I predicted that his sensitive, never-swam-in-anything-but-a-heated-pool flesh would last all of about thirty seconds… Long enough to submerge his feet and realize the error of his ways. You see, it was incredibly hot and muggy, especially with the humidity. But the ocean don’t care. it stays cold, especially to someone born and raised elsewhere.
My prediction proved accurate. He stepped into the water JUST long enough for his feet to become submerged and he commented on how the water was too cold. Then he jumped and freaked because he saw a crab. Classic Nathan… he played in the splash pad a bit but dried off and was done with water within a half hour. We made our way down to a truck stop restaurant called the Osprey for dinner that night. Unfortunately, the location has a play structure outside the main doors so there was no dining for the boys that night either. You’d think they’d get hungry at some point. Go figure…
My wife had cross stitched a beautiful design for my mother, which she presented to her when we visited my father. We agreed to have it framed in Campbellton, which is the town up the coast from Dalhousie. On the Thursday morning I brought it up to a specialized framing place that was only open to the public from 10 am to noon. They agreed to have the design stretched, framed and ready for pickup the following morning. The issue is that we were planning on driving up to Moncton the following morning and spending the night. I paid for the frame in full and made my way back to Dalhousie.
While we were spending yet another meal at Pizza Delight, I commented to my mother that her frame would be ready for pick-up the following morning. Since we would be leaving for Moncton in the morning and the location would be closed on Sunday and Monday and we would be leaving on the Tuesday morning, I asked my mother to drive up to Campbellton and pick it up. She refused… She explained that she no longer goes up to Campbellton and she wasn’t comfortable driving up there and told me I would have to get it myself. This rather pissed me off, because it would throw a wrench into our plans.
My alternative was to have us go to Moncton on the Saturday/Sunday instead of Friday/Saturday. No one wanted to do that, so I drove up to Campbellton on Friday morning with the intention of getting back and we’d drive down. By the time I made my way back to Dalhousie, we determined that we’d get to Moncton too late for one of the key attractions we planned on seeing; Hopewell Rocks. Therefore, we now had the afternoon freed up. I should point out that not only had I messaged a certain number of individuals that we would be in Dalhousie during the first two weeks of August, i also posted and blogged about it.
Despite that fact, I found myself with a significant lack of people to see and visit with. My mother was being stand-offish, declining to join us for our activities, even when it was only a few minutes from her apartment. This was disheartening, because the entire point of the trip was so that she could visit with her grandsons. I explained to her that we had no way of knowing when the next time would be that we’d return and Alexander would no longer be a baby, so she should be soaking that shit up while she could. It didn’t really seem to faze her.
On Saturday morning we got up at the absolute ass-crack of dawn because it’s a vacation and that’s what people do, right? No? Just us? In all seriousness, the goal was to reach Moncton for the noon hour when the tide would be low at Hopewell Rocks so we could “walk on the ocean floor.” Everyone was tired and cranky and it was blisteringly hot out. We travelled for four hours to reach the site and were slapped in the face by a $50 entrance fee. I was pissed. The last time I was there, I hadn’t paid anything to go in.
The curly haired, pimple-faced teeny bopper working the kiosk claimed there had always been a charge to visit the site but what did he know? I had leftovers in my fridge that were older than this fucker and he was arguing with me. We paid all of this money to walk for fifteen minutes and make our way down to the ocean floor. I was soaked in sweat by this point and you could almost see through my shirt. Nathan managed to get himself all muddy and insisted on leaving because he was bored. Never mind the fact we paid the cost of half a tank of gas and travelled all morning just to have him ignore the sights and want to leave.
Since he was filthy and obviously uncomfortable, I took Nathan back up the stairwell to the walking path where there were foot-washing stations. My wife, mother-in-law and Alexander stayed behind to view more of the site. I walked Nathan back to the trail entrance where he played on a play structure until everyone else joined us. I was fast realizing that I had shelled out thousands to travel to New Brunswick just to have my kids play at parks. Total fucking bullshit.
