Blair's Blog

Christmas Eve! Fresh snow has fallen, it is crisp and cold outside, but cozy and warm in the house. The fire is burning, the tree lit and the kids are playing together. Of course, there are myriad things to be done – the normal chores and routines of life; but on Christmas Eve it is nice to put all that aside, to relax with a good book and a coffee and to be content to have a bit of time to reflect on the year almost gone and the next one ahead. We have had quite the year, the highs and the lows always run with each other, don’t they? We have had job changes and health concerns, fine holidays and good family times, car troubles and amazing adventures.

The days fly by ever faster and I always enjoy being able to take a bit of time to reflect on the year rushing to a close. Browsing through the year’s photos and blog posts, recalling the good days and the times that were more challenging, it is easy to see how blessed we are.

The kids continue to grow, especially Steven (15) who is 3¼ inches taller than at last Christmas. He is within a whisker if 6 feet (and may get there by the new year at this rate). It is getting harder to insist that I’m taller. Mark is 13 now (I know – two teenage boys!) and Alyssa just turned 10. They are all great kids and (mostly) get along quite well with each other. Yet, as they grow they remain children, too – at least in the eyes of their parents! With only one left in elementary school and one already with a learner’s driver’s license it’s no wonder Brenda and I indulge in just a bit of denial about how quickly time goes by. Their interests are well established; Steven is into computers and technology, Mark still loves animals and science and Alyssa anything crafty.

For Brenda and I, the year was a very busy from the work perspective. As the Operations Manager at the Aero Space Museum, Brenda began the year by finally accomplishing a task that the museum had been unable to do for over 10 years – she cleared their operating line of credit debt. This was a major achievement that resulted from Brenda’s focus on making the museum more relevant in the community and, of course, this meant better attendance and revenue. On top of this, Brenda and her staff planned and held two very successful special events; one on Father’s Day in June and the highly successful Aviation Expo in August featuring some incredible vintage WWII aircraft.

My role at the museum during this time was to create the financial structures to allow Brenda to gain insight into revenues and expenses which helped to support decision making along the way. I also prepared plans and reports for the board to support accreditation and partnership objectives. However, in the world of contracting, all things are temporary. My contact ended in June and I have since taken a role at TransCanada, supporting their efforts to improve their engineering processes. Brenda’s contract at the museum wrapped up in September. She is doing some volunteer work and taking some well-deserved time off.

As it turned out, Brenda’s departure from the museum was very timely as she was well able to be of help to her parents as they both have experienced health concerns. Brenda’s dad fell and broke his hip in September and her mom has been diagnosed with cancer in her spine. Both of Brenda’s parents have had a number of appointments with various specialists here in the city and we’ve been able to have nice times visiting with them when they’ve stayed overnight with us. We are looking forward to seeing Brenda’s parents continue to recover into the new year and are blessed to have them with us this week to celebrate Christmas.

This year, with me in mid-search for a new job and Brenda busy with planning the Aviation Expo, we took only one week at Thetis Island for our summer holiday. We’ve been to Thetis for holidays with the family several times; the kids are familiar with the routines and it is easy to just go and relax. We had a marvelous time on the west coast and stopped to visit some friends out on Saltspring Island. The relaxation ended suddenly when our family minivan blew its engine on the Coquihalla east of Kelowna as we were returning home on the Sunday of the August holiday weekend. We were rescued by a good friend, but the van ended it’s days at a Kelowna wreckers. A week later we replaced the Mazda MPV with Brenda’s Blingy Buick (fondly known as the “Triple-B”), a 2008 Buick Enclave, which has turned out to be very nice, although I have to get special permission to drive it.

Other adventures this year included trips to Ottawa, ballooning in Drumheller and, of course, the summer birthday bash with the cousins where we slept on a bison pelt in a teepee. A few of the adventures that we had didn’t get posts, but here is a gallery with a few of the other things we did: