Golden Friends

Good morning all, I hope life is treating you well.

When I was in the Girl Guide program in Almonte, Ontario, there was a song we used to sing.
"Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold."

I have been blessed over the years with the gift of true friendship, and my friend Jennifer is one of those golden friends. We met in the doorway of the Almonte Public Library in September of 1986. We started talking and 32 years later we still can't shut up.

We have seen each other through bad first marriages and child raising and home construction. I remember spending a weekend out in Almonte drywalling her living room wall.

All great memories. I had the pleasure of recently spending a Saturday with her. We planned to meet where we always do, at the Library in Almonte and go for a nice lunch somewhere. Our day ended up being a roadtrip to Perth, lunch at a Wendy's and delivering auto parts to her partner Serge
 We took the backroads to get there and we laughed and chatted and it brought me back to my high school days of cruising the back roads, listening to music and just being with friends.

What I wish for all.of you today is if you have an old friend you haven't talked to in a while, take a minute to call and say hi. Who knows maybe you'll end up on a back road somewhere reminiscing about the old days.

Thank you Jen for a wonderful 32 years of friendship. Could not imagine my kife without you.


God bless.

A Friendly Encounter

Good evening all,

yesterday while working at the restaurant, I met a family from Toronto. They had been driving for some time on their way home from visiting family for the holidays. The father was fatigued and so they pulled off the 416 and into Spencerville.

Their teen age daughter was sleeping in the car and the parents came in and sat down to eat. When the girl awoke she wasn't comfortable coming into the restaurant so her parents took dishes out to the car.

After the meal was over they thanked me for my hospitality and were so impressed with the food that they took a menu with them and promised that they would make a point of stopping in whenever they are travelling.

You may not think that working in a restaurant for minimum wage as a waitress is important but to these weary travelers a friendly face and good food was what they needed.

I enjoyed talking with them and I wished them a safe journey. I hope I will see them again. You never know when you live and work off the 416 Corridor who you're going to meet. But wherever you may be or whatever you're doing greeting people with a smile goes a long way when making  a first impression.

I would have never thought that a family from Toronto would be so impressed by a little Chinese restaurant in a little town like Spencerville.

Goodnight and God Bless

New year, new possibilities

There is a great line from the movie Forest Gump, "Life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you're going to get."

For me personally I don't see that as a bad thing, I mean hey we're talking chocolate.

Finding the good in anything can sometimes be difficult, but especially in life, and in lemons.

But hidden within their sourness is that gem of a juice that when mixed with the right amounts if water and sugar, becomes that popular drink that reminds us of summers by the beach or pool, picnics and camping. All wonderful memories from my childhood.

These are the times that makes up our most treasured memories in life, and all from a sour, yellow fruit that while it smells great lets be honest it tastes absolutely awful.

So my challenge to all you out there is this. On those bad days that we all have just remember the story of the lemon. Take that bad day and squeeze the juice out of it and make some lemonade.

It's easy to write off a bad day but it won't make you feel any better, but finding something positive in that day stays with you forever.

God Bless.