We left Hopewell Rocks and made our way to Champlain Place with the expectation of doing some shopping. No one did any shopping and everyone but me got some food at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon. There goes my idea of bringing everyone for a nice seafood dinner in a few hours! It was unlikely the boys would eat any of it, anyway. We looked up a few of the attractions that we planned on visiting, saw all the inflated, ridiculous prices for entry and decided finally that there was no point in staying in Moncton for the night as we wouldn’t be doing anything we had planned on and were already paying for the rooms we had in Dalhousie. We piled in the car and drove back to Dalhousie. Almost 8 hours of driving for an hour of blistering heat and sweat that the kids ignored and we paid for.
On Sunday morning we basically hung around Dalhousie and there was very little else to do. I took Nathan to the indoor swimming pool on a couple of occasions throughout our stay but we really didn’t do anything besides that. Nathan spent a final night at my mother’s house, since we would be departing on Tuesday morning. On the Monday morning, we went back to the nursing home to say goodbye to my father and spend some time with him before going to lunch, doing fuck all for the day besides pack, clean and try to figure out supper, since Pizza Delight was closed on Monday. To be honest, I’ve never heard of a restaurant closed on a Monday.
It was a serious problem as we searched Dalhousie AND Campbellton and came to realize that almost every restaurant was closed. McDonald’s was obviously open but we had eaten enough of that on the way there to last us a lifetime. We ended up ordering from an out-of-town pizzeria called Greco and having a bite to eat at my mothers until about 7 o’clock. We said our goodbyes and hugged and piled into the car, intent on getting back on the road the following morning, which y’all have read the posts about. Right? if you haven’t, get on that shit…
All in all, it was a disappointing trip. Normally when I go home, I barely have a free minute from the people I meet up with and the things I do. This time, I came to realize that no one was reaching out, no one contacted me and everything was either closed or out of business. And it’s supposed to be the “busy” time of year… As I mentioned in a previous post, I got the chance to see a few dear friends and I’m totally grateful that I had the chance to do that. But this visit just wasn’t the same. Despite having not seen them in two years, my parents’ hearts just weren’t in it despite meeting their second grandchild.
I left Dalhousie feeling empty and as though for the first time, it was non longer my home. Dalhousie, and the Maritimes in general, will always hold a special place in my heart. So many firsts that I’ve experienced there… It’s where I’m from and that will never change. But I’ve come to realize that it isn’t my home anymore. The sharpest knife was the fact that this was the first visit to New Brunswick where I didn’t get to see Sensei. Not only did he know I was there and when I was leaving, he told me he’d get back to me and let me know when he was free. But he never did. I’m sure he has a reason but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s never happened before.
Ultimately, I’m not sorry we went. It gave my mother-in-law the chance to visit New Brunswick and meet my parents. My parents got to see Alexander and Nathan and spend some time with them (albeit very little) and I got to see a few people I hadn’t in years. I’ve been considering that the irony is that my wife and I are finally in a position of life where we can afford to take a vacation but we still used up my vacation time to go home to my mother and father. Perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate and make some different decisions. Some food for thought for myself… ☯️
Yes folks, two posts in one day! Actually, I’m only throwing this one in to let everyone know that we made it home to Regina, safe and sound. It was actually a pretty uneventful day. We left the seedy motel in Dryden shortly after I posted this morning and grabbed coffees at Tim Hortons before cracking west on the highway. I could go on about the various issues on the road, such as slow semi trucks and Nathan randomly pissing in empty bottles instead of having us stop (in addition to having us stop often, I might add), but in all reality, it was likely the smoothest of the four days back.
We crossed two time zones, ultimately putting us back in Regina at just shortly after 3 pm, local time. A quick stop at our local grocery store for a few items to get us through the night and I am now shaved, showered and have several loads of laundry on the go. Nathan isolated himself in his room as soon as he was through the door. I had to threaten the continued use of his device in order for him to come out and have supper. That boy is going to have some problems when school starts. Regardless, it’s been a semi-quiet couple of hours with the boys separated and my wife and mother-in-law doing their own thing.
Our total mileage since July 30th…
it’s been a long two weeks and I’m certain that those of you who come here to read about health & fitness, Diabetes, martial arts or the Buddha Dharma have had their fill of reading about my vacation. But if y’all will indulge me for a moment, there will be one more post tomorrow, covering the week between the trip out and the trip back. I took a bunch of beautiful photos of the area, so hopefully some of you will enjoy that, at least. But I’ll draft that post tomorrow, after a solid night’s sleep in my own bed at home. ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 