It was given to me on Father's Day in 1997 ... Aubery had his cousin sew the blanket, and he painted it ... he gave it to me as a way of remembering my time and my friends amongst the Nuxalkmc, and he gave it to me as a Father's Day present in the waning days of my time in Bella Coola ... I still remember his words: "Wear it on the Holy Days and at special events, and remember us ..."
I've worn it with pride many times since.
It was one of the items I was desperate to get out of my office as fire consumed the rest of the building in February of 2005.
It is something I like to wear on High Holy Days and on days when I need to remember the circle of care and faith I was part of while living in Bella Coola almost 2 decades ago.
Yesterday my reflection at worship here in Flesherton looked back on an afternoon that happened a few weeks before Aubery gave me his gift, and left me awash in memories and recollections of people and a place that remains important to my faith journey. I didn't wear my blanket, but I could have and I really should have. The main reason I didn't was the heat and the humidity ...
But I carried the memories with me ...
The blanket and the stole that came with it make me smile every time I wear it, and every time I see it hanging in my office closet ... I have good memories of Bella Coola and the people I ministered among while I was there ... and those memories have profoundly touched my faith, my being, my view of the world, and my way of living and ministering ... not ALL the memories are good ones, but even those that make me wince in embarrassment and discomfort have taught me lessons and helped me become the person and the minister I am today.
As I look back on my life journey, I wonder how many of those uncomfortable moments may have been avoided had my dad lived into my teenaged or adult years ... I wonder how many of the lessons I had to learn the hard way are things he could have helped provide wise counsel about avoiding rather than blundering headlong in to? I wonder how differently things would have been had Dad not died that summer morning so long ago ...
Yet, overarching all of this, is the simple realization that I am the person I am today because of all the events and happenings that have marked my journey over the last 44 years. I've made horrendous and humiliating mistakes, I have achieved much more than I've expected at times, and I really have very few regrets over the path I've trod ... I carry the good and the bad with me, and they inform my present and continue to shape my future.
My one hope is that my life journey will help my children, and my circle of family and friends in positive and affirming ways ... and that what I've experienced, endured, learned and been privy to, will help others in their personal journeys ...
